Netrunner, the acclaimed collectible card game originally released by Final Fantasy Games, has announced a new set for the title. Set in futuristic Brazil and focusing on a robot uprising, the plot of the new game cycle and the set will see various automa and robotic beings engage in a freedom movement following a new law that seeks to strip androids from their rights.
Brazil, Last Harbor of Robotic Kin Is Aflame
The measure triggers a backlash amongst robots who will now fight for their rights. Aptly dubbed The Automa Initiative, this set focuses on the societal strive that impacts robots and bioroids who are forced into modern-day slavery and have their Brazilian utopia, one of the last places on Earth where robots were previously welcome, turned upside down.
The Automa Initiative will have the sabia bird as the symbol for the upcoming set, as the bird is also the national symbol of Brazil and a token of freedom in general. The set is also the first to be launched as part of the Liberation Cycle, the latest instalment in the series. The Automa Initiative will come with 65 cards that will also introduce a new run event, new connections, and sysops. Every corp deck will come with a three-point agenda and new weapons to add more variety and gameplay replayability.
Although Fantasy Flight Games is no longer involved with the project, the baton was passed onto the fans themselves who set up the Null Signal Games project, previously Project NISEI, designed to continue developing and printing cards and spreading them amongst the community.
Thanks to these valiant efforts, Netrunner has not only lived – it has evolved. The game itself focuses on a two-player rivalry where one of the players steps in the shoes of an evil corporation and the other is a runner who is attempting to undermine and bring down the corporation. Netrunner was designed by Richard Garfield, who has designed games such as KeyForge and notably, Magic: The Gathering.
The Automa Initiative is going to be released in the third quarter of 2023, with no reference currently made about the price of the sets.