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Let’s start with a paradox. We don’t like change. We also get bored when things are the same. An example: I love me some macaroni cheese, and I sometimes struggle to think of a good replacement meal for work, but sometimes I look at that cheesy goodness and think, ‘Again?’ Too weird? Okay, let’s try a more relevant example. There’s a certain franchise based on war in the stars (worst fandom ever). There’s people (fools) who moan that The Force Awakens is too similar to what had gone before. Then The Last Jedi comes out and then there’s a load of moaning that it’s too different (they were wrong). Rise of the Skywalker arrives, and Disney are stupid enough to listen to the demented echo chamber that is Twitter (not X, never X) and change everything again, and the haters still hate.
Pleasing the fans isn’t easy.
Scythe has a lot of fans, and rightly so. What you have is a perfectly balanced strategy game with great depth and unrivalled theming. Expansions have brought additional elements that broaden the already-many options available on a player’s turn, so what else could be brought to the game? Well, how about a campaign with an honest-to-goodness storyline?
First Impressions
I’ll do this review somewhat upside-down compared with my usual efforts. I’ll talk very briefly in general terms about what’s in the box, I’ll go over my thoughts, reactions and why I like Fenris so much (there’s a spoiler right there, eh?) and afterwards I’ll go into a little more detail regarding the box contents in a separate section that is easily skippable. I know this has been out for a while, but I still don’t want to be that guy.
For the sake of transparency, I’m relatively new to the Scythe franchise, got hold of the base game a couple of months back, got totally sucked in by the world-building, and I’ve played about a dozen times. I love the feeling of losing myself inside this world, and allowing the emergent storytelling to draw me in. So, when I discovered there was an expansion which literally tells a story within the framework of the Scythe rules and mechanics, I had to get involved.
Production values are high once again, with everything in the expansion matching the base game exactly. The artwork is on point, the contents are all manufactured to a high standard, the rulebook/campaign guide is spiral-bound – thank you! It is so much easier to use a spiral-bound campaign document, and it’s this level of thought in production across the Scythe range that elevates it above its peers.
The writing is great, and I was deeply engaged by the narrative from the start. The word that kept coming to mind as I went through the opening chapters of the campaign was ‘refreshing’. It’s a new way to play a familiar game. It’s like getting a free download of a new game mode for your favourite shooter, and you find that you like the new mode just as much as the old one. It is a refresh for Scythe, gives an extra bit of flavour to the gameplay.
Now, I didn’t really need a different reason to play Scythe, as I was enjoying the vanilla base game as is – I’ve been quite happy for Scythe to dominate my table into submission every week or so and get my resource gathering on. However, the campaign has proven to be very more-ish for me, as I’ve been eager to find out what happens next and – even more important – wants in the secret boxes! And by the end of the campaign you have 11 modules that you can add to the base game however you wish, adding even further to Scythe’s replayability value. This is a life extender for the base game. Some of the products I review are games that I know I’ll enjoy for a short time, but I’ll soon be done with them and be ready for them to move on. Other games will stick around a lot longer I’m sure, but I can see a time when I tire of them. Scythe along with The Rise of Fenris will stay permanently. My shelf is their home.
A Brief Side Bar
Partway through writing this review I took a glance at what others have written – I swear to your favourite deity that I didn’t look before playing, I like to form my own opinions first. I did find some that weren’t as positive as others – nothing is for everyone, after all. I found a few complaints regarding the campaign hard to accept, however, mainly regarding the fact that as the campaign progresses, players become more powerful – a little too powerful for their tastes – and also the fact that some of the campaign chapters are shorter than others. I disagree on both these counts (your Honour).
Firstly, a campaign in any kind of game should give the player a sense of progression otherwise it is a complete failure. During my first playthrough I found that there were indeed a couple of sections midway through that I seemed to cruise through, but other chapters that I found to be more of a challenge, and I was too busy enjoying the sensation of playing a storyline to worry about the parts I found ‘easier’. It’s all part of a greater whole experience. Regarded as a complete campaign, I would say that I found it sufficiently challenging to keep my brain engaged, and found myself checking the clock after completing a chapter to see if there was any way of fitting in another.
Secondly, have you ever read a book? Sometimes you’ll get a chapter that runs a bit shorter than the others. It makes for a good reader experience. It gives variety, it alters the pace, and that can propel the story forward. (Trust me, I’m an author, I know some of what I speak.) It has the same effect in The Rise of Fenris.
