YORKTON - When you review games there are typically three general responses after a first night of playing a new game.
You might be immensely pleased, (a somewhat limited number), generally satisfied, (meaning they are average), and disappointed.
Through the first six months of 2023 the Meeple Guild has, as you might expect, played several of each in the roughly 30 new games explored.
One of the happy surprises – a game where expectations were limited, and the game experience was excellent – was Hacktivity from Canadian designer Stephane Vachon, (a plus in my books as I like supporting Canadian games), and artist Alice Malvisi.
“I’ve been a graphic designer for 20 years. I am the game designer of Planetarium, a game launched on Kickstarter in 2017,” explained Vachon via email. “The game was published by the same American company that made Everdell. I worked for three years at Plan B Games. I worked on Century A New World, Era, Alma Mater and several other titles.
“Now I freelance as a graphic designer for game publishers and game designer, as well as creating my own small cooperative game publishing company.”
So as a designer what does he like when playing board games?
“I’ve always loved playing board games,” said Vachon. “I first discovered the game with Stratego when I was young. I also played a lot of Magic the Gathering.
“Later, it was Steve Jackson Games’ funny games at Geek and Munchkin, then Ticket to Ride, Battlestar Galactica, Agricola and all the others after that.”
As for a favourite Vachon noted, “it’s hard to say. The game I’ve played the most is 7 Wonders. The games I like today are Sheriff of Nottingham, Underwater Cities and ERA: Medieval Age.”
As for Hacktivity from Acolyte Cooperative Board Games, it wasn’t an offering where there was a great deal of hype, which keeps expectations moderate.
High expectations based on ‘board game community’ hype can really kill the actual experience of playing. Sometimes a game rises to the hype, Frostpunk for example managed to hit it out of the park, but a game such as Wingspan and XenoShyft: Onslaught came up well short of expectation.
Now Hacktivity is not at the level of Frostpunk which is a leading candidate six months in to be the top game reviewed in 2023, but out of virtually no where it is in the top-five conversation.
To be certain, Hacktivity does hit a Meeple Guild sweet spot in as much as it is cooperative game.
Considering how much we often ‘discuss robustly’ everything, that we like games where we work together to win collectively, but we do.
Hacktivity offers up a rule set just different enough to feel fresh, and that is important, provided of course the rules provide a good game experience. They do here.
Now to be fair this is not at the level of the classic Pandemic, nor expansive as the aforementioned Frostpunk or the dark delight that is This War of Mine, but the experience of Hacktivity had us constantly noting how enjoyable it was. That is a win for any game.
Vachon said he was looking to create something a bit different.
“First of all, I wanted to do an ‘undeck building game’: a kind of game where players have bad cards and you need to clean your deck,” he explained.
“After several play tests, I refined the concept and transformed the base a little.
“Now it's a cooperative game where you have to manage the bad and good cards and try to succeed in your mission. It's a game I designed myself, but Julien Avy, my designer friend, gave me some good advice in the design of the game.”
Vachon added he feels the co-op approach here is rather fresh suggesting it is “a different, new kind of cooperative game, eliminating the irritants of co-op games and keeping only the most fun parts. What's more, the game board is beautiful, helping to immerse players in the game world. . .
“Normally, in co-op games, players take turns... then an AI takes the villains' turn. In Hacktivity, this isn't the case at all. The game offers something new: players play both the bad guys and the good guys. This gives players control and forces them to make tough decisions.”
Along the way Vachon said he “wanted to eliminate the influence of an Alpha player and give full power to the player. And it works very well. This means that even players who don't usually enjoy co-op games really like the game.”
So theme wise you are working to eradicate cyber viruses. Yes, it’s not exactly a game theme that screams interesting, but it works.
It helps that the box and rule book art by Malvisi is quite nice and certainly has a cyberpunk feel.
It helps too that the game components are really nice – solid card stock and recessed board spots for the cubes in play.
The rules are also rather straight forward, without a great deal of paging through the rule book looking for clarifications, even on the first play through.
The designer said he wants players to feel like the truly impact play.
“Players always feel in control of their destiny,” said Vachon. “They don't feel like they're undergoing the game like other co-op games. They make their own decisions, and every one of them has an impact on the game.
“So they have to try to make the best possible decision for the situation at hand, and what's more, without an ‘alpha’ player.”
In the end, if you like co-op games, want something a little different, and that looks good, well Hacktivity is one to check out.
