To SPIEL trade fair 2023 in Essen There were numerous games that caught their attention. In particular, the connoisseur game The Vale of Eternity from the Korean publisher Mandoo Games attracted attention. It was completely sold out within the first day of the fair. Now the highly sought-after Set Collection game has come back thanks to Pegasus Spiele also in Germany. Find out in this review whether the title lives up to the hype.
In a world full of monsters, ghosts and deities, it is our job to find and tame a variety of creatures. Among them are powerful, noble dragons that are particularly unusual. The person who has collected the most points at the end wins.
Gotta catch 'em all!
At the beginning of each round, there are always twice as many creatures on the table as there are at the end of the game. Starting with the selection phase, we select a creature from the table in a clockwise direction by placing our selection marker on the chosen creature. Once all players have selected a creature, the person who last selected a creature begins the selection. The last creatures on the table are then distributed among the players in an anti-clockwise direction.
Then it's time for the action phase. Starting with the first player, each person performs as many actions as they can or don't want to do. The active player can choose between four different actions, which they can perform as often as they like. The two selected creatures can either merchandise or tameIf you sell a creature, you receive the coins or runestones printed on the game board of the card type you are selling. You must ensure that you can never have more than four runestones of the same type. If you tame a creature, however, you take it into your hand.
Phoenix, it's your turn!
Creatures in your hand can be killed with the third action summoned Each creature has a summoning cost that is paid with runestones. You have to be careful not to get any runestones back if you pay too much. For example, if you summon a creature that costs 4 and pay with a runestone that is worth 6, you have essentially lost a value of 2.
In addition, you must ensure that your display contains a maximum of as many creatures as the current round number. This means that in round 1 only one creature can be displayed, while in round 6 six can be displayed. If you have no more space and want to play a creature, you can use the fourth action to play creatures. set freeTo do this, you pay runestones equal to the current number of rounds. You then have enough space for new creatures.
Skillful use of effects
The creatures have three different types of effects: instant effects, permanent effects and active effects. Instant effects are - as the name suggests - activated immediately and can only be used once. Permanent effects are permanently active and/or provide special advantages or bonuses when a condition occurs. Active effects are activated once in the activation phase after you have played all your actions.
The aim is to play the creatures in such a way that their effects influence each other and thus increase the victory points. A game ends as soon as one person reaches 60 or more points. Alternatively, after the 10th round. The person with the most points wins the game.
Information about The Vale of Eternity
| Number of players: 2 – 4 Age: from 10 years Playing time: 30 - 45 minutes Difficulty: expert game Long-term motivation: medium Classification: Drafting, Set Collection Author: Eric Hong Illustrations: Jiahui Eva Gao, Gautier Maia, Stefano Martinuz, Erica Tormen Publisher: Pegasus Spiele, Mandoo Games Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2023 Language: German Cost: 29,99 Euro |
Conclusion
The Vale of Eternity is not a bad game in itself. It is quite fun to openly draft the cards at the beginning of the game. All information is visible to all players and in theory you always know which cards your opponent has and which cards he might need. You can react to this to a certain extent and adapt your strategy if necessary.
But despite the simple rules - which even those who don't play much will find easy to understand - The Vale of Eternity takes time to get the hang of. The reason for this is the many different effects of the creatures, which have to be combined sensibly. Once you're more or less into it, combining the effects can be a lot of fun. Especially when a large chain of combinations works and you suddenly get tons of victory points.
This also reveals a major weakness of The Vale of Eternity. Often you end up collecting a lot and playing very little. You wait for the right moment to receive your huge victory point payout. If you keep playing creatures, you rarely end up winning. With a well-rehearsed group that has already played the game a few times, this phenomenon can be counteracted to some extent, as you simply take away the cards from your opponent that could be of use to them. Nevertheless, the problem remains, as it is only in later rounds that you have the opportunity to have a lot of creatures on the field. As a result, The Vale of Eternity plods along a bit, especially at the beginning, and only becomes really interesting and exciting towards the end.
Nevertheless, The Vale of Eternity is fun, even if it only reaches its full potential at the end of the game. It has a variety of effects that make every game a little different and thanks to the easy-to-learn rules, it is relatively relaxed to play. A game can easily be over in a good 40 minutes and is always good regardless of the number of players. But that's it. The Vale of Eternity is good. But in our opinion it is not particularly special.
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