Plaid Hat Games Freelancers Board - Dive into a Post-Apocalyptic Gig Economy! Narrative Adventure, Fantasy RPG, Ages 14+, 3-7 Players, 90 Minute Playtime, Made

A rather silly (in a good way) adventure game about a rag tag adventurers guild taking on odd jobs to try and earn cash and prestige. The world and the humour remind me a little of Adventure Time with it being set in a post apocalyptic world where humans are basically gone and all the players are anthropomorphic animals. The players start with a set quest and a map to explore and must travel up the map to the final destination, encountering assorted weirdness on the way. The game is controlled by an app and is fully voiced. It keeps track of what random encounters you have seen so that you dont see the same things twice, even if you are doing the same quest. Its all fully voice acted and with ambient sound effects and things like that as well. Overall a very well done RPG boardgame that gave my family and friends a good laugh and we are getting it out again this weekend.

Played as 5 - everyone was laughing all the way throughout the game

Like Forgotten Waters, the pirate themed app based story game from the same Plaid Hat games company, Freelancers uses an app, humorously and well voice-acted, and still appropriate to younger audiences. Like Forgotten Waters, Freelancers is one of the few games that not only supports large player counts (7 max), but does so extremely well. Game turns are plotted simultaneously with a bit of occasional quick bickering amongst the players. If you liked Forgotten Waters, you'll find much to love here. As far as differences go, obviously the theme is now fantasy. Plaid Hat's crossroads game system (events that trigger tailored specifically to the characters playing or other initial decisions otherwise unrelated to the main quest) are much more present. The other big difference is that while both games are full coop, Freelancers is much more cooperative, both in theme and mechanics. In both games, there is a leadership track that players can move up and down in relation to the other players (Forgotten Waters: Infamy, Freelancers: influence). Both games have each character/player individually gain treasure and experience. Each character/player experiences a win or lose narrative as a group, and then experiences an individual narrative based on their own personal growth. In Forgotten Water, personal growth usually comes easiest at the expense of the group (much like a pirate would do!). In Freelancers, personal growth and victory is usually gained by being helpful to the group. In either case, both games are quick. Each full story/campaign takes 2 sessions of about 2 hours (budget 3 for your first few as you learn to play). Freelancers is another solid hit. If you liked Forgotten Waters, you'll like this. And it is sufficiently different (by quite a bit) to justify owning both.

The game is easy to learn as you play, so no need to have played D&D or any other type of campaign games. It was a gateway game to get our friends into more complex campaign games like Gloomhaven. The game has an app where you can read the story out loud or play the clip. Fantastic voice acting! Best game night session ever! I love this game! and will definitely be getting Forgotten Waters and Wandering Galaxy after finishing this one.

This is a super fun experience. If you're looking for serious board game mechanics, this isn't it. However if you're willing to go along for the ride, this game tells some great (and hilarious) stories. The app is great and easy to use.