Burncycle Review - Do We Or Do We Not Capitalize The B? burncycle Review? ThaT jUst LoOks wrOnG

[@DF-we4pt]

As a solo gamer primarily, thanks for giving us a solo rating and review! I can’t wait to get my copy.

[@BoardGameCo]

Absolutely, chip theory games are almost always great solo, definitely deserve solo opinions

[@MarquisDeSang]

It is good, but not spectacular. As a SOLO player, the only thing I don't like about the game is that most rooms are useless and ignored in every floor.

[@jazepi]

Cloudspire is exactly what you say you enjoy about burncycle solo. A puzzle laid out in front of you. Take the time and do it. Do it. It's worth it. My number 1 game. About to dive into burncycle, all set up with the tutorial mission.

[@HeeeeySteve]

Devon and Jesse cameo at the end is great. I love seeing you smile with delight when you interact with them explaining how cool those bots are.

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol yep. Unplanned but timing worked out.

[@HeeeeySteve]

@@BoardGameCo Did you get the BrassMags? Didn’t see those anywhere and curious to see if they add anything to the game. I backed Unbreakable and added burncycle since it was just about the only reprint I’ve seen that hasn’t jumped an insane amount in price. No idea how CTG is keeping their game pricing stable right now.

[@tylerrrr07]

You were just GIDDY explaining your experience to Devon which was a delight to see. Really looking forward to this one! Don't know why this crossed my feed 11 days late but thanks for putting out the review!

[@BoardGameCo]

Absolutely :)

[@4fun507]

Thanks for the great review. I really appreciated the comments on difficulty and the 'illusion' of being difficult and the Spirit Island comparison. I don't want to lose all of the time but I want to feel the risk is there.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Pre-ordered after a good bit of research. I play CTG games solo only so far, so this will join Mage Knight, TMB, and Cloudspire in my solo cycle very likely.

[@DMBuc2k1]

Playing this primarily solo and can’t wait! Excited I went for the brass minis after much back and forth 😀

[@BoardGameCo]

I think I'm going to cave and get them...

[@JVswashbuckler]

@@BoardGameCo I'm on the fence about the brass mags! I have a preorder in for the game play content and could still add the minis.... any thoughts?

[@davidvelazquez677]

It sounds like Burncycle would really benefit from a campaign system with an easy save storage solution. Play one floor with 2-3 players, wrap up, log, and store. Come back for floor two, and then next game session finish out with the epic 3rd floor mission. That would probably be ideal and I don’t know about anyone else, but game that offers campaigns in 3 plays or less would be really sweet. Different from say Tainted Grail or Sleeping Gods that require 10-20+ hours just to finish one campaign.

[@BoardGameCo]

Honestly it wouldn't be that hard I think. Take a photo of your boards and your 95% there.

[@4fun507]

This is what I was thinking when I heard 'complaints' about the length of three floor sessions. It seems like a perfect three night campaign game, which is far easier to coordinate than the bigger campaign type games.

[@rogerklee459]

Love the solo. Love the network. Live the mission, bot, and corporation diversity. I can leave the game up as long as I want which is vital for this game. Another ctg hit!

[@BoardGameCo]

Nice :)

[@phloog]

To feel better about the thematic issue with the burncycle...reverse your viewpoint and the way it's described and assume the bots have the energy/focus to WOULD HAVE ALWAYS done the enhanced action, but when the burncycle opposes that action they do LESS because they are fighting the programming. I feel like they just described it backwards for the mechanic.

[@VaultBoy13]

Seems an easier solution than making an expansion that caters to more scenarios with fewer floors would simply be rule that makes it possible to start 3 floor scenarios on floor 2 or floor 3. Give agents an extra 5 power (total 15) on floor 2 plus 1 item, and increase the threat by 5. For Floor 3, given the agents an extra 10 power (total 20) on floor 3 plus 1 item and 1 mod, and increase the threat by 10. The numbers might be a bit off. A rule like this would also make it possible to play the 2 floor missions on just the last level. The threat seems a little high, but if there's not extra rules fiddling with the network board, then that's probably a fair exchange.

