It's the 1940s. The mob ruled the town of Mantis Falls. At least one person saw what they shouldn't have seen. Now, witnesses must travel through the town to reach the place where people are waiting to protect them. However, one of the witnesses may not actually be a witness at all, but an assassin sent to prevent the witness from leaving the town. Who can you trust?
In "Reaping the Rewards", I took a look at the finished product of the crowdfunding campaign. Mantis Falls was initially funded on Kickstarter in July 2020 and delivered to supporters this fall. It can be purchased now. This review is modified from my original Kickstarter desktop alert to reflect the finished components and final rule set.
Mantis Falls is a 2-3 player game suitable for children aged 14 and above. The game time is about 60-90 minutes. A game that can cooperate or compete. However, the player didn't know which one it was until the end. Mantis Falls is produced by Distant Rabbit Games, designed by Adrian Kerrihard, and art by Julianne Bierwirth. The game is priced at $34.99 and includes the base game and Full Circle, Under the Rose and Triad game modules. Mantis Falls can be purchased directly from Distant Rabbit Games.
This is what you get in the box:
Action cards are the driving force for the advancement of the game. Players have 7 action cards in their hands, and they can use these cards every round. These cards are divided into six different suits. When playing action cards, players can play any number of cards as long as they are of the same suit. Most action cards are played and then discarded. Some cards called conditions are still present. They are usually an item or an ability. For example, a gun is a condition that you can play. Then it allows you to use bullet action cards to cause damage to opponents or other players.
An event card is drawn at the beginning of each round, and then processed at the end of the round. There are two types of event cards, visible and invisible. Event cards that are seen will be displayed to all players, while event cards that are not seen can only be viewed by active players. Incidents can also be incidents or objections. Events usually cause damage to the player. Opposition events can also cause damage, but if the player causes enough damage to the opposition, these events can be avoided. Then they can get rewards. Events add randomness to the game and provide Mantis Falls with a "player versus game" element.
Some action cards allow you to summon allies. These cards are drawn from allied decks, like a set. Allies may need 2, 3 or even 4 cards. Once you have prepared a complete suit for the ally, you can play the ally in front of you and use their abilities. Before you have a complete set of allies, any ally cards you own will be placed face down in front of you.
Road cards create towns that you must travel through to escape. In the game, you use four sunsets, four nights, and four dark street cards. Each card has a traffic light, and each of the three colors of the traffic light has a number. These are referenced by other cards during the game. Street signs may also have public phone icons, bus stop icons, or ambush icons, which are also used throughout the game. A sunset road card is the starting position, and a dark road card is the ending position.
Each player also has a character at the beginning. They can be witnesses or assassins. There will always be witnesses in the game, but it is also possible that one of the players is an assassin. The character will not be revealed to other players until the end of the game. Each player will also receive a character card at the beginning. For the basic game, each player is an urbanite with a maximum life of 8. However, the Full Circle module adds two other types of characters, doctor and boxer, each of which has different maximum health and special abilities.
Each player will receive a life tracker as well as a red wound mark and a black gasping mark. The markers on the life tracker are used to record the player’s wounds and the number of their last gasps. The color of the life tracker matches the player's chess pieces.
Each player also has a wooden chess piece that represents their current position on the street sign. Three wooden roses are used when playing with the rose module. The Mantis Falls map inside the top of the box is just another example of game developers' attention to Mantis Falls.
The game includes a cloth game mat, which can be folded and stored in the game box. Not only does it look great, but it also helps players set up and organize various cards in the game.
In addition to the basic game, Mantis Falls also includes three modules. The Triad module adds 12 cards and is required when playing with three players. Most of these cards are used with bystanders. The Full Circle module provides a more in-depth gameplay, including two new character types, a new ally card and a new action card. It is best to use the Full Circle module to play the game after all players are familiar with the basic game. The Under the Rose module is best for advanced players. Each player will be paired with a mercenary agent that can help the player, but at a price.
As shown in the picture above, there are many different cards and chess pieces in Mantis Waterfall. These cloth bags help keep everything organized. There is even a cloth bag for each of the three modules. Since their game developers want to ensure that the game continues to play multiple times, they even include card sets.
