Empyreal is a free-to-play game that combines the best of both worlds: simulation and puzzle. Its world has been described as “the most vibrant train game on the market.”
Empyreal: Spells and Steam is a train game that has been released on the market. The title is the most vibrant train game on the market.
Trains are a common theme in board games such as Ticket to Ride, Age of Steam, Railroad Ink, and Russian Railroads. Because I found the games to be so conceptually dry, I’ve mostly avoided the topic. Then there was Level 99’s Empyreal: Spells & Steam, which for some reason thought that anime characters and magic were lacking from route-building train games. I’m instantly put off if I see anime artwork or trains in a board game. Level 99 Games, on the other hand, has officially converted me.
Trey Chambers, the creator of Argent: The Consortium, has created Empyreal: Spells & Steam, a game for two to six players. Each player assumes the role of a separate railway, tasked with collecting color-coded materials from the board and returning them to the cities of the same color. The more things players pick up at once, the more points they get in the form of Demand tiles from the city. The basic problem in Empyreal is that things are never numerous, and people compete for the same resources, resulting in a tight action economy.
Fun Factor/Gameplay
Despite the size of the box and the quantity of components, Empyreal: Spells & Steam is a lot simpler to pick up than it seems. Players conduct actions on the board by moving their worker across the spaces. There are numerous areas on each player’s board. The highest banner contains a player reference as well as the player’s current Mana. Individual tiles for the player’s Conductor and other staff members with particular powers may be found below. The white starred boxes to the right of the hired workers are demand tile spaces, which cities grant when products are delivered.
What players may accomplish on their turn is influenced by the track and grid below. The round slots above the grid are where the player’s single worker, who represents their train conductor, may be placed. A player’s first slot is free, but each subsequent one charges mana. When the player’s worker is in the area above the column, the railway cars in each column show the actions the player may do. The initial (topmost) action is free, similar to the worker movement. Players will have to spend more mana if they wish to utilize more train car actions in that column. The most frequent ability is to place a train on a board spot in the same color as the railway car action.
Players do a single action on their turn, which may be either the worker movement/train action indicated above or the Moving action. They also have the option of selecting one of two further actions: Administrative or Transfer. Players may use the Administrative action to recover mana, prepare a staff member’s ability (if it’s been used before), and add a new railroad car to their board. Finally, depending on how much Mana is used, the Transfer ability allows players to leap over another player, a city, or a Wasteland sector.
The End of the Line is the sixth and last spot on the worker track. The pick-up-and-deliver action is performed when the worker piece reaches that location. To accomplish so, the player must choose one of the colored resources on which they have train figures and transport it to the appropriate city, if and only if they also have a train nearby. Each city has a set of Demand tiles that will be distributed to the first players who are able to collect them depending on the quantity of resources provided at a certain moment. These are awarded to players who return to the city with two, three, or four matching resources, and they provide extra points in the game’s final score. However, each city has a limited number of Demand tiles, so it’s first come, first served. Once a city’s Demands have been satisfied, they are no longer there.
Because players are vying for the same places and resources, the key to winning is deciding which resources you want and expanding as quickly as possible to reach the End of the Line and deliver your products. Reaching the End of the Line first means spending Mana more aggressively than other players, which is a quick way to run out of your most important resource at an inconvenient time. Getting extra Mana early on may help you move ahead of the game’s otherwise limiting aspect.
Empyreal: Spells & Steam comes to a finish when a player collects the requisite number of Demand tiles: six for two to three players, five for four players, and four for five or more players. The player with the most points after combining Demand tiles and the quantity of resources acquired throughout the game wins.
This game is stunning, especially for those who received the improved components as a Kickstarter reward or as an add-on. Empyreal: Spells & Steam has a strong table presence, regardless of the version you have. It’s no secret that I appreciate games with a lot of immersive elements, such as Kingdom Death:Monster and Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon; and when one of my favorite games isn’t as immersive, I do all I can to make it better. However, the gameplay in all of the games where I love that degree of excessive detail is broad and sophisticated. The gaming experience in Empyreal is significantly shorter and simpler than I feel this level of production quality warrants.
While I like the attention to detail that went into the creation of Empyreal’s components and artwork, it’s not a cheap game, and the high quality of manufacture is definitely one of the reasons for the expensive price. Rather than merely color-coding the components for each playable railway, Level 99 Games went the extra mile and made independent molds for each railway, resulting in eight distinct train designs. Storage, setup, and deconstruction are also a snap thanks to the vacuform inserts supplied in the package. I can’t help but think that Empyreal: Spells & Steam might have been a lot more reasonable if it didn’t have that degree of detail. To be clear, I’m not knocking the amount of care that went into Empyreal’s design, but at $80 for the basic game, I wish there was more depth or lower-cost components to bring the price down to a tier that reflects the quality of fun it provides.
Empyreal: Spells & Steam’s overproduction, on the other hand, is by far my biggest gripe. Covering the expenses of the degree of excellence is needlessly costly. However, it is well worth the effort. I also said that it is not a very deep or sophisticated game, and I stand by that statement. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining.
It may be expanded to eight players with the Empyreal: As Above, So Below expansion. Any game with more than four or five players, in my experience, adds too much downtime between rounds, but the one-action-per-turn structure keeps the game going rapidly even with six players. It wasn’t until I was seven or eight that I realized there was too much time between turns. Even still, the pace with which players take turns and possibly steal stuff from under your feet keeps the game stressful and thrilling in the moments between rounds.
Empyreal: Spells & Steam is essentially a Euro-style network building game in which players must plot and maximize their actions each round. Poor early-game mistakes might push a player behind too far in the game for them to pose a danger to their opponents. Empyreal’s staff abilities, on the other hand, provide players with several tools to assist them offset early game blunders, such as the ability to pick up more products, deploy additional trains, lower Mana costs, or even take an extra round. These skills, as well as the ease with which new players may acquire them, give Empyreal a more forgiving experience while maintaining its Euro essence, enabling new players to have a more pleasant initial game.
The game Empyreal: Spells & Steam is fantastic. Indeed, it has easily climbed into my top 10. Simultaneously, it can be a little too Euro for “Ameritrash” fans, but not quite crunchy enough for Euro fans. The design, on the other hand, is a fantastic medium-weight blend of the two, providing hard decision-making while being accessible to beginning players without crossing into “gateway game” territory. It’s become one of my favorite games to play with people of various skill levels, and I’ve never gotten tired of it. Regardless of the number of players or skill level, the heated battle for resources is felt. Trey Chamber’s game design skill and laborious labor of love can only be characterized as the outcome of such a well-rounded experience.
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The number of times this game has been played is: Nine. |
At two, four, five, and seven players, the game was reviewed. |
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Count of Supported Players: 2–6 players, with the Empyreal increasing to a maximum of eight players: Expansion of “As Above, So Below.” |
According to the instructions, it should take 30 to 75 minutes, but I’ve found that my average is closer to 60 minutes. |
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Tableau Building Variable Player Powers Pick-up and Deliver Route |
Empyreal: Spells & Steam is a simple game to pick up on your first playthrough. The main operations are straightforward, and there are just a few options for player activities. It is, nevertheless, recommended that you have the rulebook available for iconography explanations. |
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The components are well-made, even if they are overproduced. |
Empyreal is a game with a lot of fun to be had, and it’s one that never gets old. |
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Empyreal: Spells & Steam is a train game that is the most vibrant on the market. It has been funded through Kickstarter and is currently in development. Reference: empyreal: spells and steam kickstarter.
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