A World of Pure Imagination
ACHROMA
Designer: Realm Runner Studios | Publisher: Realm Runner Studios
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
◗ 40 Game Card
Collectable card games might be the hardest genre of our hobby to break into. It’s an industry 30 years young that is guarded by titans.
Companies with major intellectual properties have had their card games crash and burn, as they attempt the gauntlet of creating a game that’s visually pleasing, immediately engaging and, most importantly of all, consistently releasing compelling new cards, with enough supply to fire up and fuel a demand.
Enter Achroma. A small team of less than ten artists, designers and developers, based out of a small studio in the UK, using its own IP. It faces every challenge a CCG can and yet, they have created something I’ve seen countless others fail to do with infinitely more resources; make a brilliant card game.
Achroma is a two-six player card game (the game’s mechanics are flexible enough to allow for interchangeable multiplayer, though tournament formats focus on 1v1 play) with each player possessing a palette, their personal connection to the Five Realms of Achroma which we recognise as a deck of 30 cards. Players begin with ten shards, your resource for playing cards and your lifeline for staying in the game. If a player ever has zero shards, they lose, whereas if a player can gain 30 shards, they win.
Each turn begins by either drawing a card, or trading one from your hand, discarding it to gain shards equal to that card’s cost. Afterwards, you can play up to three cards from your hand during the Main Phase, spending their shard costs to add them to your Canvas/play area. After spending one turn on your canvas, characters can attack other characters, exchanging damage equal to their strength values. This strength can be improved through objects, which not only provide special abilities and strength, but can shield your characters from otherwise fatal attacks, as all damage dealt to a character through combat must first destroy objects if possible. There are also rituals and events, one-off cards that immediately impact the game before going to your Dregs/ Discard pile. Last but no means least are locations: areas of power (and some of the best card art I’ve ever seen in a CCG) which offer a permanent benefit to your Canvas, as well as often possessing an Effect.
After you’ve finished playing or activating cards comes the Resolve phase. Many cards on your canvas will possess an effect in their top right corner, passively generating shards, causing an opponent to lose shards, stealing someone’s shards or preventing your shards from being lost. Once effects have resolved, you may again either draw or trade, before passing play clockwise.
I’ve been playing CCGs for most of my life and I’ve never played one with such an elegant resource system. The closest to this is Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, where blood is fittingly both currency and remaining power. Whilst that game is naturally focused on constant conflict, Achroma is the first game I’ve seen where its narrative intent is shown so effortlessly through its mechanics. The world hosts a battle between light and darkness, Chroma and Achrom, but not necessarily ‘good’ vs ‘evil.’ This is shown through most Chroma decks winning by accumulating 30 shards, a struggle to achieve in the face of aggressors that grows over time, whilst Achrom is the temptation of power; an energy that attracts the wicked or vengeful, requiring all opponents to be at zero shards, because if only the strongest and most determined survive, they will fight harder than anyone else.
Gameplay is straightforward, but deceptive. No card costs more than six shards, letting you unleash your most powerful cards on your first turn.
However, doing so leaves you vulnerable to counterattack, as cards that cost as little as two shards can erase your best character, leaving you scrambling to recover as they continue to apply pressure. In early playtest games, I would overly commit to the field, playing out two characters and a location that almost refunded themselves whilst impacting my opponent’s hand. They took a moment to consider their options, traded one card, before sequencing three more that utterly wiped my field, as well as stealing some of my precious remaining shards.
The choice at the start and finish of every turn to draw or trade is a game-changing choice. You’ll never catch up without having more cards in hand, but maybe you need to trade one card to play the other two, making small gains to claw your way back. Look at what will change during the next resolve step; can you weather that storm, or do you need to trade something to shore up your shard value?
The best CCGs of the moment (Flesh and Blood, One Piece and the soon to be released Lorcana) all benefit from cards having multifunctional usage. Having every card offering a new opportunity of play or a glut of resource to fuel your engine makes both playing and deckbuilding a joy.
Deckbuilding in Achroma is equally fascinating. £20 buys you a set of 40 cards; a pre-made palette and ten extra cards, immediately offering customisation. Because cards are ostensibly equally priced and available, rarity exists to add limitations to a deck’s power: you can have one legendary card and up to four different rares in a palette, with a maximum of two copies of each common and uncommon. You’re also restricted by realm to ensure a coherent identity, but can have any combination of Achrom/Chroma cards you desire, though it’s not advisable to equally represent both sides; you’re not going to be able to win games without a consistent strategy of gaining or removing shards.
It’s possibly my inner otaku calling, but I absolutely adore the artwork of this game. The characters look straight out of a Studio Ghibli film, whilst the myriad of landscapes represented on location cards are genuinely breath taking. Realm Runner should be applauded for their hard work in creating a coherent and characterful world whilst working under the constraints of a small team.
It’s that latter point which makes me adore this so much. This is a dazzling gem of a game, but that beauty comes at a significant fiscal cost, one which could have avoided by selling this system elsewhere, but doing so would have sacrificed this game’s soul.
Can you think of another company that would create a high-quality app to support play, which also doubles as a means of tracking all successes for either side? No joke, future sets and narrative beats are changed based on every game of Achroma played at every level. Can you think of another game where you as a player can shape the world through play? It’s literal magic that could never be dreamed of in a less digitally integrated world, but they did it and continue to push themselves to do more.
TTG was sent two of the ‘First Edition’ sets to review. As a player, I will be spending my own money to complete this collection and buy future sets. Because if you want great games, truly remarkable systems made with passion to carry on existing, you HAVE to support them every way you can. I personally cannot wait to see what the future has in store for Achroma.
MATTHEW VERNALL
WE SAY
There are companies with hundreds of staff who’ve invested literal millions trying to achieve what this dedicated studio of passionate artists and designers have done with Achroma. Phenomenal game.
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED ONE PIECE TCG...
The hottest TCG going right now with sell-out tournaments and release days. If you’re struggling to find One Piece as much as Luffy, Achroma captures that same fascinating gameplay at a considerably more affordable price.