Burncycle promises robot Ocean’s 11, delivers drudgery instead

Clicking actuators from your robot team of hackers interrupt the quiet drone of sendry drones and servers. Through a maze of corridors and corporate offices, you will avoid detection and break into rooms seeking access to the company’s secure operations in order to shut them down.

You can see it here BurncycleChip Theory Games’ newest title is titled. This small, independent studio is known for its intricate designs and chunky parts. These include plastic chips, miles of Neoprene mats, and other distinctive features. It’s a fully co-operative experience that has up to four players working together in a complex, stealth-based, tactical game.

Polygon had the chance to preview the game ahead of this year’s Gen Con in Indianapolis and, much like Chip Theory’s previous title, CloudspireWe found an intricate game that had a huge scope. You will need to traverse one to three floors in each scenario, which is similar to walking through a small dungeon. The longest options can take up to four hours. Although there are shorter missions available, they present a challenge in that you have to manage many sub-systems.

Chip Theory Games

It will require several games and some devotion to fully grasp the rules. The eponymous “burncycle” is a system that restricts the actions of players. The sideboard is composed of a number of chips that are drawn from a bag. These will be used to control the flow of the game. Every chip represents an action. Certain chips can enhance specific types of actions, such as move or terminal. This approach heavily influences the tactical approach you construct each round, and how you tackle the obstacles on your current floor of the building you’re trying to infiltrate. The burncycle can also degrade with time and will require players to maintain it by replacing chips that have been lost.

As you travel through corridors, interact with the board and sometimes tear apart enemy sentries, dice are rolled. You can quickly get to the layers as there are several processes that allow you to break into locked doors and alert guards. The enemy will have its own activation phase. They may follow infiltrators who are recently caught or move along a patrol route.

Chip Theory Games

We’re not done. There’s a whole separate minigame representing the digital portion of your team’s heist. You will move your character’s pings across a webbed network, avoiding detection by the AI opponent as you balance your priorities between the physical and mock-digital playspace. It is used to reduce the threat level. Another system influences the environment response. You can also share a command robot with other players and items, as well as imperatives, to help you achieve your personal goals.

At times, it’s simply too much. Sometimes it can be more workmanlike and procedural than dramatic or entertaining. I’d liken large swathes of play to the emotional resonance of actually writing software or performing database administration, which is difficult to reconcile with the promise of a robot Ocean’s 11. It is too common to spend time in waiting rooms, rather than making meaningful progress.

Chip Theory Games

But there’s a deeper and more rewarding mystery at the heart of all this. This enigma can be a mentally stimulating experience, which will bring you great joy when you solve it. You can work alone and go at your own pace. It’s also surprisingly modular, offering a heap of variable content such as new bots, corporations, and scenarios to mix up play. These interlocking options are the game’s greatest strength, allowing for ease of expansion with additional aftermarket options. The core box is enormous in its own right — and expensive, coming in at $150 just for the base game — but the overall system has legs and the publisher has shown dedication through ongoing support.

BurncycleIt is an exclusive and rich experience at the tabletop that requires a large investment by its players. It’s a very appealing product with striking visuals and classy table presence. Chip Theory Games Publisher is currently running its second crowdfunding campaign. It’s located on Gamefound, where you can pre-order the boxed title and all its expansions. Delivery will be in March 2023.