Cosmic cowboys catching criminals
COWBOY BEBOP: SPACE SERENADE
Designer: Johan Benvenuto, Florian Sirieix | Publisher: Japanime Games
Stack up on fuel, get your crew ready and don’t forget to take your genetically modified Welsh Pembroke corgi, because you are off on an adventure to collect bounties for known criminals from Earth to Mars and as far as Ganymede in the semi-cooperative deckbuilding game Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade.
Players take on the role of one of the main characters of the crew of spaceship Bebop – Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed (who comes with Ein, the aforementioned corgi, and also the undeniable MVP). While each character, as per standard deckbuilding rules, start with the same base deck, only differing the colour of their cards, throughout the game, they will be able to purchase more cards, whose abilities cater more to the nature of the characters they belong to.
The crew then travels to the three planets, collecting clues or fighting the local criminals to get renown, the points that determine the winner of Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade. Towards the end of the game, Spike’s nemesis Vicious will appear. He is stronger and more elusive, hopping from planet to planet, as the crew chases after him. It is the defeat or the escape of Vicious that will signal the end of the game.
Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade does not stray far away from the basics of deckbuilding established by Dominion. Players play five cards to purchase new ones, deal damage or get clues. The primary focus of the game is on defeating the criminals, which can be brought down when they lose either all of their health or clue tokens.
Therefore, for the most efficiency, players will build their decks to be more clue or fighting orientated. The characters themselves will also be more predisposed to one of these approaches. For example, Ed’s character ability allows her to get additional clues, so it only makes sense to buy cards that boost investigation as well. These two approaches come with their own downsides, however. Dealing damage has a potential of getting characters injured, i.e. filling their deck with useless cards. On the other hand, multiple clues are needed to get the criminals’ token, so it is harder to achieve overall.
While players are competing to get the most victory points, there is a very light cooperative aspect to it as well. Characters can use some of the abilities of the other crew members as long as they are on the same planet, which can prove quite useful, particularly when trying to capture Vicious.
To do well in a game of Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade, players just need to follow the strategy that can apply to any deckbuilding game: carefully curate your deck, get rid of the low-value starter cards and make every action efficient. And, of course, don't forget to use cards from different characters’ decks to create combos, synergies and get bonus actions.
This is not a game that will revolutionise the deckbuilding genre, nor will it add anything substantially new to it. Yet the gameplay principles Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade does take, it also utilises to create an engaging, challenging and entertaining experience. It also approaches license, beloved by many, respectfully, faithfully recreating it in components of great quality, from card thickness to perfectly fitting game box insert.
ALEXANDRA SONECHKINA
WE SAY
Just like the anime series it is based on, Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade is a fun jazzy ride. It sticks close to the golden rules of deckbuilding, adding a few mechanics that help enhance the theme, making players feel like true space cowboys.
WHATS IN THE BOX
► 3 Planet boards
► 1 Bebop board
► 4 Character boards
► 1 Damage board
► 1 Common deck board
► 5 Plastic miniatures
► 5 Cardboard standees
► 7 Fuel cubes
► 40 Renown tokens
► 50 Capture tokens
► 1 Big shot stand
► 188 Cards
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED DOMINION
Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade sharp card play is reminiscent of Dominion, although it has a bigger focus on the combat abilities and combos.