Horror board game campaigns usually start around Halloween on the popular crowdfunding platforms. November 21st, for example Apophenia: Horror Hunt, the debut work of the Greek game publisher Cybergoat Studios, on KickstarterThe game is described as a cooperative puzzle survival horror deduction game for 1 - 4 players. You can find out what lies behind this game description in our crowdfunding preview.
Info: We received the prototype of the game from Cybergoat Studios for preview purposes. The final product may therefore still contain various changes.
Unspeakable horrors, vengeful spirits and otherworldly monsters lurk in the shadows of an ignorant world and hunt people. As hunters, it is our job to get to the places where they operate in order to expose the evil and eradicate it forever. But the night is long and we must be quick and alert, otherwise we hunters could be hunted ourselves...
Basic principle: Find and destroy
Apophenia is a card game that is reminiscent of the popular video game Phasmophobia, especially at the beginning. We arrive at a location and have to explore it. We try to find out what kind of horror is causing trouble here. To do this, we move across the location by connecting area cards to one another, thus creating a playing field step by step. The area cards come with useful items that we can collect in the respective areas. Among them are clue cards for unmasking the horror, as well as important extermination items with which we can defeat the horror once and for all.
In total, there are 4 different types of horror in the game, each in two forms. Each type of horror must be banished from the world in a different way. It is therefore essential to use the clue cards to find out what the horror is. This should ideally be done as quickly as possible, because as the game progresses, the encounter cards come into play.
The Horror Comes
Before we can start our turn and explore the mysterious place, we always draw a card from the area stack. This usually contains areas that we can use to expand the playing field and thus uncover new useful items. However, the area stack also contains the encounters mentioned above, which are added around the middle of the game. If you draw such an encounter card, the horror of the place attacks the active person. To do this, the active player must look at the face-down horror card if the horror has not yet been revealed and fend off attackby playing a suitable item for the horror or the Survive Attackby discarding two cards from her hand.
Depending on the type of horror, you may secretly switch sides after surviving an attack. In this case, the player must act against the hunters and try to kill them. However, a person who has switched sides does not have to remain evil for the rest of the game. As soon as the horror of the game has been revealed to all players, the hunters can perform an exorcism to bring players back to their side. But even simply killing a player will bring them back to the hunters' side, because when a player dies, they can continue to act from the background and try to support the hunters in their fight against the horror with special actions.
With experience comes strength
Apophenia plays a lot with the lack of knowledge about what horror awaits us and whether players act against us or for us after an encounter. Over time and with more knowledge about the various types of horror and their forms, you can keep a better overview, but you are also more paranoid about what horror it might be that we will ultimately have to face. The nice thing about Apophenia is that everything only works with cards. This makes the whole game nice and handy and, despite the complex rules, quite easy and quick to play. Players who like to play horror video games as well as board or card games will certainly get their money's worth with Apophenia. Even people who are used to trading card gamesKosmos Cybergoat Studios wants to appeal to people at home with their game, because combining card effects is in great demand here.
Another special feature is that by creating area cards, a new game board is created in each game. No game is the same as the previous one. Game designers Angela Fragou and Theodore Oikonomou speak of the horror stories that Apophenia has to offer that keep coming up. In fact, you can see it that way. In a group with experienced role players, you can often create your own narrative and respond to your opponents depending on the situation. A special element for this is the passing of your own hand cards, which can also have negative consequences depending on your current positioning (hunter or horror). You have to interact with other players in certain situations.
Born from two ideas
Apophenia was created two years ago from two separate game ideas by game designers Angela Fragou and Theodore Oikonomou. More specifically, a mystery puzzle game in which you have to explore a place and a party game with a ghost theme in which you have to trick cards into being played. Both elements were combined here and fused into a horror adventure. The idea became more concrete in February 2023. Since then, the two have been working passionately to bring their project to life. Apophenia can be played solo or with up to four people. The game is scheduled to launch on Kickstarter on November 21th. With 25 € for the standard pledge, the game is also starting out nice and easy on the wallet. The game with expansion will then cost 35 €. If you then want exclusive Kickstarter If you want goodies, you will be happy starting at around €55. Of course, various stretch goals are also planned that will expand the game in a meaningful way.
Information about Apophenia
| Number of players: 1 – 4 Age: from 14 years Playing time: 20 - 40 minutes Difficulty: expert game Classification: Horror game, card game Author: Angela Fragou, Theodore Oikonomou Illustrations: Theodore Oikonomou Publisher: Cybergoat Studios Official Website: Link Link to the campaign: Kickstarter Start of the campaign: November 21, 2024 |
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Avalon Hill Betrayal at House On The Hill, Multicolored, One Size* | 22,91 EUR |
* = Affiliate link/advertisementAs an Amazon Associate, we earn money from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase through one of the links, we receive a portion of the purchase price as commission. This doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support our website. Last updated on September 14.06.2025, XNUMX / Affiliate links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. Images from Amazon PA API.
