The title of this game sums up not so much the theme as the setting: All Hoomanz are Dead is another entry in the growing genre of post-apocalyptic games - for example, Apiary (Stonemaier Games) and After Us (Catch Up Games) - postulated on the extinction of humanity. In All Hoomanz are Dead, designed by Victor Santoro and published by Dr Plutonium Games, the 1-5 players are cybernetically-enhanced sentient animals working cooperatively to try to defeat SIMON (Synthetic Intelligence Multi-Organism Network), the artificial intelligence that is trying to send players the way of the dodo and those eponymous 'hoomanz'.
To win you need to find and destroy three out of four of SIMON's fusion core rooms either by crafting, arming and exploding bombs in those rooms or calling a laser air strike by finding the helipad room and discarding four helicopter icon cards. SIMON wins if its upgrade marker hits its highest level or if SIMON deploys 15 drones.
In this game, players are moving between rooms, collecting equipment to craft bombs and other items and you'll be using ranged or melée weapon cards either in attack or defence. As you explore new rooms (flipping tiles), you'll draw cards from monster, loot and event decks. There are tiles with trap doors that let you move between locations but the monsters you encounter will have to be defeated before you can move past them. You can call on an air strike to make a laser hit on the AI's rooms. All Hoomanz are Dead then is essentially a science fiction rather than fantasy-themed dungeon crawler, tho' perversely the game uses medieval fantasy-themed sword and shield iconography.
It was perhaps a quirky decision to use what Star Trek fans will recognise as a Ferengi pronunciation of 'human'. It contributes to the tongue-in-cheek feel of the game, tho' some members of the Board's Eye View team found the light-hearted approach more annoying than amusing. That said, the game is an enjoyable romp, albeit with a high luck factor in that success or failure is down at least as much to the tiles and cards you draw as to the players' tactics.
Shown here on Board's Eye View is a preview prototype of All Hoomanz are Dead produced by Dr Plutonium Games ahead of the game's upcoming launch on Kickstarter. Click here to be notified of the campaign as soon as it launches.