The goal of the game depends on your character. Either all witnesses need to go to the end of the road, or the assassin must be alive and the witness is dead.
The first thing to do when setting up the game is to create a town with game pads and street signs. The sunset starting Luca is placed in the lower right corner, and the end Dark Luca is placed in the upper left corner. Shuffle the rest of the street signs and remove one street sign of each type (sunset, night, and darkness). Then place the remaining cards face down according to their type, with sunset at the bottom, night in the middle, and darkness at the top. Take out the cards of the midnight suit from the action deck. Each player will get a call in the hit action card. Then divide the remaining midnight cards into a stack of three cards placed on the left side of the night road card and a stack of two cards placed on the left side of the dark road card at the end. Shuffle the remaining action cards and give each player six cards (with the hit card, each player should have 7 cards in his hand.). Then place the action deck on the game mat on the right side of the street sign, face down. The event card is shuffled and placed near the action deck. The ally card is shuffled and placed face down in the designated position. Each player will get a character card (city man in the basic game). Shuffle the three character cards (2 witnesses and 1 assassin) and distribute them to the players. These characters are placed face down and will not be revealed to other players. Each player takes a life tracker, a red and a black marker, and then a chess piece that matches the color of their life tracker. Place a red mark on 0 to indicate a wound, and place a black mark on 0 to indicate the last gasp. Finally, the player places their game pieces on the starting sunset road card, and then flips the adjacent sunset road card on the left.
Mantis Falls is played alternately in six stages: initial movement, event drawing, main playback, action display/processing, event processing and drawing. In the first stage, active players can move their pieces to the next street card. Then flip the next street card so that the player can always see a space ahead. When the player moves to the left along the sunset road card and then to the night card on the far left, the movement follows a snake pattern. Next, they move to the right along the night card, then to the dark card on the right, and finally to the left along the dark road card to the end. Movement is optional, the player can only move forward at this stage.
In the event draw phase, the active player draws an event card. If it is a visible event, place it face up so that both players can see it. It was not resolved until late in the round. If this is an invisible event, active players can say as little or as much information as they want about the card, and it can be true or untrue. It is placed face down next to the active player. For players who are new to the game, the designer recommends that all event cards be seen as seen to help players understand how events work.
The main game stage allows both players to use their action cards. Each player has four choices, and they can only choose one of the four during the round. They can play as many action cards of the same suit as possible. Then place these cards face down in front of the players in the order they are to be played. Players can also place a card face up in one of the conserved energy card positions on the top of the game mat. Players can discard up to two action cards face down instead. Finally, the player can choose to do nothing. Active players play their games first, then another player.
In the action display/processing stage, starting from the active player, the first action card is flipped and processed. Read the text and do what it says. Some cards sometimes only act when certain conditions exist. After the active player deals with their first card, another player deals with their first card. Players alternate until all the playing action cards are processed. Use the action card to discard face down into the discard pile.
Next, deal with the event card. If it is an opponent's card, the result depends on whether the opponent is defeated by the player by causing enough damage to it. If it is not defeated, the player will usually be injured according to the card's instructions. If the opponent is defeated, the player gets rewards and results from the card. Then put the event card face down into the event discard pile. Finally, each player, starting from the active player, draws action cards and takes their hand to seven cards. Now another player becomes the active player and the stage starts again.
The goal of Mantis Falls is to allow all witnesses to reach the end of Dark Luca. If at the beginning of the new round, all players are alive at the end of the card, or if any player dies, the game ends. If both players are witnesses, then once they both reach the end, they will both win. However, if a player is an assassin, then if the witness is dead and the assassin is still alive, the assassin wins. If the assassin is dead and the witness is alive or reaches the end to escape, the witness wins. If the witness and the assassin die in the same round, the game is a tie.
