Tabletop Game Review: Pralaya

Pralaya

Japanime Games

Players: 2-5 Players

Play Time: 10-20 Minutes

“Long ago, there was an island nation in the southern sea that enjoyed a great period of cultural prosperity. Surrounded by natural beauty and gifted with tremendous intellect, the island’s residents believed their peaceful lifestyle would go on for all time.

But one morning, a fearsome demon broke free from its ancient prison and began to drag the island into the depths of the sea. With the end growing ever nearer, the king ordered his most loyal retainers to gather as much of the nation’s knowledge and as many of the island’s treasures as they could, and flee to the northern lands.

Collect valuable relics, gather coins, and buy your safe passage from the island before it sinks into the sea! The player who escapes on a Dhoni with the most valuable relics is the winner, but be warned – wait too long to flee and your fate will be the same as the island!”

Pralaya is a card game in the World of Mystery series designed by Y. Ohashi. It is a competitive game that can be played between 2-5 players. In Pralaya, players race to collect various artifacts in order to score the most points at the end of the game. However, the board acts as an island that is slowly sinking, leading to players needing to constantly decide if they should stay and collect points or leave the island before it sinks.

When I learned that Pralaya is about collecting artifacts on a sinking island I immediately thought of Forbidden Island. While I enjoy Forbidden Island, I am delighted to say that besides the similar theme, the two games couldn’t be any more different. Pralaya is competitive rather than cooperative and is a much faster game than Forbidden Island. The game also has a few extra mechanics that sets itself apart, most notably is how it constantly forces players to press their luck.

In Pralaya, cards are laid out to form an island. Players are given three action points in a turn, all of which are used to recover artifacts on the island. The artifacts each have a cost between one and three, and most of them exist only to add to the player’s score at the end of the game. Coins are artifacts that double as currency and can be spent to either obtain an extra action point or purchase a ship and leave the island. The game ends either when everyone leaves or the island is submerged in water.

The beginning of Pralaya has very little interactivity and mostly consists of players prioritizing obtaining certain artifacts. Each artifact has a different way of scoring. Coins give a set amount of points, while Demonic Pact is a card that gives or takes points away based on the amount of Demon Statues obtained. Players will know early what they are going for and will try to complete their artifact sets before they run out of time. Most of the interactivity is in the second half of the game, as other players try to finish their collections while preventing others from doing so. Some players may also try to sink the island faster when they are satisfied with their collections.

At the end of the day, Pralaya is just a big game of chicken. The player that leaves first gets to do so without a heavy cost. As more players depart the island, the cost of the next ship goes up, making it harder to leave. This mechanic raises the game’s intensity and rewards methodical players that would rather win by killing everyone else. Of course, staying longer allows you to raise your score, so at the end of the day, everything is a balancing act. I found myself thinking about Clank, a game where I often leave the risky zone quickly in an effort to ensure some kind of score. The game won’t always reward playing it safe though, and if someone else makes it off the island, they will likely surpass the score of those who left earlier.  This mechanic allows for multiple approaches to the game and adds a nice amount of strategy.

Despite how simple it is, Pralaya has a wonderful amount of depth. It’s perfect as a filler game and a great introduction to gaming as a hobby. In addition to being a fine game, it has a wonderful theme and presents itself well. Asahiro’s art adds a sort of calmness to the chaos, with gorgeous work on the cards. By the end of the game, the board is nothing but beautifully drawn water cards, with some rocks and seaweed thrown in for good measure. Unlike some of the other World of Mystery games, this one’s anime theme doesn’t take over the game, so those turned off by anime should feel right at home while playing.

Pralaya and the other Worlds of Mystery games can be found on Japanime Games’ Upcoming Kickstarter campaign.