design

New FA:CE CARDs

New FA:CE CARDs

An obvious addition any expansion pack brings is more. Fundamentally, people who buy a game expansion are fans of that game. They want an excuse to return to a game they like and rekindle the fond memories of their first few playthroughs. While it’s nice to talk about ways to reinvent a game through an expansion, it’s essential to add that contingent of extra stuff to the core mechanics. However, doing so risks unbalancing the game. As a follow-up to our description of the Hollows terrain, I want to share some of the smaller additions that are coming in Far Away: Corporate Espionage and how we are ensuring they are net-positive additions.

FA:CE Design - Hollows

FA:CE Design - Hollows

Great expansions bring new life into their base games. Our marketing of Far Away: Corporate Espionage focused on the additional missions and new creature AI system, but there’s more to it than that. The next couple of blogs are going to focus on other additions and enhancements players can expect. First, we want to highlight the Hollows: a new terrain type with its own exploration system.

Let's Talk About Gloomhaven

Let's Talk About Gloomhaven

I don’t like the combat in Gloomhaven. I’m the sap who read the rulebook enough times to know how all the bad guys act, so I end up being the computer my friends play against. It’s like being a Dungeon Master with none of the creative flair. Gloomhaven is a big enough game that it can take critiques from one more rando, but I’m driven to write this because of a persistent comment on Far Away’s creature management. Some folks can find that phase tedious or disproportional to the explorer phase. It’s a fair observation and, obviously, you can say whatever they want on the internet. To me, Gloomhaven has all the same problems and fewer of the emotional or narrative rewards Far Away offers. In analyzing the difference, I want to understand the role these systems play on the player.