Spooky season has officially begun! That means it’s time to talk about the scariest thing of all: The Tech Industry!
Also Vampires. But I’m less scared of those.
Wizkids has decided to put the two together in a brand new game called Siliconvania, based around the premise that the Vampire Council wants to redevelop Transylvania into a thriving tech paradise like Portland or Austin. To do that, players have been tasked with creating the best plan that allows for innovation, disruption, and, oh yeah, plenty of blood sucking!
What’s In The Box?
- 5 City Planning Boards
- 1 Council Board
- 7 Antiquities Tiles
- 15 Council Contract Tiles
- 6 Train Tiles
- 35 Silent Bid Cards
- 10 Track Markers
- 60 Vampire Meeples
- 5 Cat Meeples
- 5 Hound Meeples
- 1 Scorepad
- 70 Specialist Cards
- 88 Building Tiles
How’s It Play?
The game combines several different ideas at once in a logical and easy to understand way. In front of each player is a board for their city plan on which they’ll place different buildings necessary for the operation of their gothic tech town. These are Metro Stations, Malls, Parks, Mausoleums, Neighborhoods, Castles, Tech Campuses, and of course Blood Banks. Certain combinations of these tiles get you different victory points at the end of the game (well spaced Tech Campuses, Parks near Vampire Housing, etc). You get these tiles through a bidding process, which is also what gets you specialist cards like Engineers and Sales Reps that have unique abilities to add to your town as well as act as resources for bidding.
There’s tons of little finnicky options to help you customize your town aside from the limited pool of buildings like council contracts, special antiquities, and even some cats and hounds there to act as pets (or food) for your tech obsessed vamps.
The Verdict?
Siliconvania is a game selling itself on the theme and the inherent comedy therein, and for that it works beautifully. It’s such a fun little satire about the tech industry while also parodying common tropes of vampire fiction. For all the talk of “Silicon Valley Vampires” it’s cute to see that taken to its logical conclusion.
Gameplay-wise I don’t think this is doing TOO much to innovate the various mechanics its using, instead combining them well in service of the theme. So for players like me who want a game that’s theme-first it’s perfect. If you’re someone who needs some more meaty innovation to help it stand out you might not be as excited. However I think if you’re looking for a new horror game, especially this Halloween, this is a surprisingly deep but easy to pick up option!
You can grab Siliconvania from the Wizkids shop or your FLGS at an MSRP of 39.99!
Images via WizKids
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