Designer: Michal Oracz (Cry Havoc, Neuroshima Hex! 3.0, This War of Mine: The Board Game)

Artists: n/a

Publisher: Awaken Realms (Lords of Hellas, Nemesis, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, This War of Mine: The Board Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative play, deck building, miniatures, modular board

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Etherfields is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges already currently total almost 65x the initial funding goal, with 9 days left to go on the campaign!

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  A “Dream Crawler” with surreal art, impressive miniatures, characters developed through deck-building, and gameplay that calls on intuition, deduction, and emotional intelligence.

How It Works: Well, in addition to not having the artists listed anywhere (and that includes me doing additional searches around the internet, which usually results in success, but not this time), the Awaken Realms crew have also failed to provide any kind of rulebook at this time. So all I can tell you right now is that Etherfields is a dungeon crawler set in a dreamworld with surreal and impressionist art, leading to the game being dubbed a Dream Crawler. The game currently offers 80+ hours of narrative, exploration, solo/co-op campaign content in the Core Box and the included Harpy Campaign, and another 30+ hours of gameplay in the Sphinx Campaign add-on, with an additional 30+ hours of gameplay through a second add-on campaign likely. We also know that in addition to the amazing art and impressive miniatures, Etherfields is a co-op that incorporates deck-building mechanics.

Comparisons:  Although no one has it in their hands yet, Awaken Realms recent Kickstarter for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is likely a similar comparison, with both games incorporating deck-building, dungeon crawling, narrative exploration, modular boards, and lots of impressive miniatures. So also is the currently-running Trudvang Legends, another campaign from a big box miniatures-heavy company (this time CMON), publishing a narrative0 & exploration-focused dungeon crawler, although with Trudvang the focus is on Norse myths.

What Should I Pledge?:
$93 Core Box: the Core Box of the game with all stretch goals.
$145 Dreamwalker Pledge: the Core Box pledge, plus the Creatures of Etherfields miniatures expansion.
$216 Dream Master (Gameplay All-In): the Dreamwalker Pledge, plus the Funeral Witch Campaign Add-On, the Sphinx Campaign Add-On, and the 5th Player Expansion.
$408 Dream God (Collector’s All-In): The Dream Master Pledge, plus the Metal Keys Add-On, Artbook Add-On, Platmat Add-On, Playing Cards Add-On, Card Sleeves Add-On, Card Sleeves for Gameplay Add-On, Card Holders Add-On, and Sundrop for all models including Add-Ons & Card Holders.

Add-Ons:
$38 Sphinx Campaign
$25 Funeral Witch Campaign
$20 5th Player Expansion
$10 Thorn Knight (this was also a freebie if you pledge within the first 24 hours)
$5 Metal Keys (4)
$18.5 Artbook
$25 Playmat
$10 Playing Cards, containing Etherfields art
$56 Sleeves (enough for all cards in the game, which currently sits at almost 900)
$19 Sundrop for Core Box
$46 Sundrop for Dreamwalker
$31 5 Card Holders, made of hard, sculpted plastic

KS Exclusives:
None listed.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $408 for the Dream God pledge plus $50 for Two-Wave shipping for a total of $458.

However, if like me, you don’t feel the art book, sleeves, card holders, and superfluous playing cards are necessary, then consider this option. The Game Master All-In will run you $216, plus $5 for the Metal Keys upgrade, $10 for the Thorn Knight (if you didn’t pledge early bird to get it as a freebie), $25 for the Playmat, $46 for Dreamwalker Sundrop, and $35 for One-Wave shipping, for a grand total of $337. If you want to split shipping into two waves to get the Core Box early in March 2020, add $11 for a total of $348.

Etherfields completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, August 8th and tentatively ships in March 2020.