Children of the Colossi
- David Breaker
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
We are in a post-apocalyptic world. The world has collapsed and is now dominated by Colossi. Those that survived the apocalypse have done so by living on the backs of these Colossi, creating tribal cities that wander and explore the wasteland, the desolate land that is all that's left of the world. These tribes have to fight for what resources they have, with the most important resource being the eggs of the newborn Colossi that get hatched in the warm vents that dot the wasteland. So begins the war for control of the world's most important resource, the Colossi.
Children of the Colossi is Jacopo Sarli’s first game design and comes from publisher Cosmodrome. The artwork is by Pauliina Linjama. The game is primarily an area control game, with five distinct Colossi boards that are used as worker placement spaces, with only three being chosen each game. Each of these Colossi offer different action spaces and paths that when combined can change the game.
During the game, you'll be hang-gliding and moving around the wasteland; racing to collect precious eggs, hatch newborns and outmanoeuvre your rivals. You have a limited supply of units, so every placement and movement matters. You will send your envoys up into the cities to gain benefits and influence for your tribe, or glide them down into the wasteland below to compete for eggs that the Colossi lay as they wander the land. As the map fills with eggs, the tension rises. Newborns hatch and players clash in clever contests of positioning and card play with no destruction and no direct attacks — only smart, tactical manoeuvres to claim victory.
Thematically this game ticks all the boxes. The artwork on the cards and Colossi boards looks great and the box art really does look stunning, but sadly the game's design has multiple pain points that mean it falls short. I am not saying the game is terrible. It isn’t. There is a lot here to like and enjoy, but honestly the game deserves a version 2.
There is some clever design dotted here and there but the game’s rules are often convoluted, made worse by poor iconography. The area control element of the game could work really well, and does in places, but often can seem hard to plan for. The game's combat, which is triggered when an area becomes full of eggs, uses a card-based combat system, which again can be fun but certain rules choices just hamper it. In some places you can do what you wanted but it becomes hard to remember, with the confusing iconography, meaning that players are often confused about what is happening and become frustrated when their actions don't work the way they wanted.
The game's production also has some good parts but also some choices that don’t make sense. The wasteland board is massive yet looks bland, boring and empty. The Colossi boards with the great artwork take a side part and it all demands a huge table space. The envoy meeples are tiny and easily fall over. This wouldn’t ordinarily bother us except that there's significance in the game over whether an envoy is standing up or laying down...
There's a potentially great game here but it needs a bit more work to get it there.
(Review by David Breaker)
