Nauvoo Games has announced a new competitive engine-building game “Raising Robots” coming to GenCon 2022 for demonstration. Illustrated by Howard McWilliam and designed by Brett Sobol and Seth Van Orden. The game is set to play for 1-7 players for players 14+ and takes 60-90 minutes to complete. “Raising Robots” incorporates more sophisticated mechanics into the core gameplay despite its light theme and artwork.
“Raising Robots” Is Not as Simple as the Artwork Suggests
Your job is to assemble the greatest collection of robots. Each player will choose to perform two actions at the same time each term, picking from “design,” “recycle,” “fabricate,” “assemble” and “upgrade.” There will be a “power” mechanic that will make the action better or worse, the publisher explains in the official description.
The more powerful actions, though, may also influence your opponents and the game will require treading a fine line between advancing your own agenda and making sure you are not helping the rest of the players by too much. “Raising Robots” stretches for eight rounds and the player who has scored the most points is announced winner.
If the look of the game seems a little misleading given the depth and strategy involved, that is because McWilliam is an acclaimed children’s book illustrator. This original look should not be wasted on adults, though, as it creates an interesting paradox in the expectations versus actual gameplay that board gamers do not naturally shun.
The game will unfold in phases with power cubes contributed to “the central phase of the board” which can bestow additional phases to run and other actions to take.
Solo Mode That Lets You Play the Game to the Fullest
“Raising Robots” was confirmed as an upcoming title at GenCon during the Dice Tower Summer Spectacular Mega Announcement Video. Explaining the cubes mechanic, van Orden said in a BoardGameGeek post:
In Raising Robots, picking a phase only affects other players IF your power card has power cube(s) on it. Each player count has a different set of 8 power cards. So you power cards for low player counts have more cubes than your power cards in higher player counts.
Designer Seth Van Orden
Games that take place with two players will have a third AI-controlled player, and the solo mode will feature one player and two AI players, van Orden has confirmed. The designer argued that the solo play will feel as a natural addition to the gameplay and not a “tacked on gimmick.”
Overall, the game is well thought-through and the designers and Nauvoo expect to have a great title on their hands. Whether this is indeed the case will depend on how well the gameplay clicks together – to be seen at GenCon!