The Infinity Gauntlet - A Love Letter Game, the review
The Avengers and Thanos play Love Letter
The Infinity Gauntlet - A Love Letter Game is a box game with cards for 2-6 players aged 10 and over, which revisits Love Letter, a title from which it takes its name and game system. The aim of the game is to prevent Thanos from carrying out his plan, which is to collect the six Infinity Stones to halve the life forms of the Universe.Contrary to Love Letter , where the players compete against each other, in The Infinity Gauntlet the players will be asked to undertake an unprecedented semi-collaborative version: one player will play the role of the Mad Titan, while the remaining players will they will rise as the last bastion of the universe.
To do battle, both the Avengers and Thanos will have a deck of cards that will collect the actions they will have at their disposal from time to time to set their respective strategies.
To win the Infinity Gauntlet you will need to reset the opponent's hit points, saving the Universe (in the case of the Avengers) or snapping your fingers and erasing half of the living beings (in the case of Thanos).
A minimal but effective configuration
The Infinity Gauntlet looks like a small size game (9.5 × 14 cm) suitable to be carried and played anywhere. Like Love Letter, the game is sold in blister packs, inside which there is the velvet bag that contains the cards and game components. Once opened, the blister will no longer be able to perform its function as a container for the game, thus leaving this task only to the bag. Given the windowed stationery design of this packaging, the idea of having to throw away the packaging is a small detail that will sadden game collectors.Inside the decorated bag you will find:
36 Cards (16 Hero Cards, 13 Thanos Cards, 1 Life Track Card and 6 Reference Cards) 9 Power Tokens 2 Indicators The Rulebook
Countering the Infinity Gauntlet
Every game of The Infinity Gauntlet it will begin with the choice of the roles of the players, where the Heroes can be played by a minimum of one to a maximum of five players, while Thanos will always be played by only one player. The total number of players, including Thanos, establishes the level of injuries needed to defeat the Mad Titan: the more players play the role of heroes, the more wounds Thanos can take before being defeated.Heroes' wound level will always be set to the highest number regardless of how many players are in this group.
Within their respective game decks, Heroes and Thanos, you will find cards characterized by an action and a number: the action will represent the special ability of the card while the number will represent the value of the card (from 1 to 6) to be compared during the fight. The Hero deck will be composed of the members of the Avengers, while the Thanos deck will have the members of the Black Order and the six Infinity Stones.
Once the roles have been established, we will proceed by dividing the two decks of cards and drawing one from them. card (Thanos draws two). You will then proceed in clockwise order, playing the card from your hand and applying the effect of your ability.
In countering Thanos, the Heroes will not be able to talk to each other to establish a common strategy, but they must be careful to all the cards put into play, taking into account which card has been played, in order to act in synergy with the rest of the team.
Some actions will offer control over the cards of the teammates or the opponent, some will allow you to accumulate Power Tokens and others will allow direct confrontation: in any case, the key to defeating the opponent will be to play the actions indicated in your cards at best.
The fights will be solved by comparing the numerical value of the cards, where the higher card will prevail over a lower value, however these values can be enhanced by accumulating Power Counters. The defeated card will cause damage, which must be scaled from the Life Track Card. In the event of a tie, the clash has no consequences.
Avengers: Assemble!
The Infinity Gauntlet is a game suitable for everyone, which can be enjoyed by experienced and casual players. this title suitable for evenings with friends and family. Despite the indication from 10 years upwards, the Glove of the Infinity can also be appreciated by younger children ... ideally from 8 and up.Its strengths undoubtedly lie in the practical format and in the rules of immediate assimilation. The Marvel theming adds that extra touch, able to wink at an audience of fans of comics and cinecomics, but not necessarily fans of boxed games.
In this new incarnation of the rules of Love Letter, the semi-collaborative mechanic adapts perfectly to the atmosphere of the game and gives it a unique personality.
In conclusion
The Infinity Gauntlet - A Love Letter Game is a fun filler that, while maintaining a familiar atmosphere like Love Letter, manages to reinvent itself in a new semi-collaborative way. The game is suitable for everyone and is characterized by the immediacy of its rules: the simplicity of the game will be offset by a strategic depth, which will require all players to carefully plan their moves.To protect the cards of The Glove of Infinity - A Love Letter Game at this Amazon link you can buy the protective sleeves of Gamegenic.
