Vantage (2025)

The couple that explores and alien planet together...

I’m always on the lookout for games that my husband will enjoy. While I’m a hobby board gamer who likes to dabble in all the things, he has very particular tastes when it comes to tabletop gaming. Last year, I introduced him to Dorfromantik and that one really stuck. He enjoyed the co-op and the fact that it was just about getting the high score or achievements and there was no losing. Every time we played, we earned something.

But we were down to the last few goals in that game - which require you to really focus the whole game on getting the to win - and I wanted to have something else in the mix so we had options. He enjoys playing video games with lots of exploration so I decided I would introduce him to Vantage by Stonemaier Games.

In Vantage, you’ve crash landed on an alien planet in different parts of the world and you spend the game exploring. Along the way, based on how you interact with the world, you will discover quests, missions and a destiny, all of which can be how you and your crew wrap up the journey. There are 800 location cards to explore and 900 things you can collect along the way. But this is not a campaign or legacy game - it’s one and done each session and then you start all over again.

Mechanically, you’re collecting cards to make a 3x3 grid, with your character in the center. These cards can be interacted with and leveled up. You find things by exploring your current location - only one action per location. The actions are just one vague word but in a topic area. You know that blue actions are about movement, so if the blue action on the card says “slide”or “trudge” you have a hint of where things might go. Then the other player reads an entry out of the action’s storybook and describes the challenge (example: Roll 3 dice to slide down the hill). You roll dice to complete challenges, assigning them to slots on your cards and on your crew mates cards. While you never fail a challenge, you can lose morale, time, and health and when any of those hit the last spot on the tracker, you can decide if you want to continue or end your game that way.

And he liked it! We’ve played twice now and we’ve encountered critters and puzzles. I did end up walking in a circle for a minute, but that is just due to my poor memory and then we forgot that rolling doubles meant the starting location was extra hard and he immediately took cold damage upon arrival. But he kept going and exploring and experimenting.

It is relatively easy to set up and start playing, but certain cards are more complex than others and it took us awhile to remember we had actions ON our character cards we could do. There’s a lot going on, which makes you wonder what you missed after each game wraps up and the desire to play again is there but without the pressure that comes with a campaign game, requiring you to play it again.

I played solo and it was a good way to learn the rules, but not as fun as playing with someone else. I have only played once at 4-players, but that was my first game ever, but the group was all about leaning in to the storytelling side of the game. It does run long if you have that many people though so we didn’t get to complete our story because we were at a FLGS game night and they had to close up.

I know this game has been hit or miss with a lot of players, but I think 2-player count with the right person can make for a fun evening of storytelling and adventure.