Wandering in a post-apocalyptic desert perfectly represents the scenario you will face in the highly anticipated Fallout: The Board Game.
Fallout is a boardgame set in the post-apocalyptic world of the video game of the same name made by the software house Bethesda. Created by the minds of Andrew Fischer e Nathan Hajek and distributed by Asmodee, allows you to start games from one to four players for a duration of about two hours, moving on the wave of the American semi-cooperative style. Players will be called upon to play a survivor who must explore and survive in the wasteland. The modular board and the game setup are prepared according to the chosen scenario which will also start the narration; a series of quests will then lead the players to make choices that will determine the continuation of the story and the evolution of the characters.
As in the video game, it will be possible to earn experience points and increase through the mechanics of SPECIAL the specific abilities of your survivor, towards certain skill tests and fights. Because yes, there will be a fight. To the sound of dice rolls VATS it will be possible to face the radioactive fauna that populates the wasteland and hit enemies in specific points; you will also want to be well equipped if you want to shoot down a Deathclaw.
It will not only be the enemies that will make our survival in the post-apocalyptic desolation complicated, but it will also be the radioactive terrains and the random encounters that can take place in the different locations on the game map. This last dynamic turns out to be functional and immersive: in fact, riding the style of the cross-roads cards of Dead of Winter or the diary of This War of Mine, it will be possible to choose how to (re) act on the unexpected. The consequences could lead to the conquest of new equipment, attacks by enemies or the acquisition of particular statuses (make the right choice and you will be idolized by all of Diamond City!).
The main focus of the game is the narration: we will breathe the feuds of the factions that populate the map, we will live their battles and our choices will tip the scales towards the faction we want to favor. One of the engines of this mechanism are the quest cards, which will require you to meet specific objectives to advance the plot of the scenario and it will be up to us to decide how to change, modify the balance in the game.
Those who have played the videogame saga, as well as having the opportunity to relive the history of the inhabitants of the VAULT, will also find all the other mechanics that characterize the series. The table transposition of the game is therefore well designed and performing. In the face of a regulation that is not exactly light, the presence inside the box of two manuals (a Learn to play and a compendium of the rules) will still help to face the difficult initial start, to immerse yourself in the world of Fallout . Another note should be made on the length of the game: you will have to spend at least two hours before the end game conditions lead to the end of the game, despite the turns follow one another without stumbling after having meshed the rules.
Only one question remains: what will be the level of replayability? It is difficult to answer this question for the moment. The pool of quest cards is high but still finished and although several crossroads can be taken during the progress of the plot, we do not know how many times it can be re-addressed. We therefore expect future expansions aimed at expanding the storyline of the game, also in light of the recent announcement Fantasy flight of "Fallout: New California"For the end of 2018.
So if you are a player who appreciates a game that is very set and with a story that unfolds as you explore the game table, run to buy Fallout!