A unique feature of Mantis Falls is the final respite concept. If the player’s life tracker is at the maximum wound, the game will immediately pause and enter the sidebar. That player can play as many action cards of the same suit as possible at this time. The goal is to heal so that they are no longer in the biggest wound. If they can do this, the black gasp mark will move a space. This gives the player a chance to avoid death. However, if their final gasp mark reaches 3, they are dead. In addition, if the player cannot heal or reduce their wounds, they will also die. When the player is injured, the wound cannot exceed the maximum wound. Therefore, if you have to take a breath, having an action card that can heal a wound will keep you in the game. Therefore, in the main game phase, it is better to hold treatment cards rather than use them.
Mantis Falls is approved by GeekDad!
Mantis Falls is a fun and unique game with a touch of social interpretation. The game has a film noir feel, not only because of the theme, but also because of the art on the cards. I really like the unknown factors in the game. If you are an assassin, you know this is a competitive game. However, if you are a witness, you are not sure if other players are also witnesses or assassins. Either way, there is a 50% chance. Therefore, you don't know whether you should cooperate or compete. You don't want other witnesses to die, but if you can, you want to kill the assassin. If you end up killing the other witnesses, then you all lose the game. As an assassin, you don't want to give up your role prematurely. Witnesses can use the Call in a Hit action card to cause a lot of damage to another player. The assassin can only use this card to fight against the opposition event, not other players. Therefore, the assassin can only use the event card to slowly hurt the witnesses and wait for the opportunity to make the final attack, hoping that the witnesses will not breathe.
The game has many action and event cards. In most games, players will not pass any type of card, so some cards will never be played in the game, which increases replayability. The ability to play multiple cards in the main game stage, as long as they are all of the same suit, also provides a lot of strategies for the game. Do I want to play a good card by myself now, or wait until I get more of the same suit and have a strong play with multiple cards? In fact, in the early days of the game, players were doing basic games while saving money for later large-scale games. Although every player starts with a hit card, the other cards of the midnight suit that can be obtained in the night road card and the final dark road card may be powerful.
The energy conservation feature is often overlooked by beginners. When you can discard two cards, why discard a card that any player can pick up later? However, sometimes additional exercise or therapy comes in handy. In addition, handing a card to another player is also a good way, because some cards require two players to use the same type of cards in the same round before they can be used.
By adding three included modules to the game, players can make the game more complex. In a three-player game, one player is a bystander each round, while the other two players play like a two-player game. Some action cards can affect bystanders. Otherwise, bystanders will only discard or save energy and draw new cards. They are not affected by other effects or actions. Players can choose to use any or all modules because they want to customize their gaming experience.
Mantis Falls is different from any other game I have played. Combinations that go through towns while playing cards will create suspense, and this suspense will only increase as the player approaches the end. I really enjoy the tension of not knowing other players' characters, and this tension continues throughout the game. This tension increases with the incident and the damage caused by other players, so that all players are on the verge of death for part of the game—until the end. I can't believe how good this game uses social reasoning with only two players! Whether I win or lose, I want to try something new or different and play another Mantis Falls.
Although the game itself is incredible, it is all the extra elements that game developers have added that make Mantis Falls amazing. Cloth game mats and cloth bags are good examples. As with most games made during the COVID-19 pandemic, the production time was longer than expected. However, during this time, developers used this time to add more content to the game. Action Card Compendium is a 33-page booklet that not only explains every action card in the game, but also includes strategies for how to use them and how they can be combined with other cards. This is not only useful for players of all levels, but also helps players achieve the built-in balance and interaction in the game. Finally, the developers even made a soundtrack for the game. It can be played from their website, and their custom playlists can also be used on Spotify, Soundcloud and Bandcamp. When I played the prototype of Mantis Falls for the first time more than a year ago, I was very impressed. However, as I have been following this game from crowdfunding to release, I have witnessed that this is not just a game, but a labor that Adrian and Juli really love. I commend them for their dedication and attention to detail. For many reasons I mentioned in this article, Mantis Falls is recommended by GeekDad. I personally highly recommend Mantis Falls as an important addition to any game collection, especially for people like me who like to play different games to change the rhythm.
For more information or to purchase the game, please visit the Mantis Falls website!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of the game for review.
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