OFPG - Defenders of the Realm: Definitive Edition Preview (Save Monarch City!)
Transcript
Hi everybody, I'm Starla.
I'm Mit.
And we are
AFRO-BASEMENT GAMES. YEAH.
AND WELCOME to our preview of Defenders of the Realm the Definitive Edition sponsored by Greater Than Games.
Now family, we have to defend Monarch City from some really, really bad monsters. So here's Starla with an overview of the game.
Defenders of the Realm Definitive Edition is a cooperative game for one to six players.
Become one of 10 unique defenders, each with their own unique player board and deck of ability cards.
And work together to defend Monarch City from four powerful bosses.
Each boss also has their own panel and darkness cards related to them, showcasing how much of a danger they are.
Careful hand management is essential. Every card you play can give the enemy additional resources.
That is known as the heat system. The more you do to combat the enemy, the more the enemy's strength shall grow.
Each round represents one day and follows four phases. Dark, the enemy attacks, bosses and minions move, and events occur. Dawn, heroes heal and refill their hands. Day, players take actions, move across the map, defeat minions, and weaken bosses. Lastly, dusk, the consequences of the day are resolved. Defeat all four bosses to win. You lose if Monarch City runs out of towers, the enemy deck runs out when cards are needed, or required minion is unavailable.
And for those of you familiar with the original Defenders of the Realm, make no mistake that this is just a reprint. This is a redesign from the ground up of the original game systems, replacing individual turns with simultaneous player actions, and introducing the aforementioned risk and reward system mechanisms with the heat, modular elite modes for a tougher challenge, and lots more.
Work together, manage your resources, and stop the forces of darkness before they destroy Monarch City.
Do you think you have what it takes, defender?
All right, defenders of the realm.
Definitive edition. Yes.
Now, this is kind of like a reboot of the game from 2010.
Yes.
And they did a lot to give it a lot more dramatic engagement.
Well, for one, this game is so colorful and vibrant that you want to play it when you put it on the table.
And you know, the theme is is that, you know, like after years of peace, here come these four evil bosses trying to mess up everything.
Yes.
You know, and now your team has to come out here and defend Monarch City from craziness. Cuz everything was cool, and then here we go. We got to fight to the death.
Cooperatively.
Cooperatively. Yes, we have to. Cuz the only way you win this thing is that you got to take out these four evil bosses and all their minions.
Right. And the world that they've created, I mean, it's very thematic. You find yourself immersed in the world when you start playing. So, I mean, they really captured that in the way they made the characters, in the way they made everything look.
And you know, just you that that tension where you know, the you know, the minions and the bosses are coming toward the main city, and they keep that tension going. And that's that theme like, "Oh my god, we need to do something." And you can't use, you know, your cars cuz darkness is on you. So, all this tension is on the team, and it's a it's a little a lot of fun cuz you know, you got to fight it out, but it's just that that theme of we got to defend our land, and I like that. I really do like that.
Yes. Now, the artwork and the components, as I said said earlier, the board is vibrant, it's colorful, it's thematic, and then they've got these big chunky pieces that are on the board.
Now, this is a prototype, and they're planning on making, you know, a lot of this wood. So, it's going to be wood components, which is going to be pretty cool. And And nothing's going to be really the same. Now, the board is probably going to be like this, very vibrant, very colorful. And the characters are going to be that kind of cartoonish. It's totally different than the 2010 version. You know, the artist totally different.
Yeah. And that that helps with the theme. I mean, you have to have the right artwork. All of all those things that tie in together to make the game something you want to play.
Yes. And what's so crazy is that, you know, going back to the theme, they made each one of the bosses have that special theme of, you know, like you have one that's an ice dragon. So, you know, he's a frost dragon, so he's coming crazy from the from the winter. Then you have like a this big demon.
Yeah.
You know, so each one of them have, you know, you know, the theme on them. So, I I really do like that also.
Yes. And like I was saying, the pieces are big. You You can see them. They're chunky. The dice are big. They feel good. I mean, I'm a tactile person, so I like the way things feel. So, I think they really did a really good job. And if they make all the components wooden, that's just going to up everything.
Yeah, that's going to really up everything and make everything really cool. So, I'm really excited about that.
Now, when you're playing the game, I mean, you've got to work together cuz you're trying to defeat the evil that's trying to take over my city.
Yes. And you have the four different phases of each turn cuz it's a day. You have the darkness where the evil is attacking. Then you have the dawn where you can, you know, everybody's trading off cards. All the players are trading off cards, trying to see what they need to get geared up because the next one is day. And that's when you attack. That's when you start attacking and doing what you need to do, but you have to do a lot or a little. Because if you do a lot, the enemy does a lot. And if you do a little, you might can hold off the darkness and the monsters a little bit. So you got to really you kind of utilize your teamwork to see what you need to do and what you can do.
So it's about balance.
It's about balance cuz you really got to balance it out. And then the last phase is is is dusk, where you go like, "Okay, you know, what happens?" You know, all the craziness happens at dusk cuz all the things that you've done, we see what happens. And what I like about the different cards, cuz you have different cards here, darkness, the gates, uh you know, uh the portals, uh you know, the curses, frost coins, and towers. Now, all of these have, you know, where you set up, you know, that's one thing. When you set this thing up, everything gives you set up instructions, which I really do like.
Every card.
Every card and everything gives you set up instructions. So it's really cool. Even your player card gives you set up instructions, so I like that. And then once you set everything up, when you go through the different phases, you'll see on some of the cards, "Okay, this is what happens in dusk. This is what happens in dark. This is what happens, you know, in different little phases of everything."
so you so you don't miss things. So you can look at the card and say, "Oh, wait a minute, I need to do this cuz we're we're in the dark phase. I need to do this because we're in the day phase." And that helps you not to keep running back to the rule book. You've got it right there in front of you.
Yes. And then it also tells you some of the different ways you can lose the game is on here. You know, like on the on the uh enemy board, it tells you the loss and also win. And then it, you know, different other places tells you when you lose it, this is when you lost the game.
But but I think I think uh the way the game goes, you got to beat all four.
That's all it When you look at the win section down here, it says one thing.
You got to beat all the monsters. You got to beat all the bosses.
beat all the bosses or you're going to lose Monstro City.
But then you can lose in so many different ways. But that's the bad thing about it. You can lose so many different ways. So, this is very dramatic. You have multi-use cards. You have dice throwing. You have so much going on and it's a lot, you know, going on, but it's all teamwork cuz you can see, you know, the different monsters have the the map has arrows and those arrows show where these monsters and the bosses are starting to come from and how they're flowing toward Monarch City and you have to get in their way and try to stop them some kind of way. So, this this is very dramatic, very like in your face, like, "Okay, we need to do something now." So, do we use a lot of cards or a little cards? It's It's It's fun. It's fun. Now, I'm I'm really glad they really did freshen up the 2010, yeah.
They did something more interesting and made it fresh and new and modern. I love it.
I love it, too. So, don't just take our word for it, family, because this is coming out on Game Found very soon. Check it out for yourself. See if your family or your game group will take a look at it and like it. So, definitely do that. Now, Stahli, where can they find Our Family Plays while we try to fight all these monsters coming at us and closing in on our city? WHAT'S WHAT CAN THEY FIND US?
WELL, if you're looking for Our Family Plays Games, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, Threads, TikTok, on our website, and right here on YouTube.
Right here on YouTube. Family, thank you so much for checking out our preview of Defenders of the Realm Definitive Edition sponsored by Greater Than Games. And family, thank you so much again and always know we love you. Bye now.
Hey.
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