Moon Colony Bloodbath is a competitive strategy game by Donald X. Vaccarino, where players build and manage a moon colony. Characterized by an 'everything that can go wrong will go wrong' theme, it combines tableau and engine building with a unique 'engine-losing' mechanic, challenging players to keep their colonists alive amidst constant misfortunes. The game is noted for being fast-paced, simple to learn, and highly replayable.
The Verdict
based on 25 reviews
“If super slick gameplay, dead-on theme/art, and a wholly entertaining overall experience is the price of a Moon Colony Bloodbath. I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.”
“Moon Colony Bloodbath is one of those games that immediately grabs your attention because it flips the usual “build something great” idea on its head. It’s chaotic in the best way, as you watch your hard-worked creations get destroyed by fighting colonists or killer robots.”
“I’ve not been the biggest fan of some of Donald’s non-Dominion releases, but Moon Colony Bloodbath is right in my sweet spot – quick, varied, and filled with fun.”
Rahdo highly recommends "Moon Colony Bloodbath" as a wickedly funny, fast-playing, and brutal survival game, praising it as one of the designer's best creations and potentially even surpassing his seminal work.
The reviewers found Moon Colony Bloodbath to be a highly strategic and engaging game that cleverly combines silly themes with intense, volatile gameplay, praising its unique communal deck-building, satisfying engine-building, and quick, tension-filled rounds despite its inherent randomness.
“If you’re looking for a good looking party game to play with your pals or family that will help everyone to get to know each other better with some snacks a drink or two, then I think Moon Colony Bloodbath could be for you!”
The reviewer finds 'Moon Colony Bloodbath' to be a fantastic and genuinely fun game that offers a unique and engaging experience, filling a niche on their shelf that no other game quite matches, and states they will always want to play and suggest it.
The reviewer highly praises "Moon Colony Bloodbath" as a uniquely chaotic and joyous game that subverts typical deck-building expectations by rapidly escalating the challenges, leading to an exciting experience despite its non-chill nature and desire for more event deck variety.
The reviewer enthusiastically praises Moon Colony Bloodbath, highlighting its unique blend of sci-fi thriller and horror comedy that delivers consistently fun and fresh gameplay in a short timeframe, making it a highly recommended and almost 'must-have' experience for its dark humor and engaging engine-building.
“Every game of Moon Colony Bloodbath ends the same way. I fail. And I love it. Failing never felt so good.”
The reviewer, Cody Carlson, highly recommends Moon Colony Bloodbath, praising its engaging blend of engine building and destruction, quick playtime, and the humorous, difficult choices it presents, leading to a consistently fun and memorable gaming experience.
The reviewer thoroughly enjoys 'Moon Colony Bloodbath,' praising its novel approach of limited player agency against escalating events, which creates a unique and highly entertaining experience, though he suggests that more variety in an an expansion would be beneficial.
“Moon Colony Bloodbath is a clever, confident design that delivers laughs, tension, and big decisions in under an hour. Its retro-futuristic art style and tongue-in-cheek tone keep the mood light, even as the mechanics depict starvation, accidents, and robot attacks.”
“But the gameplay is shockingly clever: a deck-driven engine-builder where your action cards get diluted over time as more bad stuff floods the deck. It’s tense, inventive, and I keep coming back to it, even if I still wish it looked better.”
The reviewer enthusiastically praises "Moon Colony Bloodbath" as a brilliant and mean card game, highlighting its unique shared event deck as a standout feature that creates a wonderfully chaotic yet engaging experience.
The video summarizes various opinions on Moon Colony Bloodbath, generally presenting it as a fast, fun, and quirky game with dark humor that many reviewers love, despite some criticisms regarding component quality and potential event staleness.
“I have never been so entertained by a slow, painful and miserable death ever. Moon Colony Bloodbath is an interesting and very good game!”
“Still, it's poignant, stylish, and plenty entertaining enough for a game or two. I'm looking forward to showing it to friends.”
The video provides a playthrough demonstrating the board game's chaotic and destructive core, where players consistently lose colonists and buildings due to various challenging events as they attempt to survive a lunar apocalypse.
The reviewer found Moon Colony Bloodbath to be a surprising and enjoyable game, praising its dark humor and strong sense of impending doom. However, they heavily criticized the game's very poor component quality and suggested it might lack long-term replayability for some players.
Sam Healey found 'Moon Colony Bloodbath' to be an enjoyable and simple-to-learn engine-building game with a cheeky theme, although he noted issues with repetitive events and dated artwork.
“Moon Colony Bloodbath is what happens when an efficiency puzzle and a party game have a baby, and it turns out it births a fully fledged teenager of a board game. Most of all, this is bound to bring a smile to the face of those who take it in the spirit that it's presented.”
The reviewer found Moon Colony Bloodbath to be an enjoyable engine-building game that is easy to learn and play, despite its brutal theme of colonists meeting untimely ends.
“Moon Colony Bloodbath is many things, some of them positive. But it’s stale even as it climbs out of the hibernation pod, leaving me as cold as the corpses it litters across the lunar regolith.”
“Still, I haven’t played a game all year where I was so excited when play began and then later so excited for a game to be over.”
