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Description
Cerebria is a dynamic, team-based, objective-driven area control game, where players play as Spirits, powerful entities representing Bliss or Gloom. These opposing forces - the two sides of human nature - struggle to control and shape the Inside World, the metaphorical representation of an evolving personality.
Cerebria introduces a unique theme and numerous innovative mechanisms. The game is centered around the player-controlled Spirits, and the Emotion cards controlling Cerebria’s areas, each with their own stats and abilities.
The Spirits can perform up to three actions on their turn. These include moving between Cerebria’s Realms and Frontiers, using the specific powers of the Realms, invoking and upgrading Emotion cards, removing opposing Emotions, and building Fortresses to consolidate their influence on certain areas. The Actions cost Willpower, gained primarily by absorbing from the Origin’s Spheres in the middle of the board. Both Bliss and Gloom also have a rare shared team resource, Ambition, enabling them to use the game’s most powerful effects.
The teams can score points either by accomplishing publicly known minor objectives (the Intentions), or completing their major objectives (the Aspirations), which change dynamically during the course of the game. Scoring Aspirations allows players to add Bliss and Gloom Fragments to the Identity, built in the middle of the board. These are key moments in the game: Cerebria’s state is in constant flux, but the Fragments are permanent imprints of a game state during the scoring events.
The game is won by the side with more influence over the finished Identity, thus becoming the dominant force in Cerebria.
Year Published
2018
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 6
This page: 6
Sentiment:
pos 6 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–6 of 6
Video BJt8QC_rbY4
The Chris Jamie and Steve Show top_10_list at 9:20 sentiment: positive
video_pk 13631 · mention_pk 39842
Click to watch at 9:20 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Wide stylistic range, highly detailed visuals
- Immersive theme through art
Cons
- Art can overpower mechanics if not balanced
Thematic elements
- Emotions as characters in a strategic, thematic game
- Inside the human mind, a world of emotions
- Colorful, storybook-like yet sophisticated artwork
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area control / emotion tokens — Control regions with emotional avatars to influence outcome
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- we value artwork in board games
- I love good amazing components and beautiful artwork to the point where I'll buy games just for the artwork
- artwork can really help bring your game to life and your theme to life
- there are definitely people out there who will say I don't care what it looks like it's a great game because they're all about gameplay
- I'll spend time sitting down at a table playing this game for quite a while I want it to look nice
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video FwqTU5ckwic
Run Around Up top_5_list at 3:18 sentiment: positive
video_pk 13286 · mention_pk 38949
Click to watch at 3:18 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Deep thematic fabric
- Gorgeous art and minis
- Strong player interaction
Cons
- Complex rules
- Heavy planning and downtime
Thematic elements
- emotions shaping reality; identity
- Inside world, mindscape
- team-based area control with evolving identity
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Revelations and state evolution — Revelations trigger changes and are preserved as gloom/fragments
- team-based area control — Two opposing emotional forces compete to influence the inside world
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- five great games worth backing on Kickstarter
- not just one way to play it
- this is essentially a game about games
- the executives expansion adds variability and replayability to the game
- gorgeous art and also pre painted miniatures
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video t-JQ9ACyRvk
The Broken Meeple top_10_list sentiment: positive
video_pk 8810 · mention_pk 25970
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Excellent theme with Inside Out (Pixar) parallels
- Beautiful painted miniatures
- Multiple game modes (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, cooperative variants)
- Heavy, strategic gameplay with smooth progression
- Huge deck of emotions with unlockable greater emotions
- Multiple upgrade paths on player boards
- Unique asymmetric faction design
Cons
- Heavy rules with front-loaded information
- Steep learning curve
- Doesn't get enough buzz or recognition
- Often found at discount sales
Thematic elements
- Emotions Personified
- Psychology
- Inside Out Theme (Pixar)
Comparison games
- Pokemon (evolution mechanic comparison)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a unique twist on a genre that has you know like i say i love deck building but it has been bloated with a lot of uh entries
- it's a breath of fresh air it's like oh no one's really tried this before
- thank you viewers because you kept banging on at me to play this game finally i did and you were right
- my god do i i mean i love coffee i love coco but man do i hate the stuff i have to play this game
- it's like inside out the board game as in the pixar movie which is vastly underrated
- wow for someone like me who loves like variety as the spicer life this is certainly one where you've just got so many different ways to tailor the game
- tainted grail is one of the best story world settings for any campaign game i have played forget dissent forget gloomhaven
- gameplay imperium is sound it really is a good fun deck builder it would be so much higher on this list if it was just a bit more streamlined
- this is a really streamlined game that works with six players you don't get many of those
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video kBpFaQbEOJg
top_10_list at 2:26 sentiment: positive
video_pk 6827 · mention_pk 20240
Click to watch at 2:26 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- artwork
- thematic depth
- challenging decisions
Cons
- steep learning curve
- long playtime
Thematic elements
- emotions as factions influencing a personality
- internal world of emotions shaping a person
- allegorical, thematic
Comparison games
- Arkham Horror Third Edition
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Area influence by managing emotional powers and actions.
