My favourite games – the games that really stick with me – are those that manage to tell a story through their mechanics, that’s why I play an unhealthy amount of RPGs.
My favourite game isn’t an RPG, though – it’s a card game. For me there is no game that marries theme and mechanics better than Android: Netrunner.
Netrunner was an ambitious sell in both the boardroom and to the end customer –a completely asymmetric living card game that requires players to learn two sets of cards, rules, and tactics in order to play. In a world where simplicity is key, Netrunner had a compelling reason to choose its unique gameplay style (well, unique if you discount the gloriously 90’s original). This reason can be summed up in a single word – scale. The game put one player in the seat of a plucky hacker (the runner) and the other behind the synthmahogany desk of a shady corporate executive (the corp). While both have access to similar resources in credits and cards, the game made clear there was a vast difference in the scale represented by these elements.