Shadowrift: The best deck-building game you just heard of now.

People often complain that Dominion is not thematic, but I disagree; I think it's actually quite thematic in the way the cards function.  The cards cause something to happen that is very much connected to the name/description of the card.  That's thematic, and I think Dominion does that better than many other card games.  But the theme is a lame one (kingdom building!), and there's no real context for what you're doing with those different thematic actions in a narrative sense. Many have said that Dominion is a great idea in need of an actual game, and though I can't necessarily argue with that, I love Dominion, regardless, because it's simple and brilliant for what it is.

Then came Thunderstone, which took the premise of Dominion and gave it a narrative context. Well, barely, but moreso than Dominion, no doubt. You're kind of sort of fighting in a dungeon defeating monsters and looking for a particular artifact. I like Thunderstone, but I've never really loved it, because too many games seem to be clunky and take too long, and that additional narrative context is pretty thin as it is and doesn't really help when the gameplay isn't as smooth as Dominion.

Enter Shadowrift, which I'd only discovered by accident looking through some of Tom Vasel's recent videos for something else.  (Here's the video link.)  I don't believe that anyone else has mentioned it here on F:AT, and there's not much activity for it over at TOS, so it really seems to be in need of some promotion.  I'm happy to offer that, because I think this is a game that truly puts the deck-building mechanic into a great thematic context, and has some really interesting elements to it.  Now, that being said, the overall setting/theme is nothing original (fantasy monsters are attacking your medieval town), but the way the structure of the game is built, that thematic context makes sense throughout and feels a lot more like a realized thematic experience than other deck-builders.

Shadowrift is a cooperative game for 2-6 players.  It works great solo, too, but for solitaire I would recommend playing 2 decks yourself, as there is an important element of interaction where players can give their coin cards for other players to use on a turn.  It has the same basic deck-building framework as Dominion and Thunderstone, but everything that happens functions around the safety of your town, so it also feels a bit like siege games like Ghost Stories, and the town is colorfully populated with cards that represent villagers who can help you, as well as infiltrators that can hurt you in some way. Monsters enter town and move each turn through three different stages, and potentially cause some destruction, depending on their special ability during each stage of movement.  As the monsters kill some of your villagers, corpses pile up in town, limiting your use of the villagers and threatening defeat (each turn, you draw 5 new villagers, and if you ever draw all 5 corpses, you lose).  There's also a Traveler deck, where certain specialists can be hired to join your village, but the Infiltrators will also come into town as travelers, causing problems.

To deal with the monsters, you can gain various skills and spells and such, as well as the basic resources of prowess, magic and coins (and you also have the use, once per turn, of one of the available villagers' abilities).  One thing to watch out for is that Coin cards do not go into your deck when purchased and are not discarded to your discard pile when used, but they are placed in front of you, then returned to the Coin deck when spent.  So you have to save up for what you really want, and then after spending your coins to buy something, you have to save up again for next time.  I found that strange at first (especially because I played it completely wrong), but it really does make more sense to function that way.  And there are ways to generate more coins, and as I mentioned before, you can give your saved coins for a fellow player to use when needed.  An important thing you can save up resources for are Walls.  There are two each of four different types of walls, each with their own special function, and as you build them they go into the town and help you defend against the monsters.  Also, if you're able to build all 8 walls, you win the game.

Whenever you attack a monster at close range, you'll take a Wound card, which clutters up your hand/deck somewhat, but which also can be removed a number of ways. When you kill a monster, you gain a Heroism card, which is like a wild card for either prowess, magic or coin, and also lets you draw another card.

The game ships with six different enemy decks, including the Necromancers, the Fire Dragons, the Demons, etc.  Each enemy has their own monsters, boss monsters and special cards.  In this way, Shadowrift reminds me a bit of Sentinels of the Multiverse, where each enemy has a different feel to it and forces you to react and plan in different ways.  I've barely scratched the surface of playing the game, and I'm sure I'll have to beat each of those enemies before feeling like I've played it out, and that's not likely to happen too soon, as the game is definitely hard.  So I'd say that replayability will be pretty high.  

This is an indie production (it failed on Kickstarter, but they produced it, anyway), but the box and production is pretty solid, and I like that they included dividers in the box for the different card categories.  The cards use the same glossy coating as Last Night on Earth, which is kind of annoying at first, as you have to break some of them apart from each other, but after a while, they're fine.  The artwork is decent, and for the most part the graphical layout works well, but I do have one complaint... there is a basic Prowess card that everyone starts with 7 of in their deck.  Then you can buy a Might card, which is worth 1 Prowess but also lets you draw a card when its drawn.  That's great, but the Might card image looks exactly the same as the Prowess image, so it's hard to really notice that when it comes up in your hand, and you might miss out on that free card draw.  The rules do seem to explain everything in the game, but not necessarily in a way that you're going to absorb all that well.  In other words, it's all in there, but some things aren't necessarily explained in the best way. It's not a difficult game to learn, but there are some particulars that you have to watch out for, and a more detailed turn example might have been a good thing to include in the rules.  One thing the rules should definitely have included is a graphic of the initial card layout, but someone has posted a file for that already on TOS.

Anyway, if you have any interest in deck-building and co-op games, especially with some decent thematic structure, then definitely give this one a look.

BGG entry: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/112092/shadowrift

Order link: http://www.gamenightproductions.com/store.php#game1

Rules: http://files.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/8ki2av93q5/Shadowrift_Rulebook.pdf?