Crystallo Review
Image: Deep Water Games
INTRODUCTION
I love heavy, complex board games that makes my brain feel like it is being exposed to a rigorous intellectual yoga exercise. The sensation of internalising intricately, interlocking mechanisms and being able to execute actions accordingly as to formulate a successful strategy is a sensation that never gets old. Unfortunately, there is this thing called life that tends to lay waste to my ambitions, a figurative vampire draining me of essence to the point that remaining awake is a major achievement in of itself. As much as I would love to, at the end of a long day games like Anachrony or Pax Transhumanity are primarily not my weapon of choice if I want to sit down with a nice cup of tea and decompress in my little sanctuary made of cardboard and wood. Enter stage left Crystallo: a solitary, abstract game from first-time designer Liberty Kifer and publisher Deep Water Games featuring set collection, gems, and freeing fabled creatures from the grasp of a wicked beast.
Full disclosure: a review copy of Crystallo was kindly provided by publisher Deep Water Games
COMPONENTS
In terms of components and art, Crystallo is a shining example that the old proverb “Good things come in small packages” still holds true. There is no box to speak of, instead the entire game fits inside a plush, velveteen pouch which gives Crystallo a sense of luxury despite being a relatively small game. Now, I fully admit to having a rather significant weak spot for board and card games which feature acrylic gems as tokens, therefore it is hardly surprising that I am unreasonably excited every single time I open up the bag and pour out a handful of gems shimmering in all the colours of the rainbow. The same level of attention to detail can be used to describe the artwork by Liberty Kifer which manages to convey a sense of wonder as evident by the lovely illustrations of the mystical creatures and the Black Dragon.
I do have one criticism regarding the components, specifically the rulebook. For such a small game in terms of mechanisms, I was surprised to find that the rules document is surprisingly vague regarding key concepts. This became even more evident while I was viewing the most excellent Rodney Smith’s video tutorial which covers a lot of important exceptions and examples that are totally absent in the actual rulebook! The good news is that publisher Deep Water Games is well aware of this issue and is working on an updated version of the rulebook to be included in the new print run of Crystallo which is currently scheduled for a release in the first or second quarter of 2021.
It may be a small game in terms of actual size but Crystallo nevertheless makes a big impression when displayed on the game table. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
OVERVIEW & THE SOLO MODE
In the darkness of the catacombs, where no mortal men dare enter the wicked Black Dragon triumphantly celebrates having captured and enslaved six magical creatures from all across the kingdom, imprisoning them using ancient arcane crystal magic. You take on the role of the lone wanderer, venturing deep into the caves in an attempt to free all the captured fabled creatures from the curse of the crystals. Only if you are able to complete this quest are you then able to face the wrath of the Black Dragon whilst trying to trap it in its own lair and ridding the land of its blight once and for all.
In Crystallo, you are exploring a cavern not only in search of powerful magical crystals needed to free the fabled creatures but also for treasures and artefacts which might aid you on your quest to defeat the Black Dragon. This is achieved by drawing and playing cards from the cavern deck, gradually expanding the explored areas of the catacombs as the story progresses. The game consists of two phases, the first is the aforementioned exploration where the goal is to free all six creatures from their magical bond before the card deck runs out. Only if you are able to achieve this goal will you then be able to progress to the second phase where you will fight the wicked dragon and hopefully trap him by utilizing the power of the crystals. At the start of the game, three crystals are placed onto each of the six fabled creatures for a total of 18 gems needed to be found during your exploration of the cave. Before venturing forth, nine cards are removed at random from the cavern deck as these will only come into play during the second phase. Once this is done you are then ready to start your adventure.
At its core, Crystallo is a game about set collection mixed with a pinch of spatial puzzle. By playing down cards you are trying to form matching sets of crystals which are needed to break the bond that imprisons the fabled creatures captured by the Black Dragon. Each cavern card consists of a combination of orbs and also crystals in three different shapes and colours. The orbs correspond to the creature cards, by creating matching sets of crystals you will be able to “light up” a crystal that matches one of the trapped fabled creatures thus weakening the bond that entraps them. Remove all three orbs of a particular colour and the creature has been liberated! However, this process is definitely easier said than done. When you are adding a new card to the cavern tableau, you need to play the new card in such a way as to ensure that one of the crystals is lined up either vertically or horizontally next an already existing crystal. How you orient the new section of the cavern is almost entirely up to you, allowing for cards to be partially or even entirely covered in order to achieve more favourable outcomes. Because the goal of this intellectual yoga exercise of rotating and scrutinizing the card layout is to play cards in such as way that they form a square consisting of three crystals and one orb.
