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Raxxon box art

Raxxon

Game ID: GID0261035
Collection Status
Description

Raxxon is a 1-4 player cooperative card game set in the Dead of Winter universe at the start of the zombie apocalypse. Players each choose one of six different specialists assisting Raxxon with the evacuation of healthy citizens from among the sick. Citizens take the form of face-down square cards in a grid. Through game actions, these can be flipped to reveal whether they are sick or healthy. There are various types of sick and healthy cards, each triggering different effects when flipped or killed. Flip too many Chaotic sick and you'll add more citizens to the crowd, or even end the round prematurely. Killing off the healthy can have similar negative effects.

Each round begins by creating a crowd - a grid of citizens from the citizen deck. Players take turns performing one action at a time after resolving any consequences marked on their character sheet. Character actions are powerful effects (kill, quarantine, evacuate, etc) that interact spatially with the crowd (killing a row or column, evacuating one card and adjacent cards of your choice) and have stacking consequences. At the start of each turn, a player must resolve all their consequences from previous turns (flip citizens, add citizens, infect citizens, lose evacuated citizens, etc) before performing another action - and adding another consequence. Some consequences require players to draw Raxxon cards. Much like Crossroads cards from Dead of Winter, Raxxon cards feature stories relating to characters in play. Many have multiple parts with different outcomes depending on the choices players make. Often, the choices that make the game easier also grants power to the Raxxon corporation which can lead to defeat. Consequences don't clear until that player passes for the round.

Once all players have passed, the citizen deck is rebuilt using remaining cards in the deck, the discard, new sick citizens, loosely quarantined citizens, and any cards still in the grid. The deck is shuffled and used to create a new crowd at the start of the next round. Players win when all healthy citizens are evacuated. Players lose if the infection deck runs out (the deck of only sick people added to the citizen deck each round) or Raxxon maxes out on power and takes over the city.

Part of the Dead of Winter series.

Two promos for Dead of Winter are included in the box: KD James and Meryl Wolfe.

Year Published
2017
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment: pos 2 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
Top
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video Ms3qhlcRvlU The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast game_review at 0:18 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4824 · mention_pk 123434
The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast - Raxxon video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:18 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Solid cooperative design with escalating tension and clear win/lose conditions
  • Iconography and card design effectively convey complex interactions during play
  • High replayability due to multiple strategies and evolving crowd states
  • Narrative prompts via Rackon/Raxon cards deepen thematic engagement
  • Interesting marketing approach that builds anticipation and community involvement
Cons
  • Theme can feel abstract and somewhat disconnected from a tangible setting
  • Artwork and visual presentation are not standout compared to other titles
  • The action-consequence mechanic is unique and may be confusing at first
  • Limited availability due to invitations/viral marketing; access may be restricted
Thematic elements
  • Infection outbreak management with escalating tension as the crowd grows and infection spreads
  • A small community facing a zombie plague; evacuation and quarantine are central to gameplay
  • Emergent storytelling via Rackon/Raxon story events and evolving crowd dynamics
Comparison games
  • Dead of Winter
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Action tokens and consequences — Each action requires placing a token; once all tokens in a space are used, its action cannot be repeated that round and consequences must be resolved.
  • Cooperative Game — Players collaborate to evacuate healthy citizens while containing infection and managing resources.
  • cooperative play — Players collaborate to evacuate healthy citizens while containing infection and managing resources.
  • endgame triggers — Lose conditions include depletion of the infection supply deck or the power track reaching a threshold.
  • Grid-based crowd management — A grid represents the crowd; players reveal cards and resolve crowd-triggered events.
  • Infection tracking and quarantine vs. elimination — Infected cards accumulate; players can quarantine or kill, each option with different long-term effects.
  • player elimination — Infected cards accumulate; players can quarantine or kill, each option with different long-term effects.
  • Rackon/Raxon story cards — Story events that present choices with future consequences influencing the board state and power dynamics.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • I think this is a terrific marketing campaign it's really fun
  • the game is really cool
  • this is very abstract but the mechanics work really well
  • it's a solid Cooperative game
  • you can ask for an invite and get to buy it
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video FeTAVPnP-_0 Watch It Played top_10_list at 3:41 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4807 · mention_pk 14107
Watch It Played - Raxxon video thumbnail
Click to watch at 3:41 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Finely tuned tough puzzle game
  • Works best as solo game
  • Clear win/lose conditions
Cons
  • Very difficult
  • Availability issues due to poor sales
  • Better as solo than co-op
Thematic elements
  • Rescue uninfected citizens from zombies
  • Zombie apocalypse
  • Tense puzzle
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Pattern recognition — Remember and predict tile locations
  • risk management — Avoid revealing too many infected crowd members
  • Tile-based Puzzle — Flip tiles to rescue uninfected citizens
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • I've played about 300 solo games so this represents the top of all the solo games I've played
  • These are entirely my opinions based on my personal play experience
  • I think this is one of the cleverest solo modes on the market
  • When you win a game of Robinson Crusoe there are very few things in solo board gaming more satisfying
  • The closest experience in board gaming to being the captain on a bridge in a sci-fi movie where everything is going to shit
  • I'm probably a solo board gaming masochist
  • I just love Thunderbirds as a solo game
  • It feels like Legendary Encounters was built for the Alien theme and was built as an upgrade to the original Legendary system
  • Probably the best AI opponent in all of board gaming
  • Few games have that genuine sense of exploration
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
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