Race, raid and salvage across Atlantis!
Storm Raiders is a very attractive and enjoyable new game from new Kiwi studio Arkus Games, but designed by Shem Phillips of Garphill Games. It’s a venture towards more thematic gaming from Shem, who is known more for complex Euro games, but in fact his designs always have an awareness of theming, though very often historical rather than fantastical, like this one (though for the exceptions that prove the rules, see Circadians: First Light and Circadians: Chaos Order).
At its heart Storm Raiders is a pick up and deliver game, but as the eponymous storm raiders picking up resources left in the wake of a devastating rift storm that travels the board, and exchanging them for contracts worth prestige points, it feels like the theme came first with this one. Along the way you’ll gather crew with special abilities, medals, and finally mods that allow you to improve the three vehicles – trike, airplane and sub – that you use to traverse the world. And at the end of the game the values you rack up on their matching dials will be multiplied by your crew, medals, and mods, giving you yet more prestige points.
The production here is stunning – if you get yourself the deluxe edition, that is, which I recommend – and the theme is immersive. In fact the theme is so good I find myself wishing the game mechanics were just a little more compelling, as enjoyable as they are. For more detail and my final thoughts, check out my video review!
