Krysis is an unusual game but that rarely stops a game from being fun.
There are a lot of different things going on and I’ll do my best to explain them…
This game of tactics, strategy and confrontation is set in a fantasy world after the Great Depression. Each player runs a company of special agents, and their agents become teams in threes.
The aim of the game is transporting the crystals and leftover artifacts (guns and transporting means!) from the mine to your own campsite and from the campsite to your home.
The transport will succeed only if the team is strong and fast enough, and if you can use the transporting capacity of your men optimally.
However, nobody is left alone with their problems. The competition and the robbers ensure interaction and surprises…
So there are a few tactical parts to this game. The first is bidding to decide who gets to place their pawn in the mine first.
Further in the mine means you go first in the next stage. But the treasure in that space might not be what you want.
Everything you bid, you lose, so essentially you’re bidding your end game points. But you get the first pick of the next mine level.
When you select your spot on the map you take what it says back to your campsite.
At this point, I’ll take a break to say I still don’t know why it’s called Krysis 🙂
Forming a Team
You then pick 3 cards from your hand, these cards represent your team. Each team has a set selection of character cards, some carry stuff and others fight.
On your turn, you can either transport items from your campsite to your town, or you can rob another player’s campsite.
Your team has 3 stats. Strength, Speed and the amount they can carry.
If all your team can carry a lot but you have no strength, your campsite can be robbed and you may have nothing left to transport, essentially losing a turn!
If your team has all strength but no carry ability, you can rob a campsite but you won’t be able to steal anything.
The total speed of your team determines the order of this phase so you need to make sure you balance all 3 of these stats each round. This is a very clever part of the game and I loved it.
Krysis Summary
I won, I’m not sure how but I managed to pull it off.
I know this, Krysis is a game I do want to play again now I fully understand it.
Jesta ThaRogue