A new Galaxy has just been discovered on the borders of the Empire! Commanding your Spaceship, you go explore this new Eldorado, full of treasures and mysteries. Planet after Planet, your discoveries allow you to build up your Crew. Hire Specialists and Robots to benefit from their abilities. Attract Empire Emissaries on board, which will entrust you with new missions, worth Credits. Grab your part of the wonders that this new Galaxy is full of, to become the wealthiest explorer !
Wild Space is a tactical card game in which you aim at combining your cards efficiently. Each time that you add new cards to your collection, you reinforce your Crew, earning Credits and preparing your next combos. Wild Space carries all the excitement of the best combo card games, within short plays and with accessible rules.
How to play ?
Wild Space carries all the excitement of combo card games, with accessible rules. On each turn, a fresh action selection system offers you two simple types of options : add a new card to your Crew or draw new cards. When you play a card, you trigger its ability if the cards in your Crew fulfill its condition. Putting new cards into play is therefore useful for getting powerful abilities right now, but also for gathering the conditions for triggering future abilities. Learning how to plan your actions is key for triggering efficient combos and being able to put several cards into play at once. And knowing that the Credits that you need to get at the end of the game in order to win are based on how your Crew is composed only emphasizes that.
—description from the publisher
- quick paced card drafting that doesn't overstay its welcome
- feels clever when you chain actions and trigger bonuses
- tight design with five ships and two actions per ship creates meaningful decisions
- scoring based on sets provides clear strategic direction
- revealing only three cards at a time can be frustrating and heavily luck-dependent
- may not offer enough depth or replay value for some players
- could be considered lightweight compared to more complex engine-builders
- Crew management, alien encounters, and set-based scoring in a sci-fi setting
- Space exploration with a captain navigating five worlds and alien crews
- It's a Wonderful World
- Terraforming Mars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — draw cards from a central display to build your hand and engine
- card management — numerous cards with varying sets and powers require careful handling
- hand and engine interaction — prerequisites and placement bonuses enable chaining effects and extra plays
- set collection / set scoring — collect duplicates of alien races and complete sets for points
- worker placement — each turn a player places a ship to take the printed action on that space
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- wild space is a quick paced card drafting game that doesn't overstay its welcome
- it's at its best when it makes you feel smart because of the chained actions you get to play
- wild space hums when you're chaining together card effects and feeling frightfully clever about it
- the best thing about this game is five ships two actions each the game is tight and every decision counts
- like many drafting games only showing you three cards can be frustrating it frequently leaves you dependent on a lucky draw off the top of the deck
- it's a good game but good isn't good enough to keep around anymore
References (from this video)
- Elegant AI opponent
- Language-neutral
- Combo potential
- Solo and multiplayer modes
- Requires table space
- Luck dependent
- Difficult to master
- Crew assembly and planet exploration
- Space exploration
- Competitive solo/multiplayer
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Choose between landing, exploring, and card placement
- Card placement — Players place cards on planets with specific actions
- set collection — Collect different and same animal types for points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I promise I have played the game better before
- Today was not my day
References (from this video)
- tight action selection
- arbitrary card availability limits strategic planning
- luck can dominate if the right combos don’t appear
- Shipwrights of the North Sea
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- set collection and drafting — Draft cards to form sets and maximize points, with a tight action economy.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is the list of games that I got rid of this year.
- I try to view one to two games a week, logically about 80 games come in every year and games going out this year I think is in the 40s.
- Frost Haven is Gloomhaven on steroids; it is a serious commitment.
- Moon breaks drafting momentum with interrupt mechanics that slow the game down.
- Marvel Dagger is a photocopy of a photocopy of Arkham Horror Second Edition.
- I prefer Legendary Encounters and I prefer the IPS of The Matrix and Aliens as well.
- Stroganov is a ginormous pain in the butt to teach as well; utterly nightmarish to tell people how to play.
References (from this video)
- cute_art
- space_exploration
- wealth_accumulation
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I feel real sassy today
- I now have to accept that I was wildly inaccurate on both of those statements
- My favorite games right now are both co-ops and rolling rights
- I don't even care if I don't like it, I love it
- Everything about this game screams like I want to play you
- Where's Waldo adult board game
- This was both of our favorites
- Might be my favorite game I've played yet this year
- Vast is like an undercurrent game that no one really talks about but is super good
- The art is stunning, it reminds me of Coco
- We need to be better at playing our shelf of shame