Mind the Gap - MIND: The Fall of Paradise hits Kickstarter

 

I was about to start this piece of news by talking about my favourite science fiction novel, where the AI overruns mankind and cripples its entire infrastructure. Then I realised this happens at the end of the book and is kind of a huge spoiler so let’s not go there. The reason I was thinking all this is because MIND: The Fall of Paradise is a board game that simulates this cataclysmic event. One player takes on the control of the power hungry AI and the rest of the players are the rebellious humans attempting to spoil its nefarious plots.

Battling across the solar system the game is split across several boards from the macro events of planets with ships and orbital stations and resources, right down to the micro level of controlling space stations with troops and characters. The game appears to have everything thrown at it and is attempting to bridge both thematic and mechanics based games with plenty of resource collecting and lots and lots of conflict and player interaction.

I have to say I love the theme for this game and how it’s implemented. MIND is scenario based so every game will be different and all players have a variety of options available to them. The human players can colonise planets and run away from MIND whereas the evil AI can attempt to convince the rebels to lay down their arms in exchange for an eternity in a computer generated paradise.

MIND is a bit pricey but you do get a lot in the box, and of course the developer is based in the EU so a good portion of that price is going to be soaked up in shipping and import costs. The game also looks rather heavy, which also isn’t a bad thing so if you’re looking for a space game to sink your teeth into check out MIND The Fall of Paradise on Kickstarter now.