Rising Sun
Is the follow-up to Blood Rage a worthy successor?
Designer: Eric M. Lang | Artist: Adrian Smith
Rising Sun is a game that will make you go ‘wow’. From its table-filling main map, illustrated with eye-watering beauty by artist Adrian Smith, and towering monster ‘miniatures’ that feel suitably awing to the straightforward yet limitlessly complex area-control gameplay at its centre and, yes, even the more than $4 million it gathered from tens of thousands of backers on Kickstarter last year, it’s hard not to be bowled over by just how impressive Eric Lang’s latest showpiece feels.
That’s perhaps unsurprising given that Rising Sun is the offspring of the designer’s equally epic (and revered) spiritual successor Blood Rage and gloriously brutal classic Diplomacy, pitting players against each other in a cut-throat battle to rule feudal Japan by deploying their troops across the lands and attracting the aid of legendary monsters and god-like kami. (This is by no means a game for those after historical realism or cultural accuracy.)