Can you maneuver your way around and collect the most sets of Aethermon? Now’s your chance to find out! The more sets you complete, the better you will score. It’s time to show you have what it takes to be an AetherRen yourself! Let’s get started!

What Is It?

Grid Movement / Shared Grid – Players will move the group token to a new space on the board each turn. If they land on an available Aethermon, they will collect it to score at the end of the game. If they move to a blank spot, they do nothing and end their turn. The game ends when each player has had a consecutive turn without collecting a card (in competitive mode), or once any turn is completed without an Aethermon being collected (in cooperative mode). So players will need to be careful with their positioning throughout the game.

Variable Player Powers – In the competitive game, players have access to artefacts, which give them special abilities to manipulate their movement, or their turns in some way.

Set Collection – Players are trying to collect as many Aethermon as they can to score points. If they collect all the Aethermon in a set, they’ll score bonus points as well.

Who Is It For?

  • 2 to 4 Players – Scales well because you use a different number of cards and vary board set up
  • Ages 8 and Up – Small ruleset, simple game flow
  • Fans of set collection
  • Players who like the option of competitive or cooperative play

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Gorgeous art! Very colorful, and super fun characters; love the acrylic piece!
  • Box – No bigger than it needs to be, and I love a box with finger holds!
  • Simple set-up
  • Small learning curve
  • Well-written rules
  • Fun flavor text/lore on the back of the Athermon cards
  • I usually don’t care for games with both co-op and competitive modes, because one usually feels like an afterthought. But I thought both modes had merit here, and I liked them because they felt unique and well-rounded
  • 2-player cooperative forces players to play on the 2 different axes to add more challenge
  • Use of artefacts in the competitive mode to add more choice and strategy is neat

CONS

  • Rules – I am definitely not a fan of rulebooks that are on cards at all. I find it much more difficult to “flip” to the info you need when you are trying to reference something. I much prefer a little booklet
  • I wish the rulebook included the solo rules (mentioned on the crowdfunding page) because I liked the cooperative puzzle and would probably play it by myself often
  • The game doesn’t feel super different play to play, so it will probably have low replay value to some players

Final Thoughts

This game is super cute! I love the art, and I think the Aethermon creatures feel like part of a world that I would love to see more of.

I think the gameplay is simple enough to appeal to a wide range of players, which I always appreciate, and once you start playing, turns move fairly quickly as you just pop the group token to the next space you want to be.

The artefacts also add a nice level of change/strategy to the mix, without being too complicated as well. While that’s a cool addition to the competitive game, I think I liked the puzzle aspect of the cooperative game even more, since you need to be careful not to skip a turn not getting a card or the game will end.

All in all, there’s a nice game in this little box, so I definitely think it’s worth checking out while it’s crowdfunding!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6/10

Designers – Christopher Ng, Sarah Whillier
Artist – Fabio Porta
Publisher – Aethermon Studios
MSRP – $30
Gamefound
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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