Review
Star Scrappers: Cave-in
Star Scrappers: Cave-in has a serviceable card-based set-collection idea, but it feels like a design released well before it was ready. A little novelty cannot rescue its unfinished air.
- Published
- 2018
- Designer
- Filip Miłuński, Jan Zalewski
- Publisher
- FoxGames, Hexy Studio
- Players
- 2–4
- Playing time
- 75 min
Star Scrappers: Cave-in had been sitting on the shelf so long that it felt less like a discovery than an archaeological find. Its place in a Kickstarter bundle alongside Star Scrappers: Orbital probably explains its existence better than the finished product does.
At its centre is set collection through cards. The cards are not bad raw material; there is a flicker of novelty in the idea before the lack of care around it begins to show.
The cards are not bad raw material; there is a flicker of novelty in the idea before the lack of care around it begins to show.
EdgyJellyfish
Player engagement and the game’s flow come from pursuing those card combinations, rather than from a system that gathers any real weight at the table. The issue is not that the recipe is incomprehensible; it is that it stops precisely where it ought to become a game.
It has the atmosphere of crowdfunding at its worst: an idea sufficient to get printed, not sufficient to get finished. For ten euros at an auction, perhaps it can justify itself as a curiosity. Otherwise, keep away.
Updated session
The later note does not alter the verdict: it repeats the same view of a game with a decent core that remains rough and unfinished.
Otherwise, keep away.
EdgyJellyfish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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