[@jcdc9437]

This is another very unique game by CTG, the brassmags are simply delightful. I’m agree, not easy, you have to take a lot of hours to understand 75% of Burncycle. But when it flows, this game is addictive, like TMB, Hoplomachus and Cloudspire. You want to stop working to play Burncycle, this game is a must.

[@steveowen7508]

Thanks for the great review! This looks right down my alley - I'll need to check it out.

[@BoardGameCo]

Glad I could help. If there's tts, could be worth diving into

[@ben59320]

I've preorder this game + the extra bots + the brass figurines, I am really looking forward to play this. It looks heavy in terms of rules but the unique theme (at least for me) makes it really interesting. It'll be for solo only and I'm glad to see it's your favorite player count !

[@RiHa_Games]

Congrats on the 40k, you beat the duck :-D Thank you for rating per player count, that helps a lot, I hope you can do that for every review, it gives context for me as I primarily play with 2☺️

[@boardgametime3727]

Couldn’t wait for this review!!! Grabbing my coffee. Thanks, Alex!

[@Groovestonenz]

Random non boardgames question, but next to your light in the top left, what is the glowing red circle? Some sort of aircon or sound system? I've never noticed it before, but streamed your video to my big screen tv and noticed it for the first time. Lol.

[@sanchoxtube]

I noticed the same, figure Alex zoomed the camera out so he could fit more of the table (and therefore background) in for the review. Looks like the CPU cooler on a PC viewed through the side vent, you can see the graphics card below. Background sleuth!

[@Groovestonenz]

@@sanchoxtube haha nice. I'm not a big computer person, so I wasn't sure. Thanks!

[@BoardGameCo]

Cpu :) usually blocked by xia, but had that down to table :)

[@elqord.1118]

The network was my main complaint even during the Kickstarter. It felt disconnected and I also share your view…it’s still not well integrated. Not sure if an expansion can fix this while trying to maintain somewhat of a balance in the game. It’s a shame

[@BoardGameCo]

Yeah, The more I played the more okay with it I was, but the key word is okay.

[@mrsuitcase9799]

Nice. I have TMB, and Hoplo on the way, and was going to wait and see on this one - this is the first review I've seen, and it is looking good! (another expensive one - oh no!). So what to buy beyond the base will be the next question, I suppose...

[@BoardGameCo]

As much as I do enjoy it, if you already have too many bones coming as well as haplo, you may not need all three. They're all great, and if you can justify it go for it... But they do have overlap in the tactical feeling all three games give.

[@aSyphodias]

Being (almost) all in for tmb, this was an easy pass budget wise. But even in terms of gameplay I never got pulled in. Tempted by hoplomacus though but I can wait for that..

[@BoardGameCo]

If it helps, I still think too many bones is better :-) if you only have room for one that's the right choice

[@Brummie29]

Great review, hopefully it will get delivered soon in the UK… When playing solo are you playing 2h (2 bots) and a command module or a single bot and the command module?

[@flashburn2012]

Same question I have... are you playing solo with 1 or 2 bots?

[@DevonTalksTabletop]

The game we came in on he played with two bots

[@Brummie29]

@@DevonTalksTabletop yeah but did he just set it up for the video, the question is more on what he normally plays as Alex did say he plays mostly solo

[@BoardGameCo]

Always with two bots, I like the interplay of different powers and abilities, and in my opinion is not a lot extra to manage.

[@jonathana6298]

I passed on the original KS because the details were so limited. I also recently got rid of everything Too Many Bones. I’ll wait for the next KS (and many more reviews) before jumping in. But it looks interesting.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, totally reasonable to have passed. The good news is the savings on Kickstarter for chip theory games while present, are never a ton... So you're not missing out on a lot by getting it later

[@oliverlam5208]

So tempted for Assassin’s Creed, but it’s expensive and personally for my justification; I wish there were more variety in all the miniatures.

[@BoardGameCo]

They said they're coming up with a retail one, with no minis

[@pecktec]

Mine is in the mail. I’m hopeful once I get it down my wife and I will like it.

