burncycle

Program a team of robots through a corporate break-in where each round