Review of Beyond the Rift: A Perdition's Mouth Card Game
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Beyond the Rift: A Perdition's Mouth Card Game is a cooperative game with a campaign mode. It has a lot in common with its predecessor Perdition's Mouth: the same characters, the same (not all, but many) enemies, the same decks of modifiers and wounds that clutter your deck. However, there is no field and neither is the pan; several decks of cards are enough for the game. The mechanics are actually very simple. There is a hero action card deck (each has a fixed set, but new cards may be added during the campaign), an enemy deck, and a terrain deck (not in every scenario). The composition of enemy decks and terrain depends on the scenario. That's basically all, if you don't take into account character tablets and cards of wounds and fatigue. However, the variety generated by these simple mechanics is astounding. Then you try to kill the summoners before they finish the ritual. You are rescuing peasants from a burning hut. Then go through the dungeon in search of a dwarven mechanism. So you find yourself in the middle of a battle between orcs and elves and trying to stop them from killing each other... The scenarios are very diverse, despite the fact that the game consists of only a few hundred cards and a 15-page rulebook, all of which are fan-made.
In addition to the impressive variety provided by the 78-page campaign book, I really like the hand management (the game encourages combo-making) and the try-your-luck style combat. Each turn in the card selection phase, you replenish your hand to the maximum size (6 cards when playing with 2 heroes; by the way, you can play here with 1 hero), after which the characters take turns playing cards in any number (so that there is enough energy). Only when they can't or don't want to play any more cards does the enemies phase come. You defend, attack, and do a bunch of other things by playing cards and paying for them with energy, a resource that's also generated during the card draw phase. It is possible to play 1-2 cards and end your turn, but usually the players are much more active. Because many cards allow you to draw new cards or gain extra energy—sometimes instead of playing the card's alternate effect, and sometimes with it. Why would you rather pay 2 energy to get 5 energy, or play this card as a 4 attack with 2 range?
The choice usually depends on the other cards in your hand and other players' hand, because it is possible (and desirable) to combine attacks to deal more damage. And among the action cards there are many non-standard effects: you can sell cards for energy, exchange cards or get new energy prices - and much more. It turns out a very difficult and fan optimization puzzle... but with one cover.
"Try your luck" mechanics. When you attack an enemy, your attack value must exceed their defense value. Everything seems simple, only with each attack the enemy draws a card from the deck of modifiers and adds the number indicated on it to his defense. Should I spend a card with attack 5 on an enemy with defense 3? Usually not, since there are few cards with a value of 0 or 1 in the reaction deck. The risk may pay off if you are lucky enough to wound the enemy (and then maybe become more vulnerable - each wound dealt lowers some of the enemy's stats), but on the other hand, maybe . it is better not to risk and spend energy to discard some cards and draw new ones... Defense is arranged similarly: when you are attacked, you play as many defense cards as you want, and then add a modifier to the enemy's attack.
While Beyond the Rift was the most pleasant surprise of all the 2022 decks, I do have a couple of caveats. First, the quality of the components. I understand that the company is very small, and I'm willing to forgive the thin rulebook and the lack of illustrations on most of the cards. Especially since there are also quality components: dual-layer tablets are great. But here's a deck of modifiers... Half the cards are already bent in the middle (I played 24 games). It was possible, of course, to put them in protectors, but the size is non-standard (like the modifier cards in "Gloomy Harbor", only wider), so I did not find suitable protectors.
Second, I don't really like the campaign structure. Each mini-campaign (6 in total, usually consisting of 3 scenarios) has a branch A and a branch B. If you go through branch A, you won't see branch B. Many will like this because it increases replayability and gives players some freedom of choice But personally, I don't like the fact that you have to replay everything to see the missed content, although it's not the most unpleasant thing. When I got to the third campaign, Into the North, I found that I couldn't complete it simply because I had completed the second campaign of The Lure. Given that these mini-campaigns are not connected by a common plot, I don't see why it was banned. Maybe for balance reasons because you get 2-3 items in each campaign. But then why not just introduce an item limit? Regardless, this is purely a campaign issue, not a game mechanics issue, and I might replay it to see everything. Not the worst minus.
Overall, I consider Beyond the Rift to be one of the deepest campaign card games I've played. Small dimensions and quick deployment are additional advantages. This is one of my favorite games of 2022 and a very pleasant surprise. I highly recommend it.