There’s an alternative path through the campaign as well: depending on how the game unfolds in Chapter 1, you’ll head to either chapter 2a or 2b, so there’s replayability baked in. Also worth knowing is that this is not a legacy style game, the campaign can be fully reset so that you can play it again yourself or pass it on to someone else (make sure you get it back, though, it ain’t cheap).
Spoilers ahead!
Seriously, jump to the end of the section if you have any intention of ever buying this expansion.
You ready? You sure?
Really sure?
Alright, let’s do it.
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As this is an eight part campaign, you'll want and need to track your progress, and there's a nice big stack of paper campaign trackers that allow you to do just that - there's enough so that you don't really need to worry about ever running out. You'll mark off your victories and losses, and track your wealth which builds as the campaign progresses. The money you gather has a greater purpose here than it does in the base game, where it's simply used to indicate who wins. In Rise of Fenris you can spend your coins on Perks and Mods which can come in very handy for the next part of your story. There's also a section called the Triumph Log where you'll keep track of all the stars you earned. Again, the stars will equal more money which can go towards your vital upgrades.
Perks, you say? This is the first new element introduced by the campaign – scenario one plays out mostly as a standard game of Scythe, other than this new mechanic. There’s a bunch of Perks to choose from, but they can only be used once in the campaign, and must be marked off on your campaign tracker, and each one costs 15 gold. This is a decision that will take a bit of thought and a bit of courage/what-the-heck-might-as-well-go-for-it style attitude.
You’ll also meet Influence tokens, which can be earned as you get your stars on the table, and have several uses throughout the campaign. Here at the start of the story, they give players more power in a vote. A vote for what? Well, I’m not going to tell you everything…
Cooperative elements soon come into play as the capacity to form alliances emerges – alliances which can be broken, but at a cost. There’s also an alternative Triumph Track that can replace the original. This would be a great way to play the base game with a setup that can force people to play in a very different manner. This little change was one of the things I liked best, as it was such a simple way to bring variety to Scythe.
Those hard-earned coins of yours will get to buy Infrastructure Mods as the campaign progresses – you’ll get to use these once per episode to give your early game a jumpstart and speed up the process of engine building. The game’s big reveal, and one that I’m purposely hiding in the middle of this paragraph and taking my time to reach so that you’ve got enough room to bail, is the introduction of a new faction – Vesna. It’s something you’d probably figure out if you stared at Mystery Box A for long enough, but it’s a tremendously satisfactory reveal when that character mini and those mechs finally emerge. These are not the final minis to be uncovered in the mystery boxes, but you know what? We’ve spoiled enough here, and there’s plenty of other reviews out there that can detail every last extra in the expansion if you so choose to read them. I’ve told you as much as I have in the hope that it’s an additional lure to tempt you in. Let’s get to the wrap-up, where I give it one last effort to persuade you that this is a fantastic addition to an excellent game.
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Obviously, then, it’s a strong recommendation from me. Should you get this at the same time as first trying Scythe? No, because you need to make sure that you enjoy the base game. Many people love it, many others have bounced off it, but nobody can tell you your own tastes. If you’re already digging Scythe but haven’t had it that long? Get Fenris. I’m extremely pleased I’ve got it because of the amount of options it offers me for playing a game I love. Long time fans, those who are unsure of this ‘campaign’ nonsense? Do it. Get it. Even if you really, really aren’t up for the campaign (?), the modules are worth your time and money.
This is the firmest affirmative I’ve reached in some time. I can’t now imagine owning base Scythe without this, because not only is the campaign a ton of fun, but the modules bring an amazing amount of variety to the game. You can use them all if you want, or mix and match. You do you.
Scythe, along with this expansion, has reached a point where it is always near to the table, and once it’s on, it stays there for the weekend. The modules add a tremendous range of variety to a game that already kept drawing me back in its base form. Heck, if I keep on playing these variations, it’ll get to a point where playing the base game without modules will be a refreshing change. Then I might want to play the campaign again. Then I might use a few of the modules. Then it’ll be some years down the line and Scythe still won’t be a game I’m bored of. I’m all in now. Scythe and the Rise of Fenris have become one of my happy places.
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