The players arrange the playing space by making a game board with 12 road cards in a 3×4 grid. The first row are the Sunset road cards, the second row are the Night road cards, and the final row consists of the Dark road cards. These road cards are placed face down initially, flipping only the Start of the Road, the next road, and the last End of the Road. This means that if you draw an assassin role card, then you (secretly) know that the game is a competitive one. If you draw a witness role card, then you do not know if the game is cooperative or competitive. Rather than working things out through pure discussion, Mantis Falls puts an explosive card game at its centre. Each turn, the two players both have the chance to play a series of action cards from their hands. There’s a light bit of combo potential, with cards in a matching suit able to be strung into a series of actions. These abilities can be used to hurry along the road to freedom, call in helpful allies and more. Most of the time, though, you’ll be using them to fend off enemies that put you in their sights. That concludes the turn. If it does not match, leave it in the opponent’s tank. Successfully stealing does not move the cards in your score pile. 3. Play until someone wins

But that’s not the only thing that makes them unique. The comic book takes us on a twisted turn, a dangerous journey, if you will, on how these alien offspring-looking creatures are also incredible hunters. As witness to something not meant to be seen, you must escape the dark mob-ruled town of Mantis Falls alive. You are told another witness will join you, and together you must use cooperation to survive the increasingly dangerous roads of the night. Your ability to work with another could be your greatest strength, but what if they are not who they claim to be? As a big fan of Battlestar Galactica: The Boardgame, the temptation for me to open this review with a comparison of Mantis Falls to BSG is too strong. If you like traitor games but have been dismayed that they all require at least 3 players and benefit strongly with 4+ players, brighten up! The sun will shine through the dark nights of Mantis Falls as it successfully brings you all the suspense of a traitor game with as few as 2 players. However, the road out of Mantis Falls is a long, treacherous one, even for the traitor! Read on to learn more about Mantis Falls and how it manages to create uncertainty with only 2-3 players. I played both a physical copy and a Tabletop Simulator mod. The Tabletop Simulator mod is a delight as well. ThemeYou are informed that another witness will join you. By working together, you may have a much better chance of surviving. But what if they are not who they claim to be? When a player chooses to steal, they will take the top card of the draw pile and turn it over in another player’s tank. If the color – or symbol for colorblind players – matches any of the characters already in their tank, move all the characters of that color, including the one you just turned over, into your tank.

Here’s a rough description of how play works, as there’s really no better substitute for going through the instructions and walking through the game a few times to get all the nuance down. The players alternate turns. Each turn, the current player may move ahead one road space. They may also use the shared Conserved Energy cards (if any are available) to gain more movement or heal their Wounds. Players traverse the Road in a serpentine pattern from Sunset to Night to Dark. Players flip Road cards one space ahead of the most advanced player’s piece so that players may always see at least one space ahead. Event Cards Offense vs Defense, sometimes in the same turn. Card relations constantly adjusting to novel board states. Internalizing the tempo of powerful cards imposing their will. The next layer of meta comprehension that comes when you see old cards in a new light. It's all there, in both games. And it's glorious, nothing else comes close to replicating what Innovation and Mantis Falls can do in their respective genres. Another module recommended for those with a grip on the basics promises deeper gameplay through unique player characters and more advanced action cards. I’m yet to dive into this properly, but I’m keen to: the base game has plenty to recommend it as it is. The last, Under the Rose, is billed as an even more in-depth variant, introducing agents that players’ characters can meet with along their journey, leaning further into its thriller trappings. When a player chooses to score, they take the top card of the draw pile and turn it over in their own tank. If the character on the white side matches the color of the characters in your tank, move them into your score pile.Additionally, there’s a Broken Road that may appear in the middle of the Road in the Night row. If it is there, it takes a special coordination of extra movement to make it past into an unknown Road space because you may not stay on the Broken Road and thus the Road beyond remains unflipped until the Broken Road is crossed. However, successfully crossing the Broken Road gains first choice access to the more powerful Midnight suited Action cards next to the Night row. Same for reaching the End of the Road: whenever a player first lands there, they get to choose one of the Midnight suited Action cards next to the End of the Road. These cards allow for some very powerful maneuvers if played correctly. Here’s a potential road layout by the end of the game. In the era of modern board games that we’re in, it isn’t really a question of whether a game is good. It’s a question of whether this game is good for a particular audience looking for a new game where there are often hundreds of great choices. After spending some time with it, I believe this is a good game for some audiences described below.