Machina Arcana - Descent into Madness (Part 1)

A Thrall manages to get close to Kim. Horror is sure to follow!

Machina Arcana

After playing some horror-themed games recently in the form of Folklore; The Affliction, and Arkham Horror (Living card game) I've developed a taste for blood Cthulu. This has combined with an interest in tactical dungeon crawlers in the form of Machina Arcana, a steampunk exploration and tactical combat game set in a mysterious underground installation.

In this game for 1-4 players you will take control of a small party of explorers who head into this installation, exploring the mysteries it contains as you progress through a story in the form of chapters. Along the way you must tool-up with weapons and armour as quickly as possible to give yourself the best chance of surviving the horrors (both physical and mental) that the installation throws at you.

The challenges you will face include a variety of increasingly horrific monsters from the Cthulu mythos, and more importantly, decisions!

Should you stay and fight? or run? 

Should you head over to that chest for equipment or keep moving? 

When you DO find equipment, what should you keep?

Will you strategically try to stem the flow of monsters, or head on?

Your physical resources are limited, so how will you spend your stamina?

Sounds terrifying good?

Now on its third edition, information on Machina Arcana can be found around the web, including reviews and playthroughs, so in this (lengthy) first post I'll just overview some of the positives of the experience for me so far.

Kim faces a spider of Leng that has webbed her equipment.
Get it back? Or keep moving? (I'll let your arachnophobia decide...)

The highs...

Theme, art, and atmosphere

If you want a game that has a lot of 'theme' '...inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft' then this game is for you.

• 'Cthulu' and a growing sense of unease everywhere, from the monster types and artwork to the thematic text.
• The 'Steampunk' setting is different and fun. All of the equipment has a suitably 'clockwork' feel and a system of upgrades allowing you to mix and match bits and pieces. (You can learn more about Steampunk by visiting Steampunk Avenue.)
• The art is gorgeous and visual appeal strong in every element of the components. I really enjoy exploring the chapter artwork (it is revealed as you advance). The characters, monsters, and equipment invite the eye to explore each image - congratulations to the artists on their work.
• Thematic text is everywhere. Event cards, monster cards, chapter cards etc. all have some text that helps to create and support the theme. Horror and event cards in particular have prose, poems, and rhyme that help to create this dark and dangerous world. Not all players will want to spend the time reading it, but if you like that kind of attention to detail you will find it here. Another example is the monster cards - often you'll find a quote or sentence at the bottom that helps to flesh out the creature.
• Official soundtrack provides background music by Mladen Konecky (listen to it on Melodice).
• The atmosphere here is 'struggle' and the mechanics promote this. You don't have a lot health or stamina, and it isn't easy to come by healing, prompting some difficult choices.

The 'Barred' horror event text is one example of the writing.

Variety and replayability

When playing the game, is there variety within a game and replayability afterwards? If you get it to the table multiple times will you feel that the experience is 'different' enough to remain engaging?

I say 'yes', with some qualification.

• 10 double-sided map tiles provide different layouts to explore as you play each scenario. However the event spaces are printed directly on (you don't randomly add a token in a different spot each mission), so they won't change.
• Extensive monster variety, with individual A.I. driving their actions. There are 29 in the base game, divided into 4 levels. Will you start to learn what they do with multiple playthroughs? Yes, but in some dungeon crawlers you might find 10 or fewer enemy types.
• Equipment is plentiful, with an upgrade/ augmentation system allowing you to combine different cards for some cool combinations. The base game has 51 weapons, 40 apparel, 35 artifacts, and 30 consumables.
• Huge range of different 'events' that will help and hurt players. This is two decks of cards (a total of 120), so you never know what the next event will be. Flipping the horror cards is an exercise in tension. ('Let's dash for the exit - OH NO, paralysing fog!')
• Explorer choice: Do you want to play as a male or female character? Which of the four classes do you want to be - Bruiser, Gunman, Crafter, or Mystic? Each class has different strengths and weaknesses (and variations in their starting abilities) and will need to be managed differently as you explore. Any class can equip any item, but how easily and quickly they can equip it is the challenge.

Hank, a 'Bruiser'

Lorrai, a 'Mystic'

Kim - 'Gunman' (I'd prefer 'Gunslinger')

Phillip, a 'Crafter'

Large, double-sided map tiles add replayability

Choices

This game is all about making choices, and that is a positive. It does this by having a very tight action economy, imposed by even the hardiest character having a maximum of 6 stamina on their turn. Those stamina are precious! Opening a chest costs 3 stamina, activating a trap costs 2, moving one space costs 1 etc. You can get more stamina by using 'recharge stations' (if you are lucky), but this is occasional. 

Examples of choices you constantly face are:

• Fight or flight! Taking out monsters can be essential (killing them gives you 'Essence' - a key currency in the game) but just as often it can be better to keep moving.
• What to equip? Finding useful equipment is really important. When you open a chest or use a workbench you get a choice of items. Which will you keep? This is made more interesting by being able to either destroy an item you don't want or put it back on top of the pile - allowing another explorer to pick it up later.
• Prioritise exploration or survival? Every map offers opportunities to find new items, but should you split up to hoover up items on the map or stay together and dash towards whatever condition will move the story forward.

An example of choices. Each of these weapons and items
came with a difficult choice about what to keep.

Smooth gameplay & simple combat

Kim and Hank steel themselves. What lies ahead?

Once you have a grasp of the rules (not necessarily easy...a word on that in part 2) you'll find that getting the game setup and moving through a game can be very smooth.

Unusually, the game box comes with trays for all the bits and pieces. These are flimsy and easily damaged, but they do keep everything together. All card decks have their own area in the bottom of the box, divided by card level and space for all the game expansions is built in. All tokens are kept in a single token tray with a lid. this makes for fast setup. Great!

I mentioned earlier that the action spaces are printed onto the maps. These include chests, workbenches, traps etc. To get going you just set down a map tile - no fiddling around in token trays for bits and pieces to add. You can see at a glance where resources and action spaces are.

In game, combat itself is simple, at least in terms of damage. You'll roll two sets of custom dice and simply compare your total to the enemy's defense stats (remember that 'meets beats' - equal their defense and you'll do damage). You'll always do a single point of damage too, so no grasping around for tables and charts trying to work out modifiers. It is also easy to add up your defense bonuses when defending as they are all on your character and equipment cards.

Finally, the '4-step' round is easy to follow and you'll soon get into a fast rhythm (especially playing solo):

Explorer phase > Spawn phase > Horror phase > Monster phase.

Each phase has a clear process illustrated by the player aid, four of which are included in the box.

I'll stop there for now, but in part 2 I'll cover production quality, the standees, publisher support, and more. In this first post I've been very positive, but no game is perfect! In the next installment I'll cover some of the less positive elements to the experience and wrap up.

See you there!