Kreo – Create the Ideal Planet Without Speaking
The great titans have come together to create a new world in this silent co-op game.
Titans: your father, Uranus, imprisoned you in Tartarus, but still you dreamt of a world where hatred and fury no longer exist. Thanks to your mother, Gaia, you manged to get free and gather enough strength to create an ideal world on the opposite side of the cosmos. Still weak, and with little time at your disposal, you hope to prove your wisdom to your father. But beware of his anger and of your borthers: The Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires!
In Kréo players create an ideal world together. It is a fully cooperative game – everyone wins or everyone loses – that offers four levels of difficulty and a number of challenges – including limited communication between players.
This game was developed by Sweet Games in France, and is being distributed in English by CMON. They debuted it at GenCon in August.
Kréo – $25.00
Estimated arrival: November 2016
The basics:
3-6 Players
Ages 10+ up
20-30 minutes play time
In the box:
42 Universe Cards
6 Titan Cards
15 Energy Tokens
6 Player Aid Cards
1 First Player Card
Gameplay:
What sets this co-op game apart is how it limits communication between players. Communication is controlled with Energy Tokens that allow telepathic communication between the Titans. The tokens may give a player the ability to share a card with another player in exchange for a token, or swap a card for two tokens. A subtle line of communication is built that the players have to learn how to read.
At the start of a game the full deck is dealt to players, so there is no draw deck. There are three types of cards used in play:
Nature Cards
Element Cards
Aggression Cards
At the start of the game, the entire deck is dealt to all players to form their hands – there is no draw deck – and the Energy Tokens are given out. Turns are used to share information by spending Energy. Players us the information they’ve gathered to choose a card from their hand, it is placed it face down in front of them. Once all players have done this the group will attempt to play their chosen cards in the correct sequence to build Nature cards that in turn build the Planet.
Building is based on charts on the Player Aid cards – they act as a map. The planet is built on levels of Nature Cards. You have to unlock them in the right sequence to build the next level.
Agression cards have a negative impact that players can play at any point in the game besides the first and final turn. Players will want to get these out of their hand at strategic times that will minimize their effects. These cards have to be be played or the game is lost.
Any time a player builds a Nature card successfully they gain one Energy. Players may discard Nature or Element cards during their turn to gain Energy, as well.
It seems like a simple building game until you get it on the table, but there’s a lot of strategy and trust involved in winning Kréo. It’s a well designed game that feels similar to Hanabi and Grizzled. If you’ve got a group that really enjoys co-op, and wants to try a new kind of challenge pick this one up at your FLGS. The price point is perfect, and you’ll definitely get multiple play sessions out of it.
