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Wyrmspan is the sequel to the popular bird collecting game Wingspan, but rather than getting to know real life creatures, this game allows you to enter the fantasy world of collecting dragons! Once you’ve got your fangs into the multiplayer mode of Wyrmspan, why not dabble in the art of Automa, allowing you to fly solo without the need to gather your usual gaming session flock?
How to Play
The objective of Wyrmspan is to earn the most victory points. In multiplayer, you compete against your fellow players, but in solo-mode you compete against a randomised deck of cards called Automa.
Whether competing against humans or machine, the player’s actions are exactly the same. On each turn, the player chooses from three actions: Excavate, Entice and Explore. When excavating, the player mines a part of one of the three caves (Crimson Cavern, Golden Grotto or Amethyst Abyss), reaping immediate rewards. Cave sections have to be excavated before a dragon will consider making its nest there. When enticing, a player pays the resources that a dragon requires and places it in one of the cave sections that have been excavated. When exploring, the player journeys through one of the caves gaining rewards from the depth of the cave and the dragons that live there. These actions are determined by coins, so there is no set number of actions to be taken each round, as a player can gather more coins on their turn. These coins can also be used to pay for dragons, making it a strategic decision as to whether an action should be sacrificed to entice a particularly good dragon. However, intrepid adventurers rarely go it alone, even if you play solo, and so the dragon gild is there to lend a helping hand: as you increase in prestige, you gain useful resources and when you reach certain milestones, you get particularly excellent rewards. Despite a lack of human opponents to battle with, public objectives are also still in play when in solo-mode.
Automa plays very differently to a normal player. Instead of a human brain, she has a deck of cards called the decision deck, and instead of a player mat, she moves around the dragon guild, gaining face down cards. The different cards that make up the decision deck determine the difficulty, or intelligence, of the Automa and if you add in Ravel mode cards then some of Automa’s actions will be dependent on yours. Automa scores a static value for the cards that she collects rather than any face up values, and as she does not collect other resources, she does not score for those. For public objectives, as Automa does not have a player mat, she instead has a baseline number depending on the round, that you compete with, which may increase depending on the actions she plays.
A Treasure to Behold
Wyrmspan differs significantly from its Wingspan predecessor, and for me, practically all of the changes make the game more engaging. A couple that I especially enjoy are the coin system and the excavation component. The coin system changes how you think about actions, as there is no longer just a set number each round, but one that can fluctuate depending on what cards you have and what cards become available. Where the coin system encourages within round strategising, the excavation component encourages more longer term strategising as it increases the number of steps you have to take to get dragons placed, but excavating caves also gives you instant rewards which may be more useful short-term and so it is a tricky but pleasing juxtaposition to consider.
The style of the solo-mode in these games is elegant. The regular gameplay in Wyrmspan could easily have made solo-mode a simple personal best scoring mode, as there is already limited player interaction even in multiplayer, but Automa adds some real challenge. She feels very much like an opponent, rather than just a weak simulation of another player, and I think some of that is down to the way the decision deck and her actions are so different to a regular player: it is a SOLO mode and the designers don’t shy away from that. I also heavily enjoy the new Ravel mode, as it means your actions are reflected back by Automa, rather than her doing her thing and you doing yours, and only occasionally getting in each other’s way. Wyrmspan is a more complex game than Wingspan, and so solo-mode will have to be more complex as well, although in my experience, the Automa is comparatively simpler than in Wingspan to action. In Wyrmspan, Automa plays a number of the same limited actions each time, whereas the Automa in Wingspan, although it only takes one to two actions each turn, what they are can change depending on card and round which can make it a little more confusing to digest.
A Little Burnt Around the Edges
There is very little that I dislike about this game. It takes everything I love about Wingspan and dials it up. The only change that I am actively disappointed about is the lack of dice. I am simply just a dice goblin itching to hear the sweet clack of cubes falling through a tower, but alas, the sequel does not include this. I understand why the change was made, as there is a lot going on already without another component to think about, but it does remove one of the main elements of randomness I liked about Wingspan. This is also compounded in the solo-mode as Automa is able to thwart your resource gathering in Wingspan, but doesn’t have this opportunity in Wyrmspan, reducing any sense of urgency when considering it.
Does Wyrmspan Automa soar above everything else?
I really love this game and I am so glad that they took the time to design a solo mode as it means I don’t have to annoy my friends and family as much by making them play it over and over. Whilst a knowledge of Wingspan is useful to comprehend Wyrmspan, it is by no means necessary. I played Wingspan before Wyrmspan multiplayer, but played Wyrmspan before Wingspan Automa and it didn’t feel like it made much difference to my comprehension of either. The Automa is also really well put together, making a worthy adversary that gives solo-mode its own unique strategy compared to multiplayer. This game is quite expensive, but it is definitely worth the price tag. I would wholeheartedly recommend it for any fan of Wingspan looking for some added challenge or any fan of dragon based games looking for some new adorable creatures to collect.
Zatu Review components
Overall score: 95/100
Ratings:
Artwork: 5/5
Complexity: 4/55
Replayability: 5/5
Player Interaction: 2/5
Component Quality@ 5/5
Likes:
Not a set number of actions per round
Automa very much feels like an opponent
Beautiful artwork and feel of components
Dislikes:
Takes up a lot of space
