*After Us* 🦧🦍
Design⚙️:Florian Sirieix
Artist🎨:Vincent Dutrait
[ @pandasaurus_games ] 1-6 players
Humans died off a long time ago. The year is now 2083 and you are the leader of an Ape tribe trying to grow your collective intelligence faster than the rest! Will you rise to the occasion or be left in the crumbling rubble of history?
First off, I'll say that I really enjoy After Us. It sits in a unique spot in our collection of a game that plays rather quickly with 6 players, but also while having everyone play simultaneously.
I've played this at all player counts and it runs well at all of them. On your turn you will be drawing 4 cards from your deck. Then everyone will arrange those four cards in any order they wish to then gain resources and trigger abilities from said order. By closing off boxes you will be able to acquire what's inside them. Open boxes give you nothing.
Then everyone will choose an ape type to purchase while also giving yourself and potentially the player next to you a benefit. Everyone then attracts apes to their cause from six facedown stacks of level ones and twos of every type of ape. The the round resets and you draw four more.
It is a race to 80 points, but more so it is a rece to see who can be the MOST efficient with what is in front of them. I've seen players buy barely 3 cards and be constantly ahead, while other players save rage (the ability to trash cards from your deck) and rush ahead at the end from rage points. Each ape type has a different set of skills to help you during the game, but knowing WHEN to buy them and when to hold back is key to efficiency.
While some people feel there isn't much player interaction, I feel as though it's just a different kind. Everyone is very focused on how well their tribe is working, but the pressure of keeping up with everyone else makes it a tense race the whole way through. No turn can be wasted. Efficiency is king.
