Reading some of the comments here reminded me of a lesson I didn't learn for ten years while working as a dev for the biggest corp on the Earth, and that I hope the game was able to drill down to:
*Your coworkers are not the Corp.*
I'm not playing cause it would be extremely traumatic for me, but I hope that's something the game gets into. It is however a very subtle lesson IRL, something I think you only learn after the corp has made it impossible for you to work again. On the inside, you believe things the outside would generally find heinous.
Hello! I know some Descended from the Queen games have tables that let you play with a 52-card deck rather than printing custom cards – is that something you've considered with this game?
I've got the game in a bundle a while ago and also played it once since then. We filled our coporation with life and intrigue. The feedback at the end was not 100% positive, but that was due to playstyle (The prompts inspired us to do little scenes, where we gossip in character about recent events or discuss the contents of the briefcase. This was fun, but also slow and one player correctly pointed out, we did less prompts as a result and the corporation could have been fleshed out more until the end of the game).
Thanks for your input! The Corp not being fleshed out is in fact a feature not a bug. The focus was 100 percent meant to be on the characters "Working for the Corp". Glad to hear you've played it a couple times. Let me know if you play again! That's cool that the Corp's thing the cyberpunks were going to take was a briefcase. In my head it was always some data on a server, but a briefcase is even cooler I think.
+ great theme & story prompts + replayability + no prep needed + beautiful art ~ if you don't like the story-only gameplay of For the Queen, this game probably won't appeal to you either
Full Review:
This game does a great job on using the For the Queen style of play to create a very different experience. Like For the Queen, players take turns answering story prompt cards until they reach the end-game question. In this case: "runners are coming to steal secrets, do you protect the corp?"
My first thought was, "Nah, who would?"
But then I started reading the prompt cards you use to build up the game's narrative. These prompts tap into the feelings I have for my own workplace: the Big Business? Do not like. Coworkers/relationships/memories made there? It's complicated. For example, one of the prompts is "what song does your coworker sing to pass the time?" and Oh MY Gosh I want to answer this...and would also have immediately have strong feelings about that coworker based on the answer.
The prompts cover a wide range of characterization: what have you done to earn your recent raise? What small talk do you have with the receptionist? How is this job is better than your last one? How will you get revenge on the co-worker who took credit for your work? And so many more.
That's the genius of this game: it takes the premise of the Corp is Bad in Cyberpunk, and then puts you in a slice-of-life reality of what it means to work there—in all its imperfections. Which for a worker, is often about day-to-day drama, good and bad.
My answer to the final question would be way less clear cut then I originally thought. Do I protect the secrets of the corp, thus protecting my job and coworkers? Protecting the memories and space we built together? I can see my final answer shifting depending on players' answers each game to the prompts. And each time, the question feeling more layered then the genre trope would lead you to believe.
Hi Ken ! Your idea of a cyberpunk setting is awesome !
Would you like to made your game available on www.forthedrama.com ? it's an open and free app for playing #descendedfromthequeen games online. There is already 13 games and we translate games in many languages too.
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Reading some of the comments here reminded me of a lesson I didn't learn for ten years while working as a dev for the biggest corp on the Earth, and that I hope the game was able to drill down to:
*Your coworkers are not the Corp.*
I'm not playing cause it would be extremely traumatic for me, but I hope that's something the game gets into. It is however a very subtle lesson IRL, something I think you only learn after the corp has made it impossible for you to work again. On the inside, you believe things the outside would generally find heinous.
Hello! I know some Descended from the Queen games have tables that let you play with a 52-card deck rather than printing custom cards – is that something you've considered with this game?
I haven't, that's a really good idea! Not sure if I'll be able to do that though I love the idea. Check out this tool online, I really like it: https://storysynth.org/Shuffled/16jKRcMytaNLTdqHGWE00dFVaaihzD38ga1hTm1wr-iA/
Thanks for the link, Ken, that website looks like a great option for playing!
I've got the game in a bundle a while ago and also played it once since then. We filled our coporation with life and intrigue. The feedback at the end was not 100% positive, but that was due to playstyle (The prompts inspired us to do little scenes, where we gossip in character about recent events or discuss the contents of the briefcase. This was fun, but also slow and one player correctly pointed out, we did less prompts as a result and the corporation could have been fleshed out more until the end of the game).
Thanks for your input! The Corp not being fleshed out is in fact a feature not a bug. The focus was 100 percent meant to be on the characters "Working for the Corp". Glad to hear you've played it a couple times. Let me know if you play again! That's cool that the Corp's thing the cyberpunks were going to take was a briefcase. In my head it was always some data on a server, but a briefcase is even cooler I think.
Summary:
+ great theme & story prompts
+ replayability
+ no prep needed
+ beautiful art
~ if you don't like the story-only gameplay of For the Queen, this game probably won't appeal to you either
Full Review:
This game does a great job on using the For the Queen style of play to create a very different experience. Like For the Queen, players take turns answering story prompt cards until they reach the end-game question. In this case: "runners are coming to steal secrets, do you protect the corp?"
My first thought was, "Nah, who would?"
But then I started reading the prompt cards you use to build up the game's narrative. These prompts tap into the feelings I have for my own workplace: the Big Business? Do not like. Coworkers/relationships/memories made there? It's complicated. For example, one of the prompts is "what song does your coworker sing to pass the time?" and Oh MY Gosh I want to answer this...and would also have immediately have strong feelings about that coworker based on the answer.
The prompts cover a wide range of characterization: what have you done to earn your recent raise? What small talk do you have with the receptionist? How is this job is better than your last one? How will you get revenge on the co-worker who took credit for your work? And so many more.
That's the genius of this game: it takes the premise of the Corp is Bad in Cyberpunk, and then puts you in a slice-of-life reality of what it means to work there—in all its imperfections. Which for a worker, is often about day-to-day drama, good and bad.
My answer to the final question would be way less clear cut then I originally thought. Do I protect the secrets of the corp, thus protecting my job and coworkers? Protecting the memories and space we built together? I can see my final answer shifting depending on players' answers each game to the prompts. And each time, the question feeling more layered then the genre trope would lead you to believe.
Hi Ken ! Your idea of a cyberpunk setting is awesome !
Would you like to made your game available on www.forthedrama.com ? it's an open and free app for playing #descendedfromthequeen games online. There is already 13 games and we translate games in many languages too.