To everyone contemplating buying this game, I just want to say that if you are a fan of all things time-travel, you won't be disappointed with this game at all. I was looking at picking up Khronos before I discovered this little gem, simply because it was the closest thing to a time-travel game I had found on the market right now. But after playing through just a single solo session of Chrononauts, I have dashed Khronos utterly off my list.
This is the time-travel game you've been waiting for. I can't speak for the subtleties of competitive play, or how the various apparently Fluxx-like mechanics work. But I'm not coming at this as a gamer; I'm coming at it as a fan of the time-travel theme. Some of my favorite movies are Back to the Future and Butterfly Effect; my favorite TV show is LOST. (In fact, I plan to bust this game out during every one of our weekly watch parties next year. "Whatever happened, happened?" We'll see about that!) So if you are a a time-travel nut, too, then you won't regret this purchase. But if you consider yourself a gaming connoisseur who happens to find the time-travel aspect interesting--be warned. This game may be too random, too light, too unbalanced for your tastes. In that case, maybe you should buy Khronos.
I'm the kind of gamer who prefers theme over mechanics. That is, if a game is a little lacking on the mechanics side--what some critics might consider "playability"--but is dripping with a theme that I like, I'll most likely enjoy it. Zombies!!! is a good example. Great theme and atmosphere, but everytime I play it's with plenty of house rules to make up for where the game seems to be wanting. Lost Cities, on the other hand, is a game that has a theme that's interesting, but the mechanics seem to overshadow it. When I look at it, I think "adventure movie," but when I play it I think "card game." It's not that the gameplay is flawed. Not at all. It's just that the theme doesn't fit the action, in my opinion. With Chrononauts (to finally get around to my point), the theme and the gameplay fit hand-in-hand. So much so, in fact, that I can see making up your own rules and scenarios--your own game, virtually--just using Looney's brilliant linchpin/ripplepoint timeline mechanic. Again, that's if you're attracted to the theme more than the gameplay.
Incidentally, I found my first solo play easier than I expected. I got seven of my eight Chrononauts home to their respective dimensions with a couple of cards to spare. (Gunther, sadly, was lost in the temporal ether.) I plan to try again today and hopefully get all 8 of them home.
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