Game description from the publisher:
Alien Artifacts is a 4X-style card game in which you play as an interplanetary faction, sending your research vessels into uncharted space to expand your knowledge and power. Build powerful ships, develop new technologies, and explore distant planets for anything — or anyone — you can exploit.
Alien Artifacts is built on a Resource engine - each turn you will have 3 Resource cards in your hand and you will decide how best to spend them. Each resource card has two different resource types for you to use. You can only use one side and only two cards per turn! Using these resources, you will build Ships, develop Technology, discover Planets, or Trade for currency!
New Ships allow you to attack the aliens and gain their valuable artifacts which provide huge bonuses.
With each new Technology card in your Empire, you will have access to more actions, bonuses, and scoring opportunities.
Each Planet you explore provides valuable resources for future actions.
There are two sides to each of these cards, and as you build them you will decide:
Logistics - play cards on this side to gain ongoing bonuses that will make your Empire stronger and help you build faster.
Operational - play this side to gain a new way to score victory points (and yes, you will be able to activate your operations more than once, if you play well).
Manage your Resources, build the right cards, make wise choices. Win!
Alien Artifacts provides a true 4X experience in under an hour. With over two hundred cards, Alien Artifacts offers players many scoring strategies and great replay-ability.
- Ambitious cross-influences from similar games
- Some interesting mix of mechanics
- Feels like a poorer version of Race for the Galaxy and 51st State
- Joints and pacing can feel unfocused
- galactic conquest and engine-building through artifact powers
- space opera universe with competing factions
- thematic but broad and less cohesive
- Race for the Galaxy
- 51st State
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — players vie for control of space regions
- engine-building — crafting a deck/engine from artifact cards to improve future turns
- Resource management — balancing actions and powers to maximize scoring potential
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- 2020 was the year that i finally decided i don't like legacy games
- if you like discovering new games and if you like playing a new game every week that's fantastic
- the experience for paradise lost was ... terrible