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Review of Cerebria: The Inside World – Forces of Balance
Blurb from the publisher: 'Bring Balance to Cerebria!
A new power has joined the eternal struggle for shaping Cerebria's Identity. Take control of two new Spririts - undpredictable Intuition and wise Reason - and even out the odds between Bliss and Gloom in this innovative expansion! The Balance side offers a whole new gameplay and expands the player count up to 6 players, with variable 3-6 game modes.
Watch your Spirits come alive!
This expansion also includes 10 highly detailed , large spirit miniatures as an alternative to the cardboard spirits of the base game, for the complete Cerebria experience!'
What you get: Your EUR 49 or equivalent will buy you Cerebria: The Inside World - Forces of Balance, an expansion for Cerebria: The Inside World, the objective-driven, area-control game that started the Cerebria game line. With the expansion the game can now accommodate from one to six players (i.e. two more players are added), while playing time increases by at least another half hour for the higher player counts.
In addition to the expansion's 12-page rulebook which can be found on the publisher's website free of charge, the game also contains the following: 5 Gloom and 5 Bliss Essence counters, 20 Willpower counters, one Balance Quick Reference card, 2 double-sided Balance Spirit Boards, one Balance Team board, one Wheel of Intentions, 16 Balance Mild Emotion cards, 6 Balance Strong Emotion cards, 8 Balance Aspiration cards, 3 Balance Scoring Reference cards, 32 Balance Vibe tokens, 5 Balance Minor Identity Fragments, 3 Balance Major Identity Fragments, one Balance Capping Identity Fragment, 2 Point counters, 8 Balance Wild Vibe tokens, 2 Balance Player Order markers, 3 Ambition tokens, 16 Strong Emotion Vibe markers, 2 Balance Action Tracker tokens, 2 Balance Spirit Figures with plastic stands, 4 Gloom Spirit miniatures, 4 Bliss Spirit miniatures, and 2 Balance Spirit miniatures.
Gameplay: Forces of Balance introduces a number of elements to Cerebria's base game. First come the miniatures. The new Gloom and Bliss Spirit miniatures can substitute the base game's cardboard pieces without any rule change.
Balance is the third side in the conflict to shape Cerebria's future. It has its own Wheel of Intentions, scores Intentions just like Bliss and Gloom and scores points at the end of the game like both other factions. It does not compete for the Common Aspiration; instead it has a Hidden Aspiration with two equivalent conditions. The first condition necessitates that Bliss and Gloom are tied, while the second is a goal unique to Balance. During a Revelation Balance scores a minor Fragment for meeting either condition and a Major for meeting both.
Playing with Balance introduces certain changes to the board's setup like an increased number of Willpower counters on each Origin Sphere and a limited number of Common Aspirations. Balance always plays third and sixth. Its Spirits are Reason (Realm actions cost one Willpower less irrespective of who controls the realm) and Intuition (Willpower gained can be turned into Essence of either Bliss or Gloom). Balance uses the essence types of its opponents, and does not have a third, distinct type. Balance Emotions trigger their power when the Emotion leaves play. They all have the same name (Neutrality), but they can all be upgraded into strong emotions without a predetermined Vibe.
Additional rule changes include Balance Spirits sharing their space with Spirits from the other factions, its Emotions cannot be moved by Bliss or Gloom, the inclusion of additional steps in a Revelation for Balance to have the chance of checking its Hidden Aspiration, the game ending when the sixth Aspiration is scored etc.
The rulebook additionally references Balance's spirit boards as well as its Emotion cards, be them Mild or Strong.
The strong points: The concept of not having just conceptual asymmetry but a faction which works with different rules to everybody else is fascinating. That is one of the main reasons I enjoyed Space Empires: Replicators, and that is the reason that I like the present expansion.
Forces of Balance plays on the base game's strong points: refined and engrossing gameplay, a million choices, multiple paths to victory, and a bizarre art concept with dreamscapes and peculiar creatures. I enjoyed the engine behind the third faction of Cerebria. Playing balance has a very distinctive feeling. Easy examples: in a three-player game, you always play last, allowing you to be as reactive as you wish to be. This is mighty useful, seeing how for you to benefit the other two factions must be tied. Balance's Spirits are used in a very different way to the ones of the other two factions, since they cannot hinder the positioning of other Spirits... and they cannot be hindered themselves. Bliss and Gloom players will notice that they will start to second-guess their movements, knowing that the third player can actually take advantage of them. The safe haven of the tie doesn't exist any more. In my statistically non-representative playtests I noticed higher aggression between the two initial factions, in order not to facilitate the third. That is a very clever gameplay twist which increases player interaction not indirectly, but through direct conflict.
The miniatures are some of the most bizarre I have ever encountered, and I mean this exclusively as a compliment. They look and feel quaint, out of place, like the harbingers of unfathomable power which cannot be understood by the human mind. They beg you to paint them and introduce them to your miniature games or dioramas. When I find the time, I know I will do so.
When it comes to the art of the remaining elements, expect all the positive (and negative) points we encountered in the base game. Balance uses shades of light purple, with a swathe of new cute monsters on its cards. The production values are as high as they were in the base game. Fun fact: everything in this expansion fits in the base game's box. For space starved people like me this is great news.
The weak points: In reality a third faction is good enough for three- and six-player games, but nothing more than that. Balance is not an alternative faction for a two-player or a solo game, since it needs both other factions in the game in order to function. I don't care to imagine the downtime at a crowded, six-player table, not to mention the incredibly small amount of turns each player will actually get to act upon in the over two hours that the game lasts. The lack of control, or of your decisions having the gravity you would have liked them to, will be minimal. If you are not playing with three players repeatedly, the present expansion is not necessary.
I would have wanted the neutral Emotions to have personalized names even before being turned into Strong Emotions in order to help with the learning curve. Now, all a player has is his memory to help him through what colour of card turns into what. Meh.
Don't expect Forces of Balance to solve any of the issues of the base game. It follows the script to the dotted I, including the even higher downtime between turns, since now you have to think of two different opponents instead of one. I wanted the game to surprise me on this, but it didn't.
Conclusion: If you like Cerebria: The Inside World and you are playing often with three (or six) players, Forces of Balance will be well received at your table. The fact that Balance is different enough from the basic game's factions can spice up the games even of those who play Cerebria constantly.
To find out more about Cerebria: The Inside World - Forces of Balance and Mindclash Games, take a look at http://mindclashgames.com.
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