Champions of Hara — Adventures in the Land of Dreams

 "Hara"... At first glance, the game looks picturesque, but not particularly impressive. Six adjacent tiles with six hexes each (plus a seventh, central, inaccessible hex into which the stack of cards corresponding to the tile is placed). Everything is abstract, everything is divided into hexes, everything is subject to the strict geometry of the number "6".

 But do not rush to conclusions. After just one round in one of the hexes (the one with the lowest number) of each of these tiles, something will appear - a monster or an event. And it's still morning. At dusk, a new wave of monsters/events will appear; this time they will be drawn from another deck and placed on a random hex according to the result of the dice roll. Cracks in reality will open on the tiles, alien monsters will appear. But again, that's not all. At midnight, Hara itself changes: the two tiles switch places. You will always have a safe haven in the center tile, but only Hari knows what will happen to the others.

 Hara has perhaps the most well-thought-out field of all adventure fantasy decks. In one game day, it turns from a wasteland into a home for many unfriendly creatures. Safe hexes are rare and usually at opposite ends of the map, and most of the hexes are occupied by unfriendly (mostly) monsters, events, and traps. Together, this creates a whimsical, ever-changing landscape where the desert can instantly turn into an oasis...a thorn-fenced oasis. Here there will be a monster with a ranged attack, there, on the key passage between the tiles, there will be an almost invincible enemy, and here is a place where you can take a short rest. At least until the ground under your feet shifts.

 In general, Hara is very changeable. A typical reviewer cliché: "In this game, you'll have a different playing field every game." "Hara" will have a different playing field every 15 minutes. A wound that stood in your way, an obstacle can evaporate, and a previously open passage can become deadly.

 Of course, it is much more interesting to try to cross this changing landscape than to look at it. In this regard, "Champions of Hara" does not disappoint. The complexity of movement is reminiscent of "Mage Knight": a simple path from point A to point B can be fraught with dangers, and even a successful outcome is not guaranteed due to the changing composition of the hand. However, Hara is a completely different game, and the movement mechanics here are better than in Ointment Knight: a more polished system that gives a similar feeling when you realize you're only 1 movement point short, but - yes! — these two maps can be combined to get exactly where you need to go. Only instead of the depressing atmosphere of trying to get out of the cage ahead with a timer, there is a spirit of adventure.

 The basic mechanics revolve around a hand of 4 (starting) cards. Each of the six heroes of Hara starts with 4 cards and can acquire new ones during the game. Nicely, the new cards usually expand your capabilities, rather than just amplifying the existing ones, rendering the old cards useless compared to the tricks you've learned. This is partly because the leveling options are very limited in this game, and partly because you can only play 3 cards per turn. But the main reason is the mechanics of using these cards.

 Let's take Lyst, for example, a muscular man with a belly. His 4 starting cards are Dash (a basic movement card common to all heroes), Falling Pine (movement and damage), Syncopation (damage, and with enough resources played out of limit) and Careful Walking » (movement and collection of resources). List's card synergies are immediately apparent: he gains resources by moving, then trades a bunch of resources for a bunch of losses. His personal resource - which every hero has - is called driving force, because his cards are tied to receiving movement bonuses.

 However, the effects of List cards are as long as you have them in your hand. After use, they are put aside, returned - and now they are a completely (or completely) different effect. Dash now gives half as much movement, but does a bit more damage. "Falling Son" deals pure damage, but can increase its effect due to the driving force resource. "Syncopathy" turns into a dual purpose card: healing or movement. Mindful walking still brings movement points and special resources, allowing you to move faster and faster, even running through some monsters. If you think that the changes are small, believe me: they are not.

 Each of Hara's heroes has their own mini-puzzle: calculating movement and damage plus accounting for smaller, but also important aspects such as immunities, cash resources, and power-ups. Cards move between your hand and the table, forming new combinations with each turn. At the core of their mechanics, they are very simple, but they leave room for surprises, miscalculations and creative solutions. And for planning, although the landscape changes and sometimes turns the most carefully prepared plans to dust.

 And each hero has his own special approach. Inventor Thomas Evening reinforces his trunks with runes, achieving stunning results. However, runes can be found mainly in rifts, forcing him to periodically deviate from his intended route to stock up on ammunition. Kaoru and her bear Kuma are very resilient: their stamina is restored every morning. However, her reserves are limited, and if you overdo it and quickly spend a lot of resources, then with the onset of dusk, you will still have a hard time. Persephone becomes more frightened each time she is wounded, and gives vent to her fears in the form of nightmares. The special rules are few, but they perfectly give individuality to each character.

 This does not mean that all cards are equally useful. One of the few disappointments for me is that every now and then there's a new map that doesn't impress at all, doesn't really expand the character's abilities. This doesn't happen often, and each levelup (levelups occur when you reach certain reserves of blue, red, green energy) is usually an important event, because it gives the opportunity to, say, kill a monster blocking the passage. But it does happen.

 Fortunately, this is a minor flaw, like the game's other weaknesses. You can turn a blind eye to them, because the "Champions of Hara" succeeded in something very important.

 Unique characters. Unique cards. Unique items. Many unique abilities.

 "Hara" offers a thoughtful and interesting adventure without annoying obstacles in the way. In this regard, it surpasses the Mage Knight, not to mention everything that happened in the Terrinot setting. From start to finish, in every scenario, with any number of players, co-op or competitive, Hara tells the story. And although the story is a bare mechanical skeleton on which your actions are layered, the result is an interesting narrative. Actually, this is often the best way of storytelling: describe the setting, issue a task, step aside and watch the actions of the characters.

 The tasks are standard for fantasy adventures: collect tokens in a certain sequence, defeat the boss, be the first to reach the maximum level, etc. However, you will encounter or avoid various threats and potential bonuses along the way. There are very few key features, but each of them changes the geography of the playing field and creates an atmosphere no worse than dozens of hexes and modifiers in other adventure games. Aggressive monsters attack before you. Friendly monsters can help. Armored monsters cannot be attacked with a ranged attack. Critical attacks require an additional die roll to determine if additional damage is dealt. Dangerous monsters counterattack when defeated.

 That's all - only 5 properties. Together with the basic characteristics (such as health, damage, attack range) they sculpt a living adventure, like a human from clay. For example, you are roaming the wastelands of Aerchi and you see three monsters in front of you: the Blue Spawn of the Rift, which you can befriend and which will heal your wounds, the Forgotten Sentinel, which will deal damage, but will share energy after defeat, or the Fatbeard pirate - a dangerous one who possesses a deadly a captain's hook that can be plucked from his weakening hand and used against new dangers in the future. By the way, did I mention that all the item cards are numbered and certain enemies don't drop randomly, but a specific reward? There is no random extraction of objects, no extra garbage. Each item is useful in its own way, each step moves you forward toward some goal and away from other potential possibilities, and each action moving across the table and back brings both new constraints and new possibilities to your plan.

 Champions of Hara, with its colorful shifting field, well-crafted map management, and atmospheric characters and enemies, is one of the best adventure games I've played. An almost perfect combination of storytelling and gameplay. You'll have to put up with the vagaries of the event maps and read the art from time to time, just like any adventure game. But these elements are made so elegantly and unobtrusively that they are not annoying at all, but on the contrary, they delight every time something new is discovered; A little joy before we focus again on achieving the main goal.

 In short, "Hara" enchanted me. Perhaps its landscapes are changeable, but the sophistication of the game remains at the highest level.