Mantis Falls (Retail Edition)
Board Game Geek Avg Player Rating: 9.50
Players: 2 to 3
Published: 2022
Content Notes: Retail Edition of Mantis Falls Board Games by Distant Rabbit Games. Includes core game.
Players are set on the dark film-noir roads of Mantis Falls, a mob-ruled mountain town, in the 1940s. They have been witness to something they were not meant to see and are now hunted for their information. Taking single steps down increasingly dark and dangerous roads, players must survive the night and make it out of town alive. Together, they must frequently apply cooperation and trust to navigate the night together… but things may not all be as they seem.
Mantis Falls is a sometimes cooperative game. Each game may be entirely witnesses, in which case players only win if they all make it out alive. But the players may secretly have an assassin hidden among them, subtly manipulating the situation and waiting for the right moment to go for the kill. Roles (and therefore winning conditions) are randomly assigned and remain hidden until the game has ended. Throughout play, Mantis Falls presents secret unseen events and double-edged action cards, instigating confusion and degrading trust.
Mantis Falls combines hand-building tactics, risk management, and social deduction in a detailed blend of strategy and player interaction. Players are allowed to (and frequently will need to) have thorough conversations throughout as they discuss tactics, defend their choices and bluff through carefully guarded secrets. Hands are often drawn randomly, but are also manipulated and molded by the players, choices throughout the game (including elements of drafting). According to an ever-evolving set of circumstances, witnesses and assassins alike must both walk the line between readiness to help their partner and readiness to kill them. An overly suspicious witness might let die a true ally and lose the game, but an overly-trusting one might just pay for it with their life. An assassin that is never willing to help others might face questioning and be caught, while one who spends too much time building trust might let their prey slip through their grasp.
With a modular board, variable and hidden maximum wounds for players, variable win conditions, and three optional add-on modules to compliment the base game, each setup of Mantis Falls is unique. Random distribution of events and actions further ensures variety between plays. Just as important, though, is the variability introduced by the players themselves. The degree of interaction in Mantis Falls means the personalities of people playing has the power to meaningfully transform the experience of every game.
–from the publisher
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