You wake up on a sandy beach. The sun is shining down, your skin is itchy, and you are in a rough state. The last thing you remember is being washed overboard from your ship. You know you are lucky to be alive, but what do you do next?
Welcome to Fate Flip: Washed Ashore, a new solo card game published by Alley Cat Games. You’ll need to manage your resources and make the right decisions if you hope to survive and see your homeland again.
Gameplay Overview:
Washed Ashore takes place over up to three chapters. On your turn, you’ll read the top card of the play deck and make a decision based on the choices it gives you. For example, the first card will ask if you want to lie down and rest for a while or start exploring your island. Whichever choice you make will cost you some of your precious resources (three in total). It will also tell you what to do with the card. You might discard it, flip it over (either on the short end or the long end) and then move it to the back of the stack, or sometimes it will go right to the front to be the next card you resolve.
Some cards may also grant you items, which are retrieved from a separate stack and kept on the table. Some entries will give you bonus options if you possess a specific item. You’ll keep churning through your cards until you reach one of the game’s 13 possible endings.
Game Experience:
Washed Ashore reminds me a bit of a mash-up between Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger and Palm Island. The main draw here is the narrative and what choices you make, while the flipping mechanic feels straight out of Palm Island. But that’s also where the similarities end.
At its heart, Washed Ashore is a resource management game. Each chapter will start with a few of 3 different resources. For example, in Chapter 1, it’s Safety, Energy, and Food. If you run out of a specific resource, you may be instructed to add some cards to your deck, or it may also be an ending (i.e., you ran out of health and died). There is no benefit for hitting the max on any resource, so the optimal play is usually to try and keep them all somewhat in the middle.
As for the story itself, I found it pretty engaging. I’ll avoid spoilers, but you start off exploring your island, gathering items, and trying to find a way off. The first act goes about how you’d expect on a deserted island, but things quickly change once you move to a new act. While each act is different in theme, they also link together nicely. Overall though I found myself invested in how my character was doing and what he was discovering.
I’m sure you are wondering how well the game holds up to multiple replays. I have played it about 3-4 times and feel like I’ve reached the shelf life of the game. As with any narrative game like this, I’m at the point now where If I want to reach a different ending, I need to purposely make different choices, rather than what I want my character to do. So I think after a couple of plays, you’ll probably be ready to move on. But with an affordable $15 price point, that’s actually ok. You’ll get a few hours of enjoyment out of the game and can give it to a friend.
Final Thoughts:
For a casual solo game, Fate Flip: Washed Ashore works really well. The game does have a bit of a learning curve at the start as the instructions aren’t the best. But, after a few rounds, the icons become second nature and allow the game to progress pretty smoothly. By my second play, I didn’t even need the rulebook anymore. The art is well done and the cards feel like they’ll hold up to however many plays you get out of it.
The thing to know is that resource management is still central to the game, so some choices will be made based on how close you are to a resource running out versus what you want to do. Granted, one could argue that’s actually thematic. If you are almost out of energy, you aren’t going to climb that tree to try and harvest a coconut.
Final Score: 3.5 Stars – A solid solo game with a dash of resource management and an engaging story.
Hits:
• Smooth gameplay once you get the rules down
• 13 different endings
• Good art and components
Misses:
• Rulebook could be better
Source: Board Game Quest
