Disclosure: I am friends with the designers. That said, I don’t like all of the games they design (just ask them! ).
Salvation Road is a co-operative game for 1-4 players that plays in about an hour. I have played it multiple times at various points in its development, including the latest version. I am writing this review because a lot of discussion has focused on the theme and feel, and I think it would be helpful to look more at the game’s mechanics and perhaps compare it as a game with something like Pandemic, which I consider the best example of a hour long cooperative game.
In Salvation Road, the players control a group of characters of an apocalypse that has left the word in ruins. The characters are of two types: Heroes and Survivors. All characters have unique abilities, like those in Pandemic, although the Heroes have abilities that will help you, and Survivors have abilities that may hinder you. Each player controls one of each type. The character’s unique powers are varied and interesting.
The objective is to gather food, medicine, ammunition, and fuel for a trip to the city of Salvation, where other survivors have gathered to make a new life. Unfortunately, there are marauders around to make things difficult. The game has a very strong theme, and I like that it is more Mad Max/Road Warrior than zombies.
The game, although cooperative, does not play exactly like Pandemic, but it does take some of the aspects that I think make Pandemic work well and adapts them.
Players are given a 2 actions for each character per turn (4 total). After players have taken their turns, the game has a turn in which bad things happen. Like Pandemic, the bad things are somewhat predictable, which allows you to apply some strategy to your turns. 699
The bad things come in the form of Apocalypse cards, themed after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence). Each type has 4 cards (16 cards total), allowing you to plan for future cards based on the cards that have already occurred. The cards themselves have different effects that may wound your characters or cost scarce resources to overcome. This deck also acts as a timer; if your group hasn’t attempted the trip to Salvation before the Apocalypse deck runs out, you lose!
Both Salvation Road and Pandemic also depend on players gathering resources to accomplish the goal. While in Pandemic players draw cards every turn, in Salvation Road, the players have to actively go to dangerous locations in order to scavenge for the resources they need. The resources are used during the game to heal wounds, kill marauders, and avoid card affects, as well as to satisfy the game winning conditions.
There is definite tension between saving the resources for the end game and using them just to survive to the next turn. It’s the same tension you can feel during a game of Pandemic – do I use this resource (card) now to help with a situation in the current turn, or do I save it to help us get closer to the end game win? In Salvation Road, these decisions make the game shine. They are highly thematic and agonizing to make, but yet you still feel like you are exercising some control on what happens to your characters. You have 100 things you want to do, have limited time and resources to do them, and the game puts many obstacles in your path.
I have played this game a lot, and it is the best hour long co-op I’ve experienced. Each play of this game has felt significantly different to me just based on varying powers of my characters and the locations. It takes some of the mechanics that make Pandemic so popular and accessible and layers on a well-implemented theme and unique twists. 9/10! 699