‘Vantage’ Is The Open-World Exploration Game I’ve Been Wanting For Years
Vantage is an open-world exploration game that is first person! You see what your character sees while navigating a foreign planet. I’m hyped.
Since it was announced last year, I’ve been really excited for Vantage. It’s a new game from Stonemaier Games, the same folks who make Wingspan, Expeditions, and more. Their latest game has been noted to take direct inspiration from games like 7th Continent and Breath of the Wild, two of my top games of different gaming mediums. Now that we’re starting to get more details and even some gameplay footage, I’m ready for Vantage.
Vantage Overview
One thing Jamie Stegmaier, the designer of Vantage, has been very clear on is that this is not a campaign game. You play a single sessions. It’s up to you to decide if that’s good or bad. But in the current state of gaming where everyone is making games with full overarching narrative campaigns, maybe it’ll be nice to take a break from that.
Regardless, in Vantage, you, and maybe a few others, crash land on this foreign planet. Each player will have a card placed in front of them showing their particular vantage point. Players can not show their vantage card to the other players. I guess the walkie-talkies have satellite comms, but no camera. They have to use what resources and skills they have available to them to navigate and find their way back to each other.
On a players turn, they’ll take one of 3 actions. Either: take one of the actions on their vantage card, take an action from their character card, or move to a new vantage point. Each vantage card will have several actions listed on it, things like Ask, Inspect, Forage, Destroy, and plenty more. It’s supposed to be a little ambiguous what the action means.
When chosen, another player will open a book of locations and find that location number and read the action aloud. This will give the active player a roll to make to determine if they do whatever action they set out to do.
Considering this is a Stonemaier game, there’s a lot more to it than just the vantage actions. But that’s certainly the main focus. And if you’re anything like me, even just that sample is enough to get you excited to learn more about Vantage.
