I’d like to start with initial impressions of Don’t Turn Your Back, currently on kickstarter from Evil Hat Productions. Then, in a later post, I’d like to go with my review after some more game play.
When I watched the initial tutorial video for Don’t Turn Your Back, I was feeling sort of disinterested. I’m not sure why, but, after reviewing the rules for myself and testing out a little game play, I found the game quite intriguing.
Its interesting in that I was thinking that the amount of cards that come in the game is very minor compared to most “deck building” games. Though after figuring out the way the game plays, it felt appropriate. I went from thinking that the game would only be viable with lots of stretch goals or expansions to thinking that such things could actually mess up the balance.
I often do like to use catch phrases like deck building and worker placement and such to interest friends that are in to these mechanics. In this case though, with the way the play types mix, I think its actually more interesting to try to entice people by explaining the creepy theme. It feels a bit like it should be a Silent Hill game. I never really played Silent Hill, but my friends all did. And I think that this game gives my imagination the same sort of feel.
In some ways, this game almost feels like an interesting variant on a classic strategy game like Chess. The mechanics are not the same, of course, but each player having their own deck of acquisition cards makes for more of a who plays the cards better rather than who gets the cards that best match their strategy.
D. Hunter Phillips's musings 