Leviathan Wilds: Review
Rundown:
Leviathan Wilds appears as a boss battler game but is really a boss-saving game. Players are manoeuvring across these behemoths in pursuit of destroying binding crystals, represented by blue and purple dice, which are causing these creatures to lash out. The players will take turns selecting one card to determine the amount of action points they have then, if they choose to on their turn or another player’s turns, they may play cards from their hand for the text benefit below. Their hand is then redrawn back to three, however, if it is the last card then players can choose not to redraw. The game will continue until the crystals are destroyed or the players are defeated. A player will be defeated by having their health track touch their blight track, which will then give all other players one final round to see if they can destroy the crystals in time.
Key Terms:
Climber Deck: Each climber (player) will have their deck made up of a class and a character. The number of cards in their deck represents the climber's grip. Whenever a climber receives yellow damage by moving through those locations or boss cards, they will be forced to discard one card from the top of their deck. If the deck is empty at any point, that player will fall from their location onto a below ledge.
Damage:
Damage has three types; grip damage which is represented by yellow which will force the player to discard the top card, health damage which is represented by red and will move their health track up, and blight damage which will be gained when a blue die is attacked and will cause the blight track to move down. If these two tracks touch, the player will be defeated.
Health damage is easier to recover from but blight can be much harder to cure. When a player activates a card for its action points at the start of a turn, any damage shown in symbols at the top left of the card will not cause damage this turn.
Falling:
Falling will cause the player to drop straight down until they reach a ledge location. This will occur if a player loses grip, lands on an open location, or chooses to do an action called "let go”. That player will gain relevant damage on their way down. What's great about falling is that it can more often than not be used as an advantage. Each location, while falling, is resolved one at a time, meaning a player can interact with mushroom tokens, attack die, and even play cards to move in a different direction during their fall. While falling, action points cannot be spent, however, anytime actions can be used.
Actions:
At the start of every player's turn they will choose one card from their hand and discard it to gain the action points on the top left they will also gain any damage protection shown next to the action points. Some actions cost action points (AP) but numerous anytime-actions can be activated at any point on any turn.
Movement Actions:
Movement is key to moving around the Leviathan throughout the game and that is why there are several movement actions to fully maneuver properly. These include climb, jump, and glide.
Climb (1AP): allows the player to move one orthogonal space.
Jump (3AP): allows the player to move two spaces away in a straight line. This can also relate to moving one space diagonally.
Glide (xAP): like jumping, gliding only has the location on which the player lands to affect them. They can move straight or diagonally downwards, paying the number of action points equal to the movement.
Cards (anytime-action): Some cards will allow players to move in unique ways as shown on the card. These effects are non-transferable and can only be used on the player activating the card.
Let Go (anytime-action): when the player has a good sense of maneuverability, they can do the let go action to fall from their location. Gaining benefits that they pass through.
Other Actions:
Mushrooms (anytime-action): mushrooms can be foraged from a location and used as anytime actions. A mushroom can also be tossed to another player within the range of 3 spaces. Mushrooms can ignore location types, activate movement actions, gain grip, gain health, and reduce blight.
Strike (xAP): this action allows the player to strike at a crystal in the same location, aiming to reduce its value until it reaches zero and is removed. If this action is used on a blue crystal, the player will gain one blight. The amount of AP spent is the number of strikes performed.
Rest (2 AP): if the player is on a ledge they can rest, shuffling their discard pile to place it underneath their deck. This replenishes their grip strength.
Mend (1AP): heal the player's health by one.
Use Skill (anytime-action): skills are on the bottom half of the cards. They allow for various benefits and enhancements of actions. Any card stating 'Any Climber' can be used on any player. Just remember that players' hands are refilled at the end of a turn.
Purification:
This game features a Leviathan book, which allows for easy setup and contains a variety of 17 Leviathans, one on each double page.
Each boss will contain five threat cards, each containing a normal (purple) and enraged (blue) orientation. Each round, the leviathan will get angrier, reorienting some threat cards at the start of every round (the number of these increasing after each round). At the start of each turn, the leftmost unrevealed threat will be revealed.
The players have the whole turn to make sure the threat either doesn't affect them or affects the player who can handle it. Each effect has a target climber or area, and an effect that will be resolved. What is great about how the Leviathan attacks is that players can learn a behavioural pattern of the boss since it is only five cards. Players also become familiar with the potential risk as they continue to play.
Intricacies:
Focus Tokens:
Players will gain their focus token through certain cards which then makes that player focused. This token can be spent to add a value of 1 to a number on any skill, character ability, or mushroom. Used at the right time, this can be very crucial.
Climber Setup:
When setting up the climbers, players will choose one character. These consist of a character card with an ability and two cards for the climber deck,
as well as a set of class cards. There are eight characters and eight classes that can be shuffled together,
each creating a unique mix. These decks are small as grip management is a crucial element to the game. The small deck size really gives a chance for players to fully grasp the elements that each class and character brings. Making prefered deck setup easier to do in future games.
Injury Cards:
Injury cards can be gained through various effects and will bring detrimental effects, as explained on the card.
Determination:
- Small climber and boss decks that allow players to gain a good understanding of the capabilities.
- Lots of content packed into a normal-sized game box.
- Very important to manage the deck the player has to make sure they don't lose grip at crucial moments.
- Lots of opportunities for players to aid others in need.
- Low upkeep for the boss.
- a fair few intricacies to learn for the first play.
Leviathan Wilds is a boss battler that packs what could be a large miniature package into a medium-sized box. While playing the game, Leviathan Wilds does a great job of allowing the players familiarity both with their climber deck (shuffle built as part of setup) and the attacks the Leviathan will issue. As the decks are small, this allows the players to get up to speed fast during the game. In particular to the climber deck it is a crucial element in managing this deck to make sure the player’s grip strength (size of the deck) is enough to perform the turn they want. The other great perk is how fluid the movement is in the game. Players have many ways to shift around the locations with great ease and can even fall to their benefit to traverse the leviathan fast. If you enjoy boss battler games, especially with low upkeep and a wide array of variability/familiarity, then I highly recommend giving Leviathan Wilds a chance.
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