Clairvoyance is a small gem of a game in development by
Erik Svedäng and
his team. After more than one year, the game finally just entered public beta stage, as they hope to attract people to test the server before final release.
The term Clairvoyance means "clear vision" in French, and that's what the game is all about: an asynchronous,
online multiplayer board game set on a stage of 7x7 tiles, where 4 robots per side fight in a battle to the last one standing. The game is played in turns, as each player has 5 moves to make in his turn before committing it. When he does so, his moves and the ones from the opponent are played together alternately, and both can see the results.
Planning movesThat's why the team describes the game as 'a board game [...] about the future': you have to try and anticipate the moves that the other player will make, and act accordingly to prevent him from achieving his goals. Then, when the turn is committed and moves are played, you will see if you have succeeded.
A laser beam
Three grenades go off at onceYou can take a look at its trailer (which features comics by Niklas Åkerblad, who's working on the game art and music) to understand the turns mechanic a bit better:
The game has several different boards, each one with its own perks and strategy.
Obviously, the game's biggest issue could be if you don't find people online to play with, or if your opponent forgets about the match and never plays his turn, thus blocking you from finishing the match (though he will lose it after a period of inactivity).
Luckily, Erik incorporated some clever features in the game to keep players engaged. The robots' faces can be customized via a simple in-game pixel editor, and the robots themselves can speak a short sentence whenever they make a move. This gives the possibility to add narration to the matches, as the robots speak dramatic quotes, which sometimes turn to be funny when the character fails to perform the action he wanted to make.
Singing robotAlso, the game's website has
an activity log which lists recent matches, and players can comment on each one creating small threads with their comments on the match, strategy advice, and the like. I never resist to give some feedback, or tease the other player.
You can find Clairvoyance for PC and Mac
on its own website for the mere amount of $5. The price will be a bit higher as beta purchases will be converted in the final version when the game is released, so grab it as soon as you can.
I won!
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