Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods – Kickstarter Edition

I picked up Cranio’s latest game because I like Luciani, even though I remembered the early comments being mixed. And as soon as I opened the Kickstarter edition, I have to admit I thought, “oh no”: it is a huge box, hard to fit anywhere, and its production is not bad so much as rushed. Pieces have warped as if they were packed before they had fully dried, the plastic has the usual bent-thin-parts problem, and the cardstock is not impressive. Alongside that, the rulebook is unacceptable, with omissions, and there is not even a basic guide explaining where everything belongs. With four mini-expansions in the KS edition, I had to sit down and work out for myself what exactly I had in my hands. My first reading of the rules did not inspire confidence at all.

And yet, once it hit the table, the game exceeded every positive expectation I had. It is a tweaked 3X: there is no extermination and not so much as a fly dies, but its core is a very enjoyable action-selection mechanism. Every choice has that solitary, cerebral puzzle feel, as I try to organize my moves and priorities properly, without making the session feel dry or isolated.

At the same time, the game delivers the bustle of a dudes-on-the-map title. There is conflict and fighting, but in a way that never put me off, while the divine powers provide the spectacle and force I want from this kind of game. It pleasantly brought games such as Kemet and Ankh to mind, not because it merely copies their experience, but because it successfully marries strategic thought with powerful presences on the map and direct interaction.

The sound end-game scoring and enormous replayability from the pick-and-mix of expansions, variants, and houses raise it considerably. I certainly do not expect all that extra content to be as balanced as the base game, and the KS package remains a bulky, messy thing that demands shelf space. Even so, I would recommend at least trying it. Afterwards, your problem will probably be finding somewhere to fit that damn box.