Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s… Legacy? The Indestructible Bunker? Haka?
No, this isn’t the lineup for Phase 4 of the Marvel films, nor will you find them lining the walls of your local comic shop. Where you will find them is within a small box labeled Sentinels of the Multiverse that opens to reveal a much larger, richer world than you think it could ever contain, defending Megalopolis from the forces of evil.
Think back to some of the recent board games that you’ve played that have provided a great play experience not just from the mechanics, but from the story the game was telling. Games like Pandemic, Lords of Waterdeep, and Betrayal at House on the Hill are great not only for providing a fun play experience, but because the flavor of the game helps to tell an interesting and compelling narrative over the course of the game. Whether you are working to eradicate a plague and save humanity, scheming and plotting to become the unchallenged ruler of the city of Waterdeep, or just trying to survive the night in the haunted house you really should have known better about going into, it’s the new narrative that unfolds every time you play that helps to keep these games fresh and makes you want to put it back on the table time and again.
Sentinels of the Multiverse by Greater Than Games has that in spades made of four colors (and then some).
At the core, it’s nothing more than a cooperative card game that you can play in about an hour with very tight mechanics that scale based on the number of people. But the game really shines because of the sheer amount of flavor that drips from every single card of every single deck. Before I get into that, I should give you a brief synopsis of how the game actually plays.
Two to five players control superheroes that must work together to try to defeat a villain. To help them in this, each hero has a deck of cards that they draw from every turn to power special abilities and let them fight effectively against their adversary. Each villain plays slightly differently, but they all follow the same basic rules. At the beginning of the turn they act automatically, playing the top card from their deck of cards to challenge the heroes and make their lives difficult. One last deck – the Environment Deck, representing the location this epic battle is taking place in, plays at the end of every turn. This deck provides any number of effects, helping or hindering any number of targets on the field. Certain cards, called one-shots are “one and done” kinds of effects. You play the card, it does it’s thing, and then it goes into the discard. Other cards, such as Ongoing cards, Equipment cards, or special character specific cards remain on the table until their text says otherwise and can do a variety of things, such as increasing damage a hero does, reduce damage they take, or even provide them with an alternate power they can use on their turn.
Each hero plays slightly differently, and some are more complex than others. This is denoted by a Complexity Rating of 1 (being the simplest) to 3 (being the most complex). But they all follow the same basic game play rules – on their turn, they may play a card, they may use a power, and they may draw a card. Or they can choose to do nothing and instead draw two cards. Likewise, each villain carries a Difficulty Rating from 1 (being the easiest) to 4 (being exceedingly difficult). The game is designed to be challenging no matter how many people you throw at it, with various effects scaling based on how many heroes are arrayed against the villain. And indeed – the game has handed me some of my most humiliating losses and given me some of my most hard fought victories.
But that’s not what makes the game special.
What makes the game special is the amount of detail they put into the world building of this game. Megalopolis, Rook City, and the various other locales feel alive. The heroes and villains feel as if they have defined roles in the world instead of just being pieces in a game. They all draw heavily from existing heroes and heroines that fans will recognize, which helps to give a sense of who these characters are supposed to be. The Wraith obviously draws a lot of inspiration from Batman. Legacy is a fitting parallel to Superman. The Indestructible Bunker is “not Iron Man,” and Tachyon draws heavy inspiration from The Flash. But they also manage to inject their own flavor into the heroes to make them stand on their own in the way the decks play, and through the small details in the cards. They’ve developed these characters as if they were honest to goodness heroes starring in their own books. They have back stories and affiliations with other heroes. They have quotes from various issues of their books that appear on their cards. They have nemeses that appear as villains in the game, which gets reflected in special rules when they’re on the table together.
And while all heroes follow the same basic rules, the way their decks play is different and interesting. Legacy for example has an interesting mix of cards that allow him to deal damage to opponents, take damage for allies, and act as a leader for the rest of the heroes, bolstering them and inspiring them towards greater things. A hero like Tachyon plays completely differently, utilizing a special descriptor in some of her cards, and many of her abilities increase in effectiveness the more of these special “Burst” cards are in her discard pile. She’s designed to exhaust her deck as quickly as possible. No two hero decks play the exact same, and no one hero plays the same way twice. They each utilize different strategies with their draw power, hand size, and special types of cards. I could go on for several thousand more words about each of the decks that are currently available to play (and indeed, may do some character spotlights in the future). And they have continued to release new expansions that expand on the world they have created with this game, tying everything together in a very, very satisfying way.
Even the various bits that come with the game to help keep track of hit points and ongoing increases to damage and resistance look like they’ve been ripped directly from the the pages of a comic book, and help to add to the game’s flavor.
But the long and short of it is that when you play this game, you don’t feel as if you’re simply playing a deck of cards like can sometimes happen with other card games. Instead, you feel like you are actually taking on the role of these heroes as they defend the multiverse from the various and sorted villains that threaten it on a daily basis. No one that I have introduced the game to has had anything less than a complete blast playing the game, even when we’re getting trounced by a villain that has proven to be way out of our league. If you’re looking for a game that you will want to continue to put on the table again and again, you really need look no further than Sentinels of the Multiverse.
The Sentinels of the Multiverse base set retails for $39.95, and can be purchased from your FLGS or directly from Greater Than Game’s website.
Ben Erickson
My favorite card game!
I didn’t think I would care for it over much when my wife brought it home. But I fell in love with it instantly. And so has everyone that we have since introduced it to.
You might wanna check the name of that company. It’s “Greater Than Games”, not “Greater Than Good Games”.
That is what I get for writing in the midst of a move! Thanks for the catch. Fixed!