‘Tamashii’ Board Game Review
Riding the wave of recently renewed interest in cyberpunk-themed games, Tamashii is a brand new IP from Awaken Realms that tells the story of a group of individuals who exist in the net as uploaded consciousnesses. These individuals exist primarily in cyberspace but have the ability to jump into physical bodies in the real world, where they can move around and act as normal people would.
Tamashii is a narrative-based game that unfolds cooperatively as players work through the various acts of each given scenario. There are two areas for the players to focus on – the first is a modular, hex-based board that is built during setup and then revealed throughout the game, whilst the other is an individual player board that each player will have.
Tamashii does an excellent job of linking theme to gameplay, with the hex board representing the real world (a dark, neon-lit future where we imagine abandoned warehouses, run down shanty towns and brightly-lit Blade Runner inspired community hubs) and the player boards demonstrating the programs that each player will upload to the net.
On their turn, a player may choose to move their current body around the map, possibly receiving the benefit of exploration tokens and/or advancing the story, as well as taking advantage of the space they land on. As a quick example, some spaces will allow players to take additional programming actions, whilst others might enable specific trades or other useful bonus actions.
When programming, the player will move coloured tokens around their individual player board in an attempt to make specific patterns, These might grant shields, experience or basic resources when ran, or in some cases more complex patterns might allow a player to upload themselves to a much better body.
As you might expect in a Cyberpunk game set in a dark future, there is always an enemy looking to put a stop to what you’re doing. In Tamashii, this takes the form of various tiered enemies including robots and sentinels who are largely powered by sentient AI. There’s a distinctly Matrix feel about these, and the fact that interacting with the web raises their awareness of you adds an element of risk to the rewards that you know you’ll be getting.
For a unique, new IP, Tamashii has an unusually robust emergent narrative. You’re never in doubt about where this world is set, what is happening in it or how the theme and story interact with the mechanics. The inclusion of two distinctly different game spaces (each with unique mechanics) can often be jarring, but it isn’t here – rather, you will feel very much as though your character exists in the real (hexagon) world, whilst interacting with the net on your own board.
The pictures I’ve used here (and what I have written) are and will remain spoiler-free, but the actual scenarios that Tamashii presents to players are also interesting and serve to enhance the overall experience. Every scenario includes mechanisms linked to time passing and the need for the players to keep moving forwards, and whilst there are quite few of them, each one presents a decent challenge.
Considering that I only have the base game of Tamashii (with no miniatures and none of the expansion content) I am very impressed. Whilst Awaken Realms love a big Kickstarter and a ton of plastic, they also make good games, and Tamashii is just that – a very solid, very enjoyable game that has clever mechanics and a great, understated theme. Definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of Cyberpunk settings and challenging cooperative or solo narrative games.
