INSANIA Preview – Ancient Rome, Demons, Portals & Total Chaos!

About Insania, from BoardGameGeek:

Insania is a highly-immersive cooperative horror adventure game for 1-4 players. Step into the sandals of Roman legionaries defending the empire from nightmarish monsters. Set in a terrorized town, players must explore, scavenge for items, destroy dimensional portals and fight to keep their sanities. As you progress, develop your character's stats and create unique item combinations to receive powerful blessings. Choose from some of the bravest sons of Rome: Triarius, a centurion whose commands may turn the tide of battle, Laverna, a diviner who reads the future in the entrails of her dead enemies; Atticus; a fierce gladiator with melee mastery; Quintus, a physician with a sharp mind and sharp tools; among others. The game comprises several missions that can be played independently. For groups looking for longer thrills, an expansion (sold separately) brings a thrilling legacy-lite campaign. For those who find it hard to hold a steady group for many sessions, INSANIA also introduces short, one-night campaigns. Insania's unique blend of dungeon crawling and strategy elements crafts an immersive experience where your every victory feels hard-earned. The system rewards cooperation, making each session a collective catharsis. Insania draws inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft's writings but has its own mythos, built around Ose, a demon from Ars Goetia. The narrative, driven by player decisions and full of “can't unsee” moments, wouldn't be out of place in a Tarantino film or Garth Ennis comic book. Players face sensitive content and immoral choices, such as whether or not to kill babies or recapture runaway slaves, making INSANIA a game for mature audiences. How to Play: In your turn, you must first replenish your hand of effort cards, drawing up to three - your limit is five cards at any moment. Then you take three actions, such as: movement, combat, breaking mystical barriers, item scavenging, destroying dimensional portals, inventory, revealing districts etc. Some points of interest in the map, like the circus, the forum and public baths have their own action you can take. For most of your actions, you will need to use effort cards to meet a certain value. You can play only one card per action, unless you have cards that connect to each other, in which case you can add their values. When your character is attacked, you may choose where to take damage: on your armor or shield (if any), health points, or effort cards (representing a dodge, block or parry). You can even human shield your partners with your effort cards. Your character may sometimes stumble upon an encounter: narrative scenes in which you must make a choice that may lead to upgrades and bonuses, but will ultimately show you what kind of person you really are. Turn order is defined by an initiative queue comprising all characters and enemies on the board. Beware: some enemies have the ability to cut in line, frustrating your plans. Every time you reach the end of the queue, an event happens, usually adding to the difficulty of the game. Some enemies and conditions damage your sanity. If it drops to zero, your character gets a mental disorder: a permanent handicap that affects the way you play for the remainder of the game. Does it make the endgame easier? Well, no. You win the game by meeting the mission's goal. You lose if: a) all characters die or b) the deck of effort cards ends. Some missions may have additional conditions of failure. Key Features: Unique setting: Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, but with a distinctive mythos, INSANIA's universe is gory, sexy, unsettling and full of WTF moments, offering adult content board games seldom (if not never) display. Handmade Art Style: Watercolor artwork by a master of “demonic erotica” adds an original and haunting visual appeal. Over 40 highly-detailed, NSFW Miniatures: Immediately immerses players in INSANIA's twisted world. Strategic Gameplay: INSANIA replaces dice rolls with card-driven mechanics reminiscent of games like Pandemic, making strategy and cooperation paramount. Unapologetic insanity mechanics: Losing your mind isn't the end for your character. Just makes the challenge even more impossible. Character Development: Enhance your hero's abilities and stats to better face the horrors ahead. Solo mode: Cause sometimes you want glory to be yours and yours alone. -description from the designer