Kinfire Delve: Callous’ Lab
Designer: Kevin Wilson
Artist: Katarzyna Bekus, Sandra Chlewińska, Weronika Kozyra, Kate “vesner” Redesiuk
Publisher: Incredible Dream Studios
Year Published / Kickstarted: 2024
No. of Players: 1-2+
Ages: 14+
Playing Time: 45-60 min
Main mechanic / Theme: Cooperative, Multi-Use Cards / Fantasy, Horror
Do you have the courage to DELVE into the deep, dark depths?
Disclaimer: Publisher provided a copy or prototype of the game for this review.
Overview:
From the Publisher: How deep will you delve? You are Seekers, sent to vanquish the malevolent creature Callous. Survive an onslaught of illusions and mind games to reach Callous’ final gauntlet and banish their spirit back to the beyond.
A Tactical and cooperative card game for 1-2 players, in Kinfire Delve: Callous’ Lab you will fight your way through the Well deck of challenge cards to reach Callous, the Master of the Well, and face them in an epic final battle.
My Take: Kinfire Delve: Callous’ Lab is a well-crafted, highly engaging solo or cooperative card game that is played with 1-2 players and can be played in about an hour or less. Combined with other Kinfire Delve adventures (there are currently 2 other adventures, Scorn’s Stockade and Vainglory’s Grotto), the game can be expanded up to 4 players using any of the characters from any of the boxes to put your team together. The game has high tension, tough decisions, and a lot of replayability.
Gameplay and mechanics:
The game consists of two player decks, a deck of Well cards, three master cards which gives you some variety as to which version of the villain you’ll be playing, four dice that you’ll be rolling to tally up successes for battle, and skill checks and various other cards and tokens that affect gameplay or track progress/damage. At its essence, this is a card battling game where players use their decks to battle cards in play until they defeat the deck’s master which is achieved by delving through the entire Well deck to face them. Well, cards come out as either events or challenges in different colors that correspond to colored cards in the player’s decks that can be used to face a specific type of event or challenge. Players can use their cards for certain effects on their turns or for other similar effects on their partner’s turn to boost the odds of completing the challenge (up to a total of 2 boosts). The dice are then rolled to add successes to the challenge and rewards or penalties are assessed depending on whether the attempt is successful. Be careful though, players do not refill their hands until they either choose to use their turn to exhaust themselves or are forced to exhaust themselves by starting their turn with an empty hand. Exhausting oneself lets you draw a new hand of cards but also has game-altering, mostly negative effects by drawing a card from the exhausted deck.
Each character is very thematic and plays differently from the others and has a unique ability and powerful lantern ability that charges up during the game. I have all three Kinfire Delve adventures and using different combinations of the six characters makes the game feel like a different challenge.
Theme, Artwork and Illustration, Graphic Design and Layout (optional)
The artwork, design, and components of the Kinfire Delve series are fantastic. Thick, sturdy boxes with a luxurious feel adorned with gold foil and dynamic artwork. Cards that feel like good quality in hand, also with gold foil on the character decks and beautiful art on the backs. Card fronts with interesting art and flavor text and very clear design noting the card color, name, effects, etc. The dice have clear symbols denoting what was rolled and each color (on cards and dice) has a symbol associated with it for those with trouble in discerning colors.
Inclusivity and Accessibility:
Tabletop United believes that diversity is a source of fun and happiness. Nurturing and celebrating our personal differences can lead to amazing gaming (and life) experiences. Therefore, TTU is putting renewed emphasis on inclusivity and accessibility by adding a section in each of our reviews written after April 2021. You’ll begin to see more reviews with this section as time goes on. The inclusivity and accessibility section will critique those issues and strengths of the subject in the review based upon the unique background of the reviewer. Each reviewer views the world through their own particular lens and has a wide and varied experience from which they will write and review from.
The Kinfire Delve series is one of the few games where I can see that attention to inclusivity and accessibility was intentional and earnest. It’s so well done that it seamlessly blends into the fabric of the game. I didn’t even notice until I was considering this section of the review. Characters are varied in racial/ethnic demographics and gender with many of them being fairly gender neutral. As mentioned, there is a nod to those with color blindness issues and cards are fairly easy to read with little clutter. As with any card game with text on cards, those who struggle with fine motor skills or with a more severe vision impairment may struggle at times. Overall, I applaud the effort to create a very inclusive and accessible series of games.
What worked:
Kinfire Delve: Callous’ Lab (and the other entries into the series) is a thoughtfully produced, tense, action-packed cooperative game that is full of surprises and replayability. The cards that can be used for one effect for yourself and another effect to boost another player are great and the card management system makes you pause and think about what cards you want to use when and when it’s advantageous to exhaust yourself to help out the team the most. Having several options for which boss you will be facing and their overall effect on the gameplay is a nice touch as well.
Final thoughts:
Kinfire Delve: Callous’ Lab is a really fun challenge that I look forward to playing again and again. I recommend getting all three sets (and any more that may be released in the future) as this plays just as well at 2-players as it does at 3 or 4. Game sessions don’t run too long, set up and tear down is fairly quick and the game is fun and challenging. The components and visual appeal of the game give it a luxury look and feel and make it that much more likely to see the table on game nights.
Find more info on BoardGameGeek.com (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/406174/kinfire-delve-callous-lab)
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Stefan Yates
Stefan Yates is a professional in the Office of International Programs at Kansas State University. Finding ways to work gaming into work, he serves on the university’s Alternate Reality Game Committee and is a co-faculty advisor for the Board Game Club. He is also a PhD student whose field of research is Gamification in Student Programming. He enjoys playing (and mostly losing) almost any type of game and likes to work in multiple game sessions per week whenever possible. An avid solo gamer with an additional interest in tabletop miniatures games, the stay-at-home orders of the pandemic were not particularly concerning as there was always painting to do and terrain to build. Stefan is also a book and movie collector and a huge football fan (go CHIEFS!)