If a board game is either cooperative or has a fantasy setting with combat and leveling up, I will pretty much play it. If it has both… well, I probably backed it and it is currently sitting on my SoS (Shelf of Shame) unplayed.
Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall, the first game published by Incredible Dream Studios, was launched on Kickstarter at a time when I was trying to reduce the number of games I was backing. It was the EXACT type of game I love—a cooperative, campaign-based boss battler, deckbuilding, choices that impact the game, and, of course, leveling up. I really WANTED to back it, but my SoS was overwhelming, so I passed.
Sometimes fate intervenes. But, less dramatically, writing for Tony and his Board Game Grow empire can have its privileges, including Tony prepared bacon burgers during game nights. But even BETTER than his bacon burgers, which is saying a lot, is being offered the opportunity to review games that you missed. When Kinfire Chronicles showed up at his doorstep, I MAY have aggressively grabbed the package, abandoned my half-eaten burger, and drove home five to seven miles per hour above the posted speed limit.
Was it worth it?
YES.
Except I should have taken my burger to go.
Gameplay Overview:
Kinfire Chronicles is a card driven, cooperative boss battler for one to four Seekers (players). Each of the 21 quests takes about an hour to complete, regardless of player count.
The game consists of three types of phases: combat, adventuring, and town exploration.
Combat, the most common phase, is handled as follows:
- Draw a chit from the Destiny bag
- If a character chit is drawn, that character takes a turn, by either passing and drawing or discarding one card, or playing an action card, which is resolved as follows:
- The active character plays an action card
- All other characters can play one boost card that matches the color of the action card
- The action is resolved (The character can move one space either before or after the action is resolved.)
- If an enemy chit is drawn, the number drawn indicates which of its abilities is triggered
- If a Heart (wild) chit is drawn players choose which character will take a turn
- If a Darkness chit is drawn, the enemy’s Darkness ability will trigger
- If a character chit is drawn, that character takes a turn, by either passing and drawing or discarding one card, or playing an action card, which is resolved as follows:
All spent chits are placed back in the Destiny bag after a combination of four Heart or Darkness chits have been played. Combat continues until either one character has zero health or the enemies are eliminated.
Adventuring is handled by following the narrative presented on cards, making choices and/or passing skill tests based on the color of cards drawn from your deck, all of which will impact your current, and potentially future, quests.
Finally, during town exploration, the party will spend city actions to visit shops, sleep at the inn, or participate in other activities.
Game Experience:
What made me want to wield a kinfire lantern and face the Darkness?
My favorite aspect of Kinfire Chronicles is that it was designed with cooperative play in mind. The game encourages you to assist your fellow players. Your deck of cards consists of 18 cards—nine action cards with nine related boost cards. Each card is one of four colors, or multicolor. When you run out of actions, you draw a new hand of seven cards.
“Big deal,” you say? “I do that in every game.” The difference is that, when you redraw your hand, you charge your kinfire lantern. This provides you with a powerful action that can be played as if it is in your hand, but instead of discarding, it gets flipped back over to its charging side. In addition, because you know you will be discarding your hand when you run out of actions, there is NO reason to hold onto your boost cards. The amount of table chatter on who can do what and help whom that this generates is unprecedented in cooperative gaming. I hope other designers steal the idea that HALF of your deck is made to be played on another player’s turn.
I also loved the campaign format. There are 21 quests included in the game. Each one includes the necessary components for that quest, including mini rulebooks in the first four quests that help teach the game as you play (more on this later). The side of the box indicates that each quest should take between 45 and 60 minutes. I want you to sit down now because that time is actually ACCURATE. Quests really do take about 60 minutes to complete. This is the rare (at least for me) campaign that is completable. As I read on BGG, someone posted they can play a quest in Kinfire Chronicles in the time it takes them to set up Gloomhaven… 😊
Third, while I love the combat, I also enjoyed the town exploration, leveling up, and, to a lesser extent, the adventures. It is not that I did not enjoy the adventures, because I did. The decisions are simple, as are the card tests, but they flow well within the structure of the game. But the town exploration is great. Without spoiling anything, they can lead to character growth, quests, and other activities. The game handles it differently than most adventure games.
I love that there is leveling up. The process consists of adding new cards to your deck and deciding which ones to remove. Remember that the action cards are tied to a boost card? If you remove an action card, you must remove the related boost. You also must keep the same number of each color in your deck. New cards are earned in different ways, the most exciting of which is opening treasure packs. It gave me the rush of opening a CCG pack. It was great! I really enjoyed this limited deck building!
Finally, the presentation of the game is top notch. The top of the box is the board you place the map, chits, and status cards. It is attached to the box with magnets, like Final Girl. The inside of the box is organized beautifully, with the 21 quest folios creating an image of Din’Lux, the main city in the game. Each character has its own box to store their sheet, standee, cards, and other items earned during your adventure. Finally, the loot box stores all the goodies you will encounter during your game.
What made me want to douse my lantern and hide in the dark?
My only complaint (well, I have two, but the second is minor), is with the initiative system. Drawing chits from the Destiny bag is VERY random. Anyone who has played Aeon’s End/Astro Knights knows the pain you can experience. There are 29 chits in the bag: 12 for the players, 12 for the enemy, three wild chits for the players, and two Darkness chits. Yes, it provides a SLIGHT edge to the players; however, I have witnessed EIGHT enemy draws IN A ROW. Unsurprisingly, we failed that quest.
There are two ways to mitigate bag draw:
• A fate token can be played BEFORE a chit is drawn, allowing the players to draw three chits and choose which one to play
• A redraw boost card can be played by any player AFTER a chit is drawn, placing the drawn chit back in the bag and redrawing
So why didn’t we try to mitigate the eight-in-a-row juggernaut described above? Simple—we spent a fate token and drew three enemy chits, and we did not have a redraw boost in our hand.
I like the feeling of dread that the initiative system creates, but the randomness can be a bit much.
My only other minor complaint is that I had some issues with the components:
• The plastic axles used with the health trackers and Seeker sheets are not good. They are very loose, to the point where we tracked our health with dice because the health dials either moved to easily or fell out of the trackers/sheets.
• I like how the game slowly introduces the different phases of the game through actual play; however, you now have four separate mini rulebooks to flip through if you are trying to remember a rule. The game is not THAT complicated, but a general summary of symbols and commonly forgotten rules would have been nice.
Final Thoughts:
I loved Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall. It exceeded the already high expectations I had before actually playing the game. It is one of the best cooperative games ever made because of the way it actively encourages cooperation via boost cards. The bosses are varied and fun to fight. The campaign plays fast and is one of the few campaigns that is manageable to complete. The presentation is top notch. It is an amazing first release from a new publisher. I cannot wait to see what they have in store for the future! They would have named it Kinfire Chronicle if they didn’t have something planned, right?
NOTE: Incredible Dream Studios is launching Kinfire Council on Kickstarter on April 30, 2024. As part of this campaign, there will be a reprint of Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall. Sign up to be notified on the campaign launch if you are interested.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars – One of the best cooperative experiences I have had in a long time.
Hits:
• Card play and cooperative design is one of the best in boardgaming
• Campaign moves fast and is respectful of your time
• Town actions, leveling up and adventuring
• Excellent presentation
Misses:
• Initiative system
• Minor component issues