In this photograph the red orb has been “surrounded” by three crystals of the same colour but in varying shapes, thus activating the orb in the form of a matching gem which in this case belongs to the Firefox creature. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
In order to solve this board game equivalent of Tetris, you need to adhere to certain restrictions regarding how crystals are paired together to form a unified square as described in the rulebook “[…] for each trait (shape or colour) all crystals most be all the same or all different”. There are three different shapes of crystals, the same applies to the available colours. Based on this fundamental design principle, it is up to you to discern how to approach each new card that is added to the expanding cavern. Do you play it safe, creating a sprawling cave in the hopes of having a good variety of potential interlocking sections to choose from? Or do you go for a more diverse approach in regard to arranging the crystals by mixing both colours and size, hoping that the luck of the draw is in your favour? Seeing how you always draw a new cavern card blindly from the top of deck, Crystallo is indeed a “make lemonade out of lemons” type of game combining a certain amount of strategy with elements of push-your-luck.
Another aspect of this abstract puzzle that I really appreciate is how the evolving and expanding cavern influences the feeling of the game. Adding the first couple of cards to the tableau is a very relaxed experience, harking back to games like Herbaceous that manage to convey a sensation resembling a meditative exercise rather than playing an actual game. However, unlike said herb collecting game Crystallo quickly evolves from a state of zen into something far more engaging. For each new card that is added to the cavern your available options of combining crystals and orbs grows exponentially. This aspect of the design is one of the reasons why I think Crystallo is such an interesting abstract game, because having more options available to you does not necessarily translate into an easier gaming experience. Much like a monkey trying to solve a math puzzle, during the later stages of the exploration phase I often found myself staring at the cavern in bewilderment whilst surveying the sprawling network of cards looking for interlocking sections to create new sets of matching crystals and orbs. As much as I enjoy the act of contemplating how to pair the crystal icons, there is also a downside to this part of the design. Seeing how the game design revolves around the process of layering cards atop of one another, inevitably you will experience previous cavern cards being accidentally shifted out of their position ever so slightly. For me, this resulted in some instances where I would hesitate whether or not a square was considered a legal move due to crystal icons not aligning down to the millimetre. This would be a non-issue had the rulebook been a bit more extensive as to further define legal moves and resolving edge cases.
The wicked Black Dragon! Photo: Fredrik Schulz
If you managed to successfully free all of the six fabled creatures before the deck of cavern cards runs out, then it is time to face the dreaded Black Dragon! Sheer force will not slay the beast, instead you will need to use the dragon’s powerful crystal magic and turn it against this foul creature of the underworld. This is the moment when the stack of nine cards you set aside earlier enters play along with any remaining cavern cards from the exploration phase. Unlike the exploration phase where you draw one card at a time blindly from the top of the deck, when facing the Black Dragon you only have your limited hand of reserved cards to choose from whilst trying to create matching sets of crystals and orbs. Whenever you manage to successfully create a set, in addition to adding a gem to the cavern card you also take a gem of matching colour and add it to the corresponding coloured orb on the Black Dragon card. Your goal is to successfully collect one of each of the six gems, thus entrapping the beast within its lair. On paper, the notion of having only nine cards at your disposal might sound like a much more difficult proposition as opposed to the exploration phase but I actually found it to be quite the opposite. The fact that you have the cards revealed allows for a wider decision space, as you are able to sequentially map out your turns in order to maximize the yield of gems.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Despite some minor niggling issues concerning the rulebook, for me Crystallo has proven to be an absolute gem. There is something about this game that I find to be almost hypnotizing, the way it manages to be both exceptionally accessible whilst simultaneously providing a decent challenge. I have failed to even reach the Black Dragon’s lair on multiple occasions, let alone actually defeating the beast. And yet I never felt the bitter taste of defeat simply because playing Crystallo is such an enjoyable experience in of itself, both in terms of game mechanisms but also from an aesthetic viewpoint. I am extremely thankful that publisher Deep Water Games is committed to bringing this fantastic little abstract, solitary game to a wider market as Crystallo and its designer Liberty Kifer is definitely worthy of the recognition and accolades.
