It's New Game Friday David Wiley (Cardboard Clash) is here to tell us about the new games.
Here’s what is new this week:
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Lunchbox Lair
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Pre-existing Conditions
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GRIMLORE Case File #10: Randolph Carter, Dreamer
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Power Creep: Brent, City Center 2095
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Dangerous Space: Dee, Quarantine Mission
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Lunchbox Lair
You find that you’ve traversed into a dungeon of sorts and the entrance you came from is now blocked off. It is now your mission to escape this place before you turn into a husk of your former self, crumbling into a fine dust or becoming mummified like delicious jerky. If things couldn’t be worse, you also entered this area right before lunch. So it’s also important to find things that could fill your lunchbox. Maybe it’s a sandwich? Maybe it’s a small baggie of O-shaped cereal. Whatever you find, try your best to find it all and escape!
A nice, simple little exploration game that builds the map as you go, collecting items and traversing through the dungeon. With several adventures ready to play through, and extremely simple rules to go through, there’s a lot to be excited about for this one. If you like minimalistic rulesets that let you just jump in and start playing quickly, this is sure to be a pleasant experience. And what better thing to do than toss a copy of the Lunchbox Lair into your own lunchbox to pull out during your lunch hour?
Pre-existing Conditions
As the CEO of a healthcare insurance company you have one responsibility: the health and wellbeing of your customers lol jk your shareholders. In Pre-existing Conditions, you need to do whatever you can to keep your profit going up each quarter. Fail, and you’re out, replaced by some other anonymous white guy named Tim.
An interesting choice of theme for a roll-and-write game, this is going to have you manipulating your possible slate of clients to try and minimize the cash flowing out to maximize your profits each quarter. The game is won by having more profitable quarters than ones where you fall short - with extra losses possible from having record lows on your profits per quarter. Balance things on a fine line as you use and manipulate your dice to provide the best outcome possible for your…shareholders, I guess?
GRIMLORE Case File #10: Randolph Carter, Dreamer
Randolph Carter is a man of middle age, disillusioned by the suffocating rigidity of life and the loss of his dreamworld adventures. A former dreamer and visionary, Carter once roamed fantastical landscapes, guided by an intuitive sense of wonder. Now, weighed down by rationality and societal expectations, he struggles to reconcile his yearning for escapism with the oppressive “truths” of reality. An anti-quarian by profession, he is meticulous, introverted, and haunted by a persistent sense of something lost.
Wielding a blade as he enters the fray, Randolph is set to challenge some pretty tough foes along his way. I always love the Artifacts and Spells that can be unlocked, and the number of charges that he’s able to make use of along the way. The Chimera is one you won’t want to trigger, as it will force you to do a Mythos Check and lose a point of life force if you lose. And the fearson Ny’tharith waits, making it so you lose Mythos Knowledge or take extra damage when it triggers. Prepare yourself and be ready to dream big, in order to navigate this week’s case gile.
Power Creep: Brent, City Center 2095
Scarcity has pushed settlers to invent and improvise to meet their needs…and to protect them!
I think this nearly every week, but there’s some things that are just plain…sinister on the part of the designers to make a new map like this a little more brutal. In this case, the Blink Monks are a threat that can not only trigger on the Evil Die rolls, but can also trigger off your highest Good Die roll. Which means if you’re rolling high enough to hit them, they are guaranteed to hit you back as well! You better hope for low rolls on the approach, and then a slew of high rolls to hit them since only one Good Die triggers this threat…
Dangerous Space: Dee, Quarantine Mission
Dee lost part of her leg when a rescue mission went sideways. The grateful family financed her unique drone backpack which earned the cadet her apt callsign.
I cannot understate the importance of these threats in this mission. That Vicious Stowaway can help or hinder, making you reroll your highest die when damaged by it. The Adapting Specimen, on the other hand, is going to hit you with continuous damage until it is defeated after being attacked. Add into the consideration of the Quarantine, which is going to motivate you to make sure you use at least a 1 in each corridor to avoid adding extra evil dice, you’re going to have quite the challenge getting yourself through without having at least a few close calls, even with her impressive movement.
Game of the Week: Surrealist Dinner Party on sale for just $5!
You’re hosting a dinner party! You’ve each invited your six favorite Surrealist artists and writers, and you are responsible for keeping your guests happy and sending them home sated. That’s easier said than done, though, because these Surrealists are colorful characters, and each one has a different checklist of things they need out of the evening.
A dining delight full of writers and artists with varying tastes. Turns are simple, choosing from one of four actions to conduct, and you are trying to collect as many tokens matching a guest’s card as possible - each one banking a point when they get sent home. Sure the please dinner guests and wine & dine folks alike, this game for 2-4 players has ample room for interacting with opponents, a simple set collection mechanic that isn’t going to be as easy to execute as you’d like, and plenty of guest abilities to make the experience unique as you parse through what you can trigger this game.
Check out Game of the Week here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
Hyperstar Run
You grab the well-worn controller and load your latest save. This is it: the final level. With only 4 runs left to escape the Hyperstar base and beat the game, you better get moving.
If you ever played old platformer games, this title seeks to channel that nostalgia of playing on repeat to try and overcome a challenging level. The coolest parts of this game come from two mechanics: Press and Combos. The Press allows you to use previously-defeated card in the level for its button in the corner, helping supplement your hand. The Combos are even cooler, with lines running from an enemy off the card and, if the lines align on the next card there’ll be just a single button needed to press to advance past that card. Nothing is more satisfying than pulling off some wicked combos! This is not only my own most anticipated title in 2025, but it is also the game that got me back to solo gaming in general! Don’t miss this one.
Hyperstar Run: Final Bosses
Just when you think you’ve got victory in hand, the screen shakes and you hear that daunting music: it’s the final boss fight!
Three cards is all you have here, but they are sure to level up your experience with Hyperstar Run. Not only does this come with four new achievements to try and achieve, which increase in difficulty, but they also transform the end game of the experience. Now you have a boss to face on the 6th card, and after defeating its initial form, it evolves and moves to the end, needing to be vanquished again in order to emerge victorious. You still only have the four lives to do this - are you up to the challenge?
Hyperstar Run: Equipment Drop
Need a power-up? Use these high-tech gadgets to boost your abilities as you make your way through the level.
One of the things I found myself wishing for in the base game was variety in equipment cards. You get two in your hand to start the game, and since two are in the base game itself you always keep those same cards from play-to-play. This solves that, adding four more to mix in and randomly determine which two you use. Not only that, but several of these have options to choose from on buttons, including a STAR which lets you use the ability of your current level card without paying the cost of discarding a card. Talk about a great boost from the equipment!
Check out the new Button Shy releases here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Our next PNP Arcade Publishing game launches on Kickstarter next week. Join us Tuesday March 18th.
Battle Pages is a one page single player roll and write game series you might like it if you enjoy:
• Battle Royale games with crunchy tactical choices
• Starcraft-like base building and tower defense
• Match 3 games with rewarding combos
Follow along at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasongreeno/battlepages
See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!