“All I Wanna Do…Is Play Mutant Clans…” That jingle has been living rent free in my head for the last several days, courtesy of the developer’s promotional video for the game, “Mutant Clans”. “Mutant Clans” is a 2-4 player card game that takes roughly 5-15 minutes to play. While the developer recommends an age requirement of 18+ due to depictions of combat, I’d feel comfortable lowering this to ages 12+ with parental supervision. Special thanks to Sam Soofi, Creator of Mutant Clans, for sending a copy. I’m also required by FTC regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, however any and all opinions remain my own. The only thing paid for here was my time and expertise.
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Overview
A mysterious cosmic ray has transformed the humans of Earth (well, just the ones from a town called Rhome) into green, orange, purple, and aqua mutants. Players will start by choosing at random one of eight face-down character cards. The action cards are shuffled at each player receives five to form their starting hand. A start player is chosen at random.
On a player’s turn, they’ll draw back up to five cards (if necessary) then be able to perform one of two possible actions:
1. Play a card, resolving it’s effect.
2. Discard two cards and draw two new ones.
Once a player has performed an action, their turn ends and the next player clockwise becomes the active player.
The game ends when there is only one player left standing.
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The Cards
The action deck includes characters, enemies, protectors, weapons, and defense cards.
Characters – As mentioned above, each player will receive one of these at random. They must reduce their opponent’s characters to zero life points in order to win. The character health can be found in the upper right of the card…all of them have 10 health.
Enemies – Enemy cards are played against other character cards. If the attack goes through, the card remains by the opponent’s character to track hit points / damage taken.
Protectors – Protector cards are played by a defending player attacked by an Enemy card. The health of the protector must be equal or higher than that of the attacker in order to negate / cancel the attack.
Weapons – Weapon cards are played against other character cards. If the attack goes through, the card remains by the opponent’s character to track hit points / damage taken.
Defense Cards – Defense cards are played by a defending player attacked by an Enemy or Weapon card. These typically reverse damage, heal the player by 1 damage, or block certain attacks.
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Note: The above doesn’t cover every single rule found on the rules sheet, but should give you a good idea as to how the game is played.
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The Review
I’d like to start by noting that the included rules sheet is incomplete. One of the first things I noticed while checking this game out was that there was nothing on the rules card indicating WHEN a player should draw a card to replenish their hand. I turned to the developer’s website and found a host of FAQ rules that should absolutely be included in the box. A game should be functional and able to be understood without the need to look up stuff online. Clear and complete rules straight out of the box are a must.
Further, the developer’s “Gameplay Demonstration” video is just him moving cards around a table with the catchy aforementioned soundtrack in the background. No rules explanation, no gameplay overview…it would be better served as a teaser video than a gameplay demonstration. Luckily, the developer later added a “how to play” video that explains things a bit better, but could definitely be polished up a bit.
I think part of the problem is that the FAQs are longer than the actual rules sheet. In the developer’s how to play video, the Q&A portion lasts for about four minutes, almost half of the video’s length. The more finicky a game is, the less players will remember the rules and probably screw something up. I feel like the game could be streamlined via a redesign…can you imagine if UNO or WAR had a lengthy Q&A sheet?
The game is indeed fairly quick to play once you fill in the missing pieces. There’s a lot of room for growth, however. For example, the only thing that separates the character cards is their faction color and art. This is totally fine in a very light, casual game however there could have been unique, special abilities added to these characters to give the game some interesting twists and added flavor. It would take some balancing, but perhaps character health could be raised or lowered to offset more powerful abilities.
The art is all hand-drawn. While not my preferred art-style, it’s preferable to some of the AI slop I’ve seen as of late. The card stock is actually very good and much nicer than some thin / paper-like card-stock I’ve seen in the past. I’m glad the developer opted for a much more premium style of card-stock.
Finally, is the game fun? It’s fast, so games can be played very quickly in between longer play sessions. Your often at the mercy of your cards, however. For example, some enemy cards will not attack certain faction colors. If you happen to have an enemy card that won’t attack purple and your opponent has a purple clan character, it’s useless. I found the game less tactical and more luck-based, especially since the health pool is so low. Two or three good attacks and your opponent is wiped out and this can happen quickly if they don’t have the right cards to defend against it. This problem is mitigated at higher player counts and while not in the rulebook, I recommend that all players draft different color characters if possible.
“Mutant Clans” feels like a demo / prototype that needs a lot more work to be competitive at the $20-25 price range. I encourage this first-time developer to reassess, research, and get assistance if necessary to help bring the game up to industry standards…assuming they intend to sell it to the masses. I would never tell a developer to abandon their vision, I’m simply here to state why the game may not be successful or marketable.
Personal Note: While negative reviews can hurt one’s ego, they can be incredibly informative and provide the feedback one needs to make their product better. Opinions are also a dime a dozen…your mileage may vary.
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Website: https://mutantclans.com/
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Score: 2/10 (Needs Improvement)
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