Board Game Review - Kamigami Battles: River of Souls
At Gen Con 2022, as I was making my rounds through the massive dealer hall, I stopped at the Japanime Games booth as I do every year. A few years back, they released a game based on the Sword Art Online IP called Sword Art Online: Sword of Fellows that has been one of my favorite games since its launch. I was hoping for an update on a new expansion. Sadly no announcements but I’m still holding out hope. Not one to leave empty handed, I looked at some of their other titles and one caught my eye - Kamigami Battles.
Kamigami Battles is a deckbuilding game that places players in the roles of various gods or goddesses of a vast range of mythologies. There are currently three “core” games in the franchise. The original game, Kamigami Battles: Battle of the Nine Realms, pits the pantheons of Norse mythology against Greek mythology. River of Souls expands its battlefield to Ancient Egypt against Ancient Sumeria and Babylon. The newest set, Rise of the Old Ones, brings the Old Gods of Cthulhu into the mix. These three all act as standalone titles, but can be combined with each other or the plethora of small box expansions to make for a diverse pool of cards.
With all of that said, I want to specifically talk about Kamigami Battles: River of Souls. It was the game I picked up initially (I have a love of Ancient Egypt) and the one we actually got to the table recently for game night.
The deckbuilding genre is one of the more densely populated categories in the hobby and for good reason. They are one of the few games that can accommodate larger play groups (that aren’t simple party games) for their game nights. Deckbuilding games also provide some of the most varied gameplay experiences over multiple play throughs due to the randomness of their set up. The downside to this over saturation is that it takes a lot for a game to stand out, less it be lost in a sea of licensed IPs and forgotten upstarts.
Luckily, Kamigami Battles: River of Souls stands out fairly well.
Most deck building games are either cooperative with everyone working together to achieve a singular victory, or they have everyone working against an AI deck to score the most points by the end. Kamigami Battles is that rare deck building experience that has players fighting against one another. Rather that is by depleting a rival god or goddess’ Energy to zero or being the first to reach 25 Energy, the goal is to be the last one standing. However, there is a ‘Team Match’ mode that is for four to six players that puts players into two opposing teams. There still can only be one winning team, though.
The main mechanics of Kamigami Battles revolve around the different God cards. They each have their own unique abilities that will either be passive or reactive to different affects that trigger during gameplay. Every God card also features ‘Spheres of Influence’. These represent the elements the character has influence over and allows players to choose a Temple. Temples are an optional cards players can use that will have their own Energy pile and abilities to help the player during their game. When a Gods’ Energy is depleted, that player is out of the game, but when a Temple is out of Energy it is simply turned face down and removed from the game.
The other two card types of note are Disciple and Warrior cards. These cards act as the players’ primary currency and attacks. Players can play a Disciple card at any time during their turn, using one of their abilities (if they have more than one) as well as using any of the Faith Points they generate to buy more cards for their decks. Warriors will be played to do damage to the opposing players’ God and Temple cards. Unlike Disciples, Warriors contain a Primary Color and Chaining Colors. Any Warrior card can be played first, but the following cards must each have a Primary Color that matches one of the two Chaining Colors of the previously played card. Playing a Disciple does not break a chain.
In other deck building games, when a player purchases or adds a new card to their deck, it must first go to the discard pile to be shuffled in later. With Kamigami Battles, those cards instead go to the top of the deck to be used immediately in the player’s next hand of cards. This one simple rule is a massive improvement to pretty much any other deck building title we’ve ever played. Early on in those games, you would probably be shuffling your discard pile back into your deck every few turns and seeing those cards with some frequency. The late game, however, a player is more than likely not going to see those new cards all that often. Being able to use any new card purchased in the next hand a player draws is such an amazing tweak to the formula that allows for more thoughtful planning.
Kamigami Battles: River of Souls is a game intended for two to six players, and our most recent game had four players. All four players ranged from moderately experienced at deck building games to veterans of the genre. After the first couple of turns, once we got passed the initial “learning a new game” phase, the game went rather quick and smoothly. The total time from set up to last player standing was roughly an hour and a half, just over the game’s suggested play time of 60 minutes. Though I’m sure that our next game will go much more quickly, even factoring in adding some of the various expansions to the Kamigami Battles: River of Souls core box.
The core box includes various dividers for the cards, as well as a punch out sheet of Energy tokens. The dividers simply have the art work in gray scale and the card’s name, so they work as intended. Massive bonus points from us in that the box holds the cards while sleeved. We did find ourselves running out of Energy tokens quite often. God cards begin the game with 15 tokens, while Temples get 5 tokens. In a four player game, the 80 tokens included in the box do not go far. We’d have like to have seen another token sheet or possibly tiny dice included with the game. Of course, this is probably a very mute point if a player has all three core boxes.
There is a slight “elephant in the room” with the game (and the franshise as a whole) that we would be incredibly remiss if we didn’t discuss it. The game has a rather particular art direction. The game’s various cards are illustrated by some incredibly talent artists who specialize in a very anime/manga influenced style (as one would expect from Japanime Games). The illustration of “Ishtar, God of Love and War” on the front of the box is very indicative of artwork found within. We fully recognize and respect that this art style isn’t for everyone, and that is perfectly fine. Art is meant to be subjective. The art in the game is meant to be visually catching and pull you towards it. That being said, we are massive fans of the art direction and find it incredibly fitting for the game.
Final Thoughts:
Originally released in 2018, Kamigami Battles: River of Souls is a fantastic deckbuilding game that doesn’t rely on the same basic gameplay mechanics that the genre is known for. Subsequent playthroughs will always be different thanks to the game’s implementation of the God cards. Gaming groups looking for a more competitive game that accommodates four or more players will struggle to find a better game for game night than this. Ultimately, we’re rather disappointed in ourselves for sleeping on Kamigami Battles this long. After the first game, we unanimously made this our deckbuilding game of choice should we want to play around with that style game.
Pros:
The game’s unique mechanics make the game feel fresh in an oversaturated genre.
God and Temple cards help give each player a different approach to winning than what their opponents might be playing.
The competitive design of the game makes for a fast gameplay experience while also forcing players to think on their feet.
With three core sets and multiple expansions, players have a lot of content to add and play through for multiple unique game nights.
The box includes dividers for each of the cards, as well as a randomizer deck for easy set up. The box holds all the cards sleeved rather nicely.
Beautiful artwork from some incredibly talented artists.
Cons:
While the cards are fantastic quality, the game includes punch out Energy tokens. We found ourselves running out of them frequently in only a four player game, so we can’t imagine what a full six player game would look like. We suggest possibly switching out the tokens for small dice.
The art work will not be for everyone.
Verdict: 4.5/5 - Must Own
Kamigami Battles: River of Souls is published by Japanime Games. It is for 2 to 6 players, intended for ages 12+, and plays in about 60 minutes. The game can currently be purchased at your local game store or via Japanime Games’ online webstore. The game has an MSRP of $39.95. The Late Night Players were not paid or compensated in anyway for this review.