Card game’s Flight expansion and second edition will focus on improving the competitive experience for new players and tournament players alike.
Game of continuously not getting eaten by your neighbors, Evolution is picking up a new expansion via Kickstarter this year. Alongside the expansion, publisher North Star Games will also be funding a second edition of the game, taking into account player feedback and going back through the designers for better game balance. The flight expansion will include flying species (duh), which are more expensive, must be smaller, but can take food from more diverse locations and is safe from your friend’s ground-based predators. The second edition of the game will include a more robust food system which keeps the greenery a bit more scarce, changes to a few card powers like Hard Shell and Pack Hunting, which unbalanced the game, and new background art for more than a few cards. Those interseted in a complete list of changes can see them here, those interested in the Flight expansion rules can see them here.
The original Evolution game focuses on building up a stable of species and making them as successful as possible before the inevitably die off. Players add traits like Carnivorous, Long Necked, and Symbiotic to their critters and then compete for limited food resources with the others’ species. At the end of the game, the player with the most successful species over the course of play is the winner. It’s a charming blend of abstract strategy and adaptive rock-paper-scissors style competition. North Star Games is a north american board game company behind previous games like Wits & Wagers and Crappy Birthday.
For our part, The Escapist liked Evolution quite a bit, from our initial preview of the game during its first Kickstarter to our nominating the game for board game of the year 2014. It’s one that has gotten quite a bit of play at my home table and found its way into my permanent collection – so if you’re curious, now seems like a time to get in on the ground floor. For those in the EU, the project does claim to be friendly to that region and offers Essen pickup.
For more information, go check out the Evolution Game System Kickstarter.
