Fantasy Flight Games is premiering “KeyForge Adventures,” a new cooperative game mode that sees players battling against an automaton opponent either alone or as a team.
The cooperative KeyForge mode is scenario-based, with a different victory condition and enemy deck for each scenario. Two scenarios have been announced so far: “Rise of the Keyraken” will release via a free-to-play app download in late April and “The Abyssal Conspiracy” will arrive the same way in May. They have a connecting story structure.
Fantasy Flight’s press release did not promise any future scenarios yet, so it’s likely the reception of these two will instruct the publisher on what to do next.
“Rise of the Keyraken” sets up a boss monster structure similar to other popular cooperative card games like Sentinels of the Multiverse, Marvel Champions or Aeon’s End. The eponymous “Keyraken” takes the form of a powerful monster with its own action deck that becomes more powerful depending on how many players there are. If players kill the Keyraken, they win; if the Keyraken gets the MacGuffin (four keys in this case), they lose.
So far so standard, but a shift from KeyForge’s primary game mode where subduing the enemy is not the main objective.
“The Abyssal Conspiracy” is a different type of challenge that requires players to collect and spend Aember to complete goals. Without knowing more, this sounds closer to the competitive KeyForge experience but more innovative as cooperative card games go. We’ll learn more closer to May.
Adapting to survive
Competitive KeyForge has been on the rocks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since opponents sitting two feet apart and breathing in each others’ faces is not a COVID-friendly activity, lots of KeyForge events had to be canceled or postponed.
Local game stores have not been able to host the sealed tournament events that were becoming increasingly popular—a loss for both the game stores and the franchise. The 2020 KeyForge World Championship, which had to be canceled during the pandemic, has been rescheduled to 2022 (vaccine distribution and efficacy permitting).
“If the pandemic is under control by that time, then you can expect to see KeyForge OP come back in full force before winter hits!” FFG wrote in a February release.
People who were invited to 2020 Worlds will have their invitation extended to 2022 Worlds, according to the release.
Even casual play is rarer now given the reduction in in-person game nights. So the “KeyForge Adventures” mode is a boon to those who want their KeyForge fix but don’t have other players in their household—or even in households that do have two players who are tired of fighting against each others’ decks.
Other modes of play
A common request since KeyForge first came out has been the addition of a “Two-headed giant” team mode that would place two players with a shared victory condition against two other players with the same. A mode of this type is very popular in Magic: The Gathering, Richard Garfield’s first big CCG success.
The KeyForge community developed some fan-made variants for two-headed giant effect, but nothing official has come down from FFG or the almighty Garfield. And obviously there have been fewer opportunities to even explore such a game mode during this period of physical distancing.
But the arrival of a cooperative game mode is good news for players who want to see any other modes of play. It means the designers are thinking about how these modes could work and the publisher is willing to release them.
