MEGAPEDE

From BoardGameGeek:

MEGAPEDE catapults the player (alone or with friends) into the final days before universal collapse. Over the course of aeons, the stars have more than once come close to being extinguished by artificial means, yet providence has always lent a hand to its ungrateful children. This time is different. Somewhere deep within the cosmic drape, a colossal threat unclassifiable by science has emerged. To millenarian sects, it is a god in disguise, whose purpose is to punish and reset a reality that's failed utterly. Aiding these alien world-eaters and twisted zealots are cadres of corrupt politicians, who see tangible benefits of their own in doomsday. And thus, this one-sided war against innocent bystanders - be it ideological, economic or purely predatory in nature - is fought silently across galaxies: with media manipulation, suppressed truths, and the countless dead stripped of their voice. Time is slipping away and word doesn't travel fast from one star to the next, but a few are finally seeing through the shadows of this eschatological conspiracy. In this space odyssey, players engage with an optional, evolving narrative spread across fifteen missions, playable either as a linear campaign or as standalone scenarios. While users can create additional missions of their own, the official adventure already offers substantial variety and replayability, thanks in part to enemy behavior, dynamic spawn points, separate game modes, secret challenges, and multiple approaches to tackling each objective. These objectives range from classic dungeon crawler fare - such as eliminating all enemies or reaching a specific location on the map - to genre-shifting operations that introduce unconventional mechanics, including stealth, tower defense, and survival-horror-style puzzles. Strategy and tactics remain all-encompassing: from selecting skills and purchasing weapons down to the actual encounters. Fighting isn't as simple as rolling dice; instead, it relies on a system that makes extensive use of logic. That said, if the player prefers to avoid direct confrontation, they can devise alternative plans, hide, or set traps for the monsters roaming the labyrinth. The dungeons in question are represented on a grid covering an entire book page, illustrated in an old-school style inspired by 1970s and 1980s wargames. The counters also come from the book: they're cut and glued onto the cardboard packaging it came with, turning even that into a game component. Otherwise, simple objects like miniatures, coins and chess pieces can be used in their place, with a few adjustments. A core element of the gameplay is the light deckbuilding mechanic featuring a standard poker deck, whose general purpose is to let players accumulate Action Points for their turn. That way they can Move, Attack, and more. However, the more cards are played each turn, the more the discards pile up, enraging the enemies in the process. They will use the discards against the players, and it is therefore a game of balance: will you strike hard and hopefully kill, so nobody can retaliate? Or will you use your resources sparingly and wisely, making enemies slightly more subdued all while you save your cards for different actions? -description from the publisher