- Publisher : Lucky Duck Games
- Designer(s) : Marc Neidlinger
- Artist(s) : Brett Carville, Emiliano Cordoba, Bartek Fedyczak, Noemi Konkoly, Phu Thieu
- Players : 2–5
- Playing time : 45–150 Min
- Weight BGG : 3.08
What's this?
In Vindication you are a scum who had to do everything to redeem yourself. You will explore an island, recruit companions, acquire character traits, collect relics and face monsters to find redemption.
How do you play?
On your turn you are free to perform the following three actions in the order of your choice, but moving is the only mandatory action:
➡️ Move: Perform a movement of at least one square and up to the limit of your speed value along the triangular squares located between the hexagons.
➡️ Activate: You have the possibility to activate your character or one of them for free. of your companions by placing an influence cube on his card to generate attribute cubes on the main board. Activating a companion also triggers its special ability.
➡️ Visit: Activate a location adjacent to your character. You can recruit new companions, acquire relics, face monsters, etc.
All these actions are carried out using attribute cubes that you have previously positioned on the board.
/>In addition to these main actions, you have the opportunity to perform free actions or bonus actions, including converting attributes to heroic attributes, obtaining an Aptitude tile if you meet the prerequisites, taking control of a location by spending Conviction cubes, or even transforming your character into their “redemption” form.
🔚The game ends as soon as a player completes a “triggering of game over”. At this point, you will count your honor points from your cards, the locations you control, your objective cards, as well as the mastery tiles if you have the majority in these attributes.
Is it good?
Vindication presents original mechanics, highlighting the exclusive use of cubes as resources to manage.
This management of cubes proves interesting, because it confronts you with difficult choices. You will have to make concessions, because it will not be possible to accomplish everything, while facing a multitude of decisions regarding companion cards, relics, character traits, not to mention the monsters you will have to face.
Manipulating these cubes on your personal board can recall games such as Project Gaia or Terra Mystica, with their different “bowls”. These are two games that I particularly enjoy.
In addition, it is crucial to take into consideration the color majorities, as well as the control of buildings to accumulate victory points at the end of the game.
And you have to remain vigilant, because the end of the game can come quickly with these end-of-game cards.
Vindication is positioned as a real pool of sand, where each game is unique due to the multitude of different cards which favor numerous strategies and choices.
Be careful even if the coating can give the impression of being a large game of adventure, Vindication turns out to be simply a resource management game.
The game is characterized by its fluidity and elegance, without unnecessary frills in its actions and resource management, while maximizing the efficiency of the whole.
To support the site, purchase the game here:
Review Vindication
Cube manipulation is reminiscent of games like Project Gaia or Terra Mystica, while color majorities and building control are crucial to racking up victory points, and the endgame can come quickly with endgame cards.
Although the appearance may suggest a grand adventure game, Vindication reveals itself to be primarily a fluid, elegant and efficient resource management game, offering a unique experience to each playthrough thanks to its variety of cards favoring different strategies.
Positives
- Managing resource cubes
- There are some interesting combos to make
- The game is presented as a sandbox, offering a wide variety of gaming experiences
- The mechanics are simple, but they guarantee high replayability
Negatives
- Although the theme is worked, it can seem behind the mechanics
- Ultimately, the game comes down to manipulating cubes
- The presence of figurines, which increase the cost of the game, seems to have little use
Breakdown
- Components and illustrations 9.5
- Mechanics 8.5
- Theme 8.0
- Replayability 8.5
- Handling 9.0
- Interaction 8.5
- Originality 9.0
