Abstract excellence, but it lacks feeling
INNER COMPASS
Designer: Asger Harding Granerud, Daniel Skjold Pedersen| Publisher: AEG
Inner Compass is the latest release from the Danish design duo who last year produced the fantastic Copenhagen. Now they’re back with a new offering which promises to delve deep into the human psyche, exploring deep and complex themes of emotion, memory and personality.
Unfortunately, once you start playing, it quickly becomes clear that Inner Compass does nothing of the sort; it’s an almost entirely abstract experience. The good news, though, is that it still generates plenty of chin-strokingly thoughtful fun.
The game plays out over a modular board filled with coloured squares, with different colours supposedly representing happiness, sadness, fear, anger and love. On each of your turns you’ll move from space to space, picking up cards based on your direction of travel. You’ll be able to discard these cards in order to feel specific emotions, placing markers on the board to represent the feelings you experience.
It’s a slick system that quickly feels intuitive, but the game’s real strategic hook lies in its scoring system. Whenever you place one of your markers, you’ll be rewarded with points. But the value of each emotion shifts constantly throughout the game, leading to some tricky dilemmas.
Should you cash in your cards now while you have the opportunity? Or should you wait a few turns until you’re in a position to reap a greater reward? It also introduces the delicious option of deliberately manipulating the scoring track, letting you suddenly crash the value of the happiness cards your opponent has worked to accumulate.
While scoring points during play is important, you’ll also be able to unlock a collection of end-of-game bonuses which can often prove to be the difference between victory and defeat. Like the board itself, they’re highly variable, with a different set dealt out at the start of every game. It means that each time you play you’ll face a different puzzle, trying to work out the most efficient and powerful ways to rack up points with the tools available.
What’s most impressive about Inner Compass is the depth of the decisions it creates using this small set of mechanical moving parts. Playing well takes some clever spatial strategising as you work out where you need to be on the main board, and the best ways to get there. You also need to be acutely aware of your rivals’ plans, ruthlessly seizing any opportunity to deny them points. The sheer variety, from the board setup and bonus scoring opportunities to the constantly changing values of each emotion, leave you constantly trying to adjust to shifting circumstances – a kind of mental churn which is the closest the game ever comes to feeling thematic.
Higher player counts increase the unpredictability, making the game less analytical and more about reacting to your rivals. It feels much better as a two-player battle of wits. It’s a pity that its gameplay doesn’t complement its promising emotional premise, but this is a superb abstract game which offers a fresh and taxing challenge with every playthrough.
OWEN DUFFY
WE SAY
While it misses out on cashing in on its theme, it's nevertheless, a great abstract experience.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
► 4 Life board sections
► 4 Player boards
► 4 Player pieces
► 6 Emotion tokens
► 60 Player cubes
► 8 Value tokens
► 69 Emotion cards
► 16 Quality tiles
► 1 Qualities board
► 1 Situation track
► 1 Compass token
► 80 Victory point tokens
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED SANTORINI
Like the brilliant game of Greek gods, Inner Compass is all about spatial strategy and planning a few moves ahead.