Far to the south of The Last Ruin lies a cliffside village called The Monument. For generations, it protected an ancient shrine until the day a crystal meteorite descended. The meteor's denizens slowly crept out into the world—bizarre monstrosities from nightmare, attacking all in their path. As they spread across the land, there was no intelligent malice nor grand invasion strategy; the creatures acted like a fungus—spreading into new territory sporadically. After many fruitless attempts to expel the monsters, the people of The Monument fled as their village crumbled, exiled to distant lands, resigned to a nomadic existence.
Twenty years later, there are rumors that the bizarre monsters are growing weak. They’re slower, less impervious to attack, some undergoing a gradual petrification until they crumble to dust. Is it the atmosphere? Are they dying of old age? Do they suffer from a strange disease? No one is certain, but as the news spreads, various factions set their eyes on the vacant, ruined village of The Monument. The original villagers, now refugees, are desperate to return and rebuild. But they must do it quickly, before someone else claims their home. This is their chance. It’s now or never.
In Now or Never, you and up to three friends compete to best rebuild your ancestral village and guide the rest of the villagers on their journey home. Although the creatures of the meteorite have lost much of their strength, many of them remain, and you must fight them off to protect traveling villagers. Now or Never is the third game in the Arzium storybook series that includes Above and Below and Near and Far.
Now or Never is a competitive strategy game that allows you to:
Choose one of four asymmetrical characters to play.
Rebuild the village so that returning villagers have a place to live. You must carefully choose what and where to build to maintain an advantage, earning the biggest rewards for long-term planning.
Interact with other players by hiring their specialists to perform special actions.
Combat dangerous creatures to rescue villagers.
Explore a fantasy landscape filled with bizarre places, technology, and peoples.
Now or Never includes two modes of play: standard and story. When playing in story mode, you read from a storybook when you explore, making choices and learning more about the characters and the world. Each character has their own set of stories, unique to the locations they explore and diverse in plot, perspective, and motive, allowing you to choose what direction your own story will take.
Journey to The Monument and help rebuild your ancient home!
-description from publisher
Now or Never Review
- Competitive strategy game.
- Players rebuild their village and guide villagers home.
- Features asymmetrical characters.
- Includes story mode with a storybook.
- Creatures from a meteorite pose a threat.
- rebuilding a village and guiding villagers home
- ancestral village
- storybook choices
- Near and Far
- Above and Below
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — rebuilding your village so that the returning villagers have a place to live
- asymmetrical gameplay — choose one of four asymmetrical characters to play
- Combat — combat dangerous creatures to rescue villagers
- exploration — while you explore a fancy landscape filled with bizarre places technologies people and meteorites
- Storytelling — when playing in story mode you read from a storybook when you explore making choices and learning more about the characters and the world
- Worker Placement — hiring their specialists to perform special actions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- space the final frontier other than like our minds but no one wants to go in there because that would be terrifying
- terraforming mars ares expedition where we again return to mars to give it a good old once over making it fit for human life but this time only using cards
- you'd be forgiven for thinking that mars was well and truly terraformed but hey gloomhaven looked pretty finished until they released jaws the lion
- if you find a mysterious board game possibly magical don't play it
- bigfoot is real i fundamentally believe that
- i do love modules in games like first class and taverns of teeth and phone and while this is probably going to be different to those something about having various modules to pit against each other that just sounds cool
- i prefer to
- is sagrada legacy yep that's pretty much all we know so far about that one but i do love sagrada so a legacy version where the game evolves and changes as you play from game to game sounds good no idea how it will work but i'm very interested
- red raven have announced now or never the next game in the raven verse which is what i call it and almost no one else does but it follows near and far above and below and one north hollywood branch of in and out now or never has you and up to three of your friends though i prefer to play with my enemies competing to best rebuild your ancestral village and guide the rest of the villagers on their way home and although the creatures of the meteorite yep apparently there's a meter right now have lost much of their strength many of them remain and you must fight them off to protect traveling villagers now never is a competitive strategy game that has you choose one of four asymmetrical characters to play and you'll be rebuilding your village so that the returning villagers have a place to live and you interact with the other players by hiring their specialists to perform special actions they'll also have to combat dangerous creatures to rescue villagers or while you explore a fancy landscape filled with bizarre places technologies people and meteorites for heaven's sake watch out for meteorites and it includes two modes of play standard and story when playing in story mode you read from a storybook when you explore making choices and learning more about the characters and the world
References (from this video)
- very interested in Now or Never
- rebuilding ancestral village and guiding villagers home while fighting creatures from a meteorite
- fantasy landscape
- story book with choices
- Near and Far
- Above and Below
- Sleeping Gods
- The Ancient World
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- asymmetric city building — Alex Core is an asymmetric city building game where you and up to three friends compete to best rebuild your ancestral village.