[@BoardGameCo]

Nice :)

[@RC1207Sev]

I had TMB and found its solo (1 character) experience lackluster. Played Cloudspire versus (2 players) once and liked it a lot. The general theme of stealth of burncycle intrigues me. Now I'm playing mostly solo games. Of all (current) Chip Theory Games, which one has the best solo experience?

[@BoardGameCo]

Oh I always play TMB solo with two characters. And that's my best solo experience from Chip Theory.

[@patriziopastore9895]

Oh man, interesting to evaluate a game in a diffent count player. Actually most of the game have a kind of "Best Number PC". Waiting my copy should be on the way. P.s. did you also play/have the expansion?

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, I'll usually comment on my preferred player counts, but for me the gap in the experience here was so strong that I straight up gave different ratings. Never done that before, but I'm sure I'll do it again eventually.

[@patriziopastore9895]

@@BoardGameCo Thanks I will also play solo (before playing with some friends)

[@JoostN86]

That ending though! Very nice

[@timothyiwan275]

fantastic review, @boardgameco do you find when playing solo it is better handling 2 robots and a command module....how is it when going true solo with just one bot and one command module?

[@BoardGameCo]

I've always done two bots...just prefer it

[@Thomas-kx9op]

Sounds good since I will probably only be playing solo. If I ever play anything else, it would be 2 player.

[@BoardGameCo]

It's really solid. Grew on me more and more.

[@jcw59able]

Can’t wait to get my copy. I’ve enjoyed it quite a lot on TTS

[@BoardGameCo]

Nice, I haven't played it on TTS since the campaign

[@gowest7797]

Playing with Devon is either a big increase in fun or a massive loss. When I played mythic mischief three player with him it was horrible. It made a game I love almost unplayable. Thankfully most games are a big uptick with Devon. 😉

[@DevonTalksTabletop]

It made it unplayable?! What?!!!!!!

[@seansmith2650]

Do you wish chip theory games used minis or have you come to like their flagship chips

[@mylor1066]

Excellent ending. Very natural.

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol thanks :) unplanned but timing worked out.

[@ChadHensley]

Doesn't sound like a game for me but I appreciate your insight.

[@inoutsoccer11]

Hey Alex, thanks for the overview! Do you feel that this has a similar learning curve to TMB? Having to live in the rulebook and constantly reference the player sheets for TMB was a major turn off for me as it never allowed me to become fully immersed in the game.

[@seansmith2650]

He said there's 40 page learn to play on top of 35 more pages to reference. So sounds dense in rules

[@oddminority6696]

The rules are simple. at some point it clicks and then it's just as easy as too many bones. a good structured referencebook is the best you can have. The only problem I have with all CTG games is that they are too easy.

[@dayoltay]

Different ratings for different player counts? As a 1-2p gamer you had my curiosity now you have my attention. *Still watching*

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

_Always_ watch the video 'till the end... _Always_

[@BoardGameCo]

Sometimes it's worth it :-)

[@ajplank3907]

Alright, so I read the entire How to Play book, then spent the last 3 hours walking myself through the “extended” tutorial of the entire first floor. My head hurts and I feel like I grok maybe 65% of this thing and I haven’t actually made a single decision yet. Based on your comments I’m wondering if this is normal and I should just push through and actually play a floor myself hoping it clicks, or if I just don’t have the computing power for this one. Even if it clicks I just can’t imagine playing this other than solo.

[@ajplank3907]

So I pushed through and at some point it actually did click and I quite enjoyed it. The Paul Grogan/Ricky Royal playthrough video was very helpful.

[@theblart4196]

Nice TeeTurtle shirt, Alex! :)

[@BoardGameCo]

Thanks :)

[@CheddahSlammer]

Yeah I got the play mat before the actual game yet lol.

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol nice

[@vincentdesrochers8307]

Waiting for your Batman movie review…

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol one of these days

[@algoessolo8062]

4.5 for solo 🤔

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, love it as a solo experience

[@KristoVaher]

So... At zero players it's a 5/5?

[@BoardGameCo]

Technically if I use that time to play a different game, one that is a 5 out of 5... Then yes.

[@maxf.7262]

🐐🥁👍

[@BoardGameCo]

:)