Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles - Episodes 1&2 - second edition

Second Deluxe Edition of the game. This edition corrects a few minor printing errors.

Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles Episodes 1 and 2 contains the first two games in the series. These are independent competitive strategy games for 1 to 4 players, designed by the creators of Anachrony, Trickerion, and Yedo. Each game can be played separately or combined to enjoy a Chronicle Mode* offering excellent replayability, with shared mechanics and no inherited elements.

*The Chronicle Mode is available in the expansion The Chronicle Mode.

The Perseverance Saga

Caught in a storm, a luxurious modern cruise ship is wrecked on a mysterious island. You quickly discover that the island is home to a multitude of majestic and fiercely territorial dinosaurs. With the ship beyond repair, you have no choice but to settle on the island, withstand the dinosaur attacks, and sow the seeds of what will one day become a strong and resilient community, capable of unlocking the island's secrets...

Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles presents a series of Eurogame-style strategy games, blending drafting and dice placement. The saga will ultimately consist of four episodes, telling the story of a group of survivors who build a powerful civilization on a hostile island. Each episode, with its unique characteristics and distinct gameplay atmosphere, can be played independently (medium to high difficulty level) or as part of a continuous campaign (The Chronicle Mode expansion). The theme and story unfold gradually through evolving game mechanics, making it easy to learn the rules. In campaign mode, the outcome of each episode influences the next, but the game contains no continuity elements or hidden rules. The story is therefore infinitely replayable.

In Episode 1, players strive to develop and protect the city of Perseverance, besieged by the island's dinosaurs. By building walls, traps, and settlements, establishing defenses, and participating in the first political power struggles of a nascent community, players gain followers and establish themselves as leaders. Episode 1 introduces the series' signature dice placement and area majority system, and also features a unique defense mechanism against waves of dinosaur attacks.

In Episode 2, the survivors have successfully defended the city, completing the construction of a colossal wall to halt the dinosaur assault. Under the guidance of the ship's senior officers, players now set out to explore the surrounding wilderness, expand the colony beyond the city walls, and forge a path to the mysterious structure on the horizon. This episode introduces new actions that enrich the core gameplay and allow for deep customization of your leader and faction through dozens of unique skills. The defense system from the previous episode evolves into exploration and expansion within a hexagonal map, allowing you to build outposts outside the city walls. But beware: the dinosaurs are not yet your friends…

In Episode 3, Perseverance is finally safe from dinosaur attacks and has transformed into a thriving city. Players learn to tame and ride dinosaurs (including the new Thunderhorn and Ironjaw species). Their primary action now allows them to send a Dino Rider to explore the island's far reaches instead of placing a die in the city. In addition to simplifying some familiar aspects of zone management, Episode 3 introduces a new approach focused on building game engines and game boards. City Landmarks provide powerful passive bonuses, while players can construct and customize their own Ranches on their individual game boards, activating them as a secondary action using a new resource gathered from the wild.

Episode 4 concludes the story with a dramatic finale: you face the Ancients, a mysterious race that once ruled the island. Despite the gravity of the situation, the dimensional storm that made their return possible offers an almost unexpected opportunity: to refit the dilapidated hull of the Pearl of the Seas for one last voyage to your home world.