Indie Boards & Cards | £49.99 | Deckbuilding | 1-4 players | 60 minutes | Age: 14+ | indieboardsandcards.com
At a surface level, it could be very easy to dismiss Aeon’s End. “It’s a deckbuilder with a fantasy theme - yawn,“ you might say, offering up thematically richer offerings such as the licensed words of the Legendary series or games that evolve the deckbuilder concepts with deeper mechanics, such as Tyrants of the Underdark. You could even suggest that when it comes to fantasy deckbuilding, nothing tops the game that spawned the genre: Dominion.
While Aeon’s End may not conjure instant admiration for its ostensibly generic fantasy setting and seemingly back-to-basics deckbuilding gameplay (you’ll find no area control here), once everything’s in motion its deeper complexities reveal the game to be a highly satisfying, subtly deep and surprisingly original creation.