- hand management / action selection — Players use emotion cards to perform actions and responses.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the Mind by itself is a fantastic game it's so the concept is so cool
- it's a filler it only takes a couple minutes to play
- I Lov when we're playing this at a big party
- the artwork is so cool with all these cats just having a party
- it's extremely challenging to do well
- oh my God I fell in love with this game
- it's nonsense it's yeah it's a great
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video T-rNSnLaXVE
The Broken Meeple top_10_list at 3:23 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4858 · mention_pk 14434
Click to watch at 3:23 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Gorgeous aesthetics
- Works well as 1v1 despite being designed for 2v2
- Lots of customization options
- Great thematic design
Cons
- Time hog - difficult to get to table
- More involved and complex
- Expansion adds complexity without being essential
Thematic elements
- Based on Pixar's Inside Out, emotions and mental states
- Inside the human mind
- Thematic area control
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Back and forth area control style game
- asymmetrical gameplay — Two sides with opposing goals (positive vs negative emotions)
- Custom character building — Customizing emotion characters with different powers and abilities
- Multiple actions — Dozen million ways to customize and take actions
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- through the Ages it has basically killed the physical version of this game with the app and I'm the bad guy
- Magic the Gathering is still one of the best Advanced two-player games out there
- this is basically if you took the Pixar movie Inside Out and turned it into a giant three hour Euro game
- I pretty much I you can convince me to play this for free I will outright refuse to play it with four
- this is just one of the best Star Wars games that's out there
- I love this Euro this euro is so much fun it has climbed up my top 100
- give me a game that gives me a lot of options you know it's not a case of oh it's so tight
- it's gonna be an absolute blast
- this game has a ton of rules the FAQ is 20 miles long
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video dVaso5Qv2pY
The Broken Meeple top_10_list at 3:43 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4518 · mention_pk 13273
Click to watch at 3:43 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Gorgeous miniatures
- Unique team versus team gameplay
- Great Euro system with co-op feel
- Expansion adds balance faction with interesting mechanics
Cons
- Team versus team aspect makes it unpopular with many players
- Hard to find people willing to play it
- Balance faction expansion is complex and can run away with the game if other players aren't careful
Thematic elements
- Battle between positive emotions versus negative emotions for control of the psyche
- Inside Out universe - human mind emotions
- Team-based heavy Euro with area control and emotional themes
Comparison games
- Anachrony
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Vying to build structures and control dreamscape areas for bonuses
- Card Play — Players place emotion cards to generate power for area control and special abilities
- character customization — Multiple ways to customize characters through various options
- Open communication — Teams can discuss strategy openly since opponents know they're communicating
- team play — 2v2 or 1v1 team setup where one side is positive emotions and the other is hateful emotions
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's that great banter game that's just great for like a good party setting
- The game needs to be quick and snappy and that's the way it should work
- When I got the game myself and finally got it out and played it with fellow gamers it was brilliant
- I don't see this really rising further up the top 100 though I think this is going to be its peak
- If there's a slight flaw at this game it's that the card system needs a little bit of tweaking it can get quite swingy
- The fans recommended this game and the fans were right
- It's kind of like that awesome experience that you only get to experience every now and again in a blue moon
- I found brian board to be a big surprise one of those big exceptions to the rule
- It's that great sort of climactic tension where throughout the game you're trying to figure out who is not on our side here
- It's a really clever system there's a decent amount of dice mitigation you know every time you roll those dice you are there racking your brains
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–6 of 6