- Combat — You will need to be mindful of combat in order to keep things well rebuilt.
- specialist hiring — Player interaction is achieved through the hiring of your opponent's specialists.
- story-driven narrative — According to Red Raven Games... you'll be exploring a fantasy landscape filled with bizarre places, creatures, technology and people. When playing in the story mode you'll be reading from a story book when you explore allowing you to make choices learning more about the characters and the world as you go.
- unique character stories — Each character in the game has their own set of stories unique to the locations they explore and this expands and diverts the plot perspective and motives allowing you to choose what direction your own story will take.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- near and far and above and below have been hugely popular games in designer ryan lockett's asian series and red raven have had a lot of big games
- now or never alex core is an asymmetric city building game where you and up to three friends compete to best rebuild your ancestral village while also trying to guide the rest of the villagers on their journey home
- according to red raving games who are famous in part for their story-driven narrative you'll be exploring a fantasy landscape filled with bizarre places creatures technology and people not unlike enter the name of your town's rival here foes enter your rivals town collective noun their sports team sucks
- when playing in the story mode you'll be reading from a story book when you explore allowing you to make choices learning more about the characters and the world as you go
- i recently played the ancient world second edition which was my first real foray into the world of red raving games and i i really liked it i loved it actually i thought it was ace
- welcome to the moon it's the end of the 1970s and while a car that gets more than 10 miles to the gallon is still science fiction life on the moon isn't
- the game's unique combination of tile laying and car drafting or make you see stars
- you uh you like katan? if you answered yes my next question is yeah but how much do you like it because if it's a lot then boy howdy do i have a product for you
- katan 3d edition is well it's a mega deluxe 300 version of katan where according to the totally non-biased catan shop.com the island comes alive with this long-awaited 3d version that comes with terrain tiles based on hand sculpted designs by katan designer klaus toiver himself
- this is a really show-stopping version of what i consider to be the most important board game of the last 50 years
- if you're like me then you are desperately in search of a life partner but have been single for five years and are slowly accepting your fate but you also are bored game apps and the latest app to grace my phone as i bought it the day it came out is railroad inc challenge
- railroading by horrible guild which just delivered on its latest kickstarter is a railroad network building roll and right game where you try to score points primarily by making a network of railroads and stations but let's face it i ultimately fail to do so
- the app version is fun and easy to use i can vouch for that i've been enjoying it and you can challenge your friends to matches as well as play the score attack mode which is the solo way to play to get the best score you can
- so if you like ball game apps and rolling right then this is one that i would personally recommend especially because i played the imperial settlers rolling right in the so clever line of games so often now that i think i've slowly worn away the digital pathways in my phone
- making its way to game found 11 while admittedly not about a plucky band of nerds in the 80s who befriend a girl with magical powers is about football which we can all admit is equally exciting
- 11 which is inspired heavily by football manager video games will have one to four players take the role of managers as you attempt to grow your football clubs over the course of a season to outperform your opponents and their teams
- i thought you know i am i think it's difficult to do board games about sport but there's a lot of passion and pedigree behind this so i'm hopeful and i think this is going to be one to look out for whether you like football or not
- the hunger a new deck building game from board game mega designer richard garfield of magic the gathering fame and not unfortunately a game about the hunger which is a 2004 hit from los angeles punk band the distillers
- the hunger you as vampires will be racing against time to hunt humans the ultimate challenge as you deck build your way to points by fulfilling secret missions
- the more you hunt the slower you and your deck become but more points you may possibly receive but if you're too slow then you know the sun comes up and your poof dusty dusty vampire remains
- i loved rhino knitting's deck building and racing game the quest for el dorado so another giant of ball game design making a deck building racing game has well most likely has my money
- platformer another game coming to game found from awaken realms light and what drew me to platformer was honestly the name platformer because i like 80s and 90s platform games like crash bandicoot castlevania and rolling thunder
- platform games aren't something that have been very prevalent or seemingly easily transposable to the world of cardboard and tabletops so platformer looks like a solid attempt at bridging that gap
- two to four players will be competing against each other on the hunt to gain coins and fight monsters by navigating the platforms of the game in a race to beat out your friends
- it's going to be family weight with a fair amount of player interaction as you push each other around and off different levels or maybe you push a monster onto the platform below where your opponent is standing
- maps are generated randomly and they reveal themselves only as you climb up and up the layers of the game so you never know really what's coming for you other than the boss monster at the end
- i'm interested in this one i like the nostalgia of it and it'll be coming to game found later this year
References (from this video)
- Strong Ryan Lockett pedigree (Sleeping Gods, Above & Below, Near & Far)
- Asymmetrical character design adds replayability
- Two modes (standard and story) offer different play styles
- Rebuilding an ancestral village with asymmetrical characters
- RS Storybook series entry; four-player story-driven game
- Story-driven with branching paths and replayability
- Sleeping Gods
- Above and Below
- Near and Far
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- asymmetrical characters — Each of the four players has different pros/cons and abilities.
