Back to the future

I don’t think we have ever covered Anachrony on our channel, even though it is one of Mindclash Games ’s greatest hits. 😊 It’s a worker placement euro but with some nice twists! First and foremost the theme of the game is definitely worth highlighting ‼️

☄️ A catastrophe wiped out most of humanity centuries ago, and the remaining people are living in different groups, each with their own ideologies. Due to the catastrophe some time rifts have also opened, that you can power up to reach back to the past - this is how you hear of an upcoming asteroid impact! 🙀 To prepare and evacuate you have to ask for resources from the future, making sure to pay them back to your past selves to avoid anomalies of the space-time-continuum! You want to not just survive the impact, but emerge as the new leading Path of humanity.

The worker placement aspect is quite nuanced: 🧐 There are unique worker types that you can hire during game. Some actions will require specific types, others may give bonuses depending on the worker. But it doesn’t stop here! ☝️ Though you can visit worker spots on your player board with these workers, going out to the main board requires powering up Exosuits. How many Exosuits you prepare is a decision you make early on your turn, so you have to plan wisely - they also need power cores which aren’t easy to come by.

Your main objective is to reach your specific evacuation goal, though there are multiple ways to earn points, including some majority goals. You also construct buildings on your player board that give you new abilities and worker slots. Resource management plays a key role throughout the game - multiple resource types are used for many different things.

🎲 There is some output randomness in the game. If you have asked for resources from the future you might have to roll for Paradox tokens, plus the research action also has you rolling dice. It gives some fun uncertainty to the game, but to me it seems like a strange design choice for a euro.

There is a basic cardboard version of the game, but I think playing with the plastic Exosuits really adds to the enjoyment - especially as we have painted them! 🥳