- Combat — Combat elements are part of the journey to rebuild the village.
- story-driven with two modes — Standard mode and story mode with a storybook to follow.
- village-building — Players decide where and what to build to sustain the village.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- open world campaign-based cooperative fantasy RPG board game
- kickstarter is launching August 3rd
- it's a green legacy game
- we are going to get to find out a whole bunch more very very soon
- this is the reason gloomhaven was one of my favorite games is because you get that
References (from this video)
- Above and Below
- Near and Far
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is our combined list there's going to be less than 20.
- The excitement just cannot be measured.
- I'm going to stop saying we're super excited because we are so excited.
- It really fills that void of really crunchy brain energy.
- I can't wait to play it. It's the characters though because it's just so cute.
- The fact that you can select a character and play it in Title Blades one and then potentially have it in Title Blades two and then you just watch your character grow you really get you really get an appreciation for the universe and then also a love for wanting to know more.
- For those anybody who's had roommates before like I'm sure we've explored just any like general like living situation cohabitating parents anything I think everyone can relate to this game.
- It is coming, it is coming.
- So the kickstarter occurred last year hopefully it will arrive this year but it looks like a gorgeous game.
- I think just like what I'll say about it is the really the thing I really appreciate about it so far is that it stays in the same realm as Cascadia Calico but it is different enough that I will a hundred percent be playing this probably just as much as I play Calico in Cascadia.
- Holy moly dim sum beautiful game.
- The trilogy's gonna be fantastic I feel like I'm so excited for just Garfield in general because I feel like they're getting better and better every game they come out with is just like the innovative super neat super beautiful so many things to love about it.
- We have a goal to reach we need to play games game games games.
- Ryan Lockett is just genius when it comes to the board and he does he doesn't know everything he does it all.
- The vegetables are scrum-diddly-umptious.
- There's nothing much more I can say.
- So much I feel like we should someone should tell us how many times we said excitement to this video.
- It's clear that we're very excited about it.
- Overall are just getting better production value like unique mechanisms morally draw you more in.
- It's going to be so difficult to pick make lists and pick what we're excited for.
- Hype us up because we're excited even more.
References (from this video)
- Sandbox exploration
- Intriguing mechanics
- Focus on income generation
- Long game
- Solitary experience
- Sandbox narrative
- Sleeping Gods
- Above and Below
- Near and Far
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Engine Building — Players build their own engine.
- Set Collection — Collecting items for money combinations.
- Worker Placement — Implied through the sandbox Euro categorization.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- there were a number of different ways to engine build and work towards you know you could get lots of large workers so you had lots of choice of actions or you could get lots of incomes but it ended up being a really tight battle on that tile placement the Army Warrior placement board
- it's the type of Cooperative that no Alpha player can take control
- the way you draft them here you've got so many things to think about
- it's a brilliant release
- this is the best real-time game there is because there's very few rules and that means you don't have to stop and ask each other the rules all the time
- it's highly interactive you look at other opponents what they are close to you can also steal one of their
- this is actually going to sound like quite an understated review because there's nothing there's not much new here this is a five action Euro it's got a map it's got a um you know it's got a track it's got all the sorts of things said collection nothing really new
- the dice drafting you mentioned before each die that you take it's going to have a color which tells you how many resources which tells you what resource you get it's going to have a number which tells you how many of that resource you'll get and it dictates what action the dye is connected to and the action points you'll get is equal to 7 minus the number on the die
- the map is really tight once people have built in locations it really blocks others out and that's a lot it's a lot tighter than I'm used to seeing these days on Euro map boards and it was what made it stand out
- what I like about this is that it's combo your egg combo your actions of other players back of cards
- you've always dropped like the risk yeah you've always got the risk if you're just waiting for that one little extra thing to come into someone's hand you've got that risk that they all get
References (from this video)
- Collection wouldn't be complete without it
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- parade because it's a cute card game that we I wanted parade and I hope it fits in the spot that I want it to fit but we'll see
- Arboretum it's another classic card game very fun a lot of enjoyment
- I think I have to Mulligan Castle party there's no way for it to fit it doesn't fit
- because Trails is fun
- I'm gonna pick Cat Cafe instead very it's a it's another um rolling right but it's also very fun so
- I'll take Town 66 it's an oink game hooray taking all the Oink games yeah because I know they'll fit
- it's where you try to draw and you spot the difference it's very fun but I'm afraid that it won't fit
- small box perfect for the cube
- this is the bust for me I think I'm gonna take that's pretty clever and if it doesn't fit in my shelf it doesn't fit
- it did not fit
- I for sure thought that space of the top would have been perfect and then I would have grabbed all filled in the cracks of everything else I thought I could pull off
- no maybe trying to take that's pretty clever when I knew it wasn't gonna fit because I could have fit like a couple smaller games in yeah way more games in but that's my own fault for being greedy
- I like my Cube so I wouldn't change anything
- which Cube do you prefer whose game night would you come to mine or Tyler's
References (from this video)
- Stronger euro-economic side compared to previous trilogy games.
- Story elements are a light touch that colors the world effectively.
- The building matrix system is neat and advanced.
- Good balance between the adventure board and city building.
- The integrated story system is a neat mechanic.
- Engages both logical and thematic aspects of gameplay.
- High replayability through different chapters and variants.
- Recommended for fans of Above and Below and Near and Far, considered better than both.
- Single-player mode lacks the interaction that makes multiplayer fun.
- Playtime can be very long, especially for new players.
- Some story bits can feel like random, throwaway paragraphs.
- The optional paid app for narration might deter some, though the quality is high.
- Rebuilding civilization from ashes, recruiting specialists and villagers.
- A region attacked by meteorites and monsters, now being rebuilt.
- Via a storybook with passages and a six-part story, integrated with game mechanics.
- Above and Below
- Near and Far
- Tale of the Arabian Nights
- Eight Minute Empire
- Forgotten Waters
- Descent: Legends of the Dark
- Sleeping Gods
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Players choose between specialist actions (activating/recruiting) or hero actions (movement).
- Area Movement — Moving a character standee around the main board.
- Building placement — Placing building tiles on a personal player board in a grid, following adjacency rules.
- Combat — Fighting monsters on the board with dice rolls and character abilities.
- Dice Rolling — Used for search actions and combat resolution.
- Modular Board — The adventure board has different locations and can be flipped for an underground version.
- Quest cards — Cards that can be played when visiting specific locations for points and ongoing abilities.
- Resource Management — Managing various resources like coins, shells, bottled demons, crystals, and books.
- Set Collection — Collecting different types of villagers to place in buildings for resource generation.
- Storybook/Scenario Play — A six-part story can be played through, altering game mechanics.
- Variable player powers — Asymmetric player characters with unique stats and abilities.
- Worker Placement — Activating specialists on your own or other players' boards, often requiring payment.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is kind of i think the last in the trilogy of above and below near and far and then now or never of these kind of sort of like a mashup between a euro economic mechanically driven kind of game with a lot of stereo elements
- this is my favorite red raven game ever
- to me this is really way better than those and it just knocks out of the park the all the mechanical stuff in here is such at the forefront
- it all just marries together in a really really solid way to me i think that's one of the most difficult things to do is keep something in kind of engaging kind of both the left and right side of my brain and i think this one really really doesn't really achieve that
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- money is king in this game
- you start with the same 20 buildings in a grid
- the hermit hut where you can swap two tiles in your grid
- this one is competitive euro sandbox
- not a huge amount of interaction
- it feels like a sandbox because you've got so many different things you can go and do
- engine leads to money which leads to more actions which leads to more engine
- it will snowball in that way
- the art... he's very talented
References (from this video)
- deep engine-building with many options
- puzzle-like optimization even with limited interaction
- balanced sandbox feel with engine-building focus
- art and design by Ryan Lockett
- long playtime and potentially lengthy for a single session
- engine can snowball and decide the outcome early
- money can be tight early, with many expensive actions
- interaction with other players is not heavily emphasized
- town-building with monsters and exploration in a space-themed universe
- set on one of the planets from Empires of the Void
- quest/adventure feel with monster encounters and chapters
- Near and Far
- Above and Below
- Sleeping Gods
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- campaign/adventure chapters — chapters/adventures tokens and book chapters introduce extra scenarios and rewards; in standalone mode they provide income and a small benefit
- Closed Economy — money is earned and spent to take actions; income occurs and many actions convert resources directly into money
- combat/monsters — monsters appear on spaces; you engage in rounds of combat using gear and personal cards; dice determine attack slots and damage; defeating monsters frees villages
- End Game Bonuses — at the end of the game you resolve a final income; leftover resources are worth nothing and are cashed in for market points; endgame points come from various sources including incomes and quest fulfillment
- end-game income and scoring — at the end of the game you resolve a final income; leftover resources are worth nothing and are cashed in for market points; endgame points come from various sources including incomes and quest fulfillment
- hearts as resource — hearts are spent to move, to move through mountains, and to perform various actions; healing spaces or specialists restore hearts
- hero actions on the map — three hero actions per round; move on the map up to the spaces shown on the chosen path; spend hearts to move further
- money economy — money is earned and spent to take actions; income occurs and many actions convert resources directly into money
- quests — quest cards provide objectives; they often require resources or objectives and can grant points or income
- specialist actions — each player starts with two specialists; they can hire more; you can use either your own or another player's specialist; each can be used once and are flipped down; using actions also costs money
- town-building grid (orthogonal placement) — each player starts with 20 buildings in a grid; you place from the outside and extend orthogonally; you can only take buildings adjacent to already taken ones; hermit hut allows swapping two tiles
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- money is king in this game
- you start with the same 20 buildings in a grid
- the hermit hut where you can swap two tiles in your grid
- this one is competitive euro sandbox
- not a huge amount of interaction
- it feels like a sandbox because you've got so many different things you can go and do
- engine leads to money which leads to more actions which leads to more engine
- it will snowball in that way
- the art... he's very talented
References (from this video)
- Deep, narrative-driven gameplay with strong campaign integration
- Excellent production and depth; Amber Minds expansion adds value
- Engaging writing and story integration
- Very long playtime and complex setup
- Not ideal for newcomers or casual gamers
- epic questing with city management
- Arzium world; adventuring and town-building
- campaign-driven multi-book quest
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- adventuring and town-building integration — Move a character around the map, complete quests, and build in your town
- end-game scoring engine — Final income turn to determine who has created the best engine
- large campaign structure with multiple booklets — Six booklets; long, involved campaign with narrative arcs
- leveling and skill learning — Level up your character and learn new skills
- Resource Management — Gather resources and funds to hire craftspeople who aid construction
- resource management and hiring craftspeople — Gather resources and funds to hire craftspeople who aid construction
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- near and far in particular shines here with its map book and its character standees
- it's got a bit of worker placement a bit of racing and some pusher luck quests
- we actively enjoy the writing and getting into the story
- near and far is by far our consensus favorite
References (from this video)
- large-scale, epic feel without being unwieldy in shorter play
- fun to customize experiences via shorter play versions
- officially long plays in the full version can be lengthy
- epic questing, village building, monster hunting
- fantasy/adventure world
- story-driven with modular scope
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice-driven exploration — move around a board, fight monsters, and complete quests.
- Dungeon Crawl — move around a board, fight monsters, and complete quests.
- village-building and economy — developing your village and managing resources for progression.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's such a good Gateway game
- the art on the cards looks fantastic
- it's one of those simple flip and write games that you just want to play again and again
- the lazy Susan is genius
- Planet Unknown just knocks our socks off
References (from this video)
- large, immersive solo experience with a campaign feel
- two solo modes (standard and story mode) add variety
- learning curve and potential need for re-learning rules on replays
- ancient/heroic survival with a legacy-style progression
- epic engine-building and village rebuilding theme; part of a trilogy
- story-driven campaign through episodes
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Engine Building — players build an engine over multiple episodes; includes branching story elements and storybooks
- engine-building / episode-based progression — players build an engine over multiple episodes; includes branching story elements and storybooks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I really really enjoyed it
- I absolutely love this one I love the art of this one too and this one will definitely be one that I choose to bring traveling and stuff in the future. I really really like it
- I freaking loved it. I am so, so happy that I have it in the collection
- I absolutely love it and I'm excited to hop into those
- I love engine-building games
- I absolutely love the solo I've heard a ton of good things about the solo from a few of the people in the board game Garden solo community
- I think it's very cool that you can name the baby too; it just makes me very happy
References (from this video)
- Diverse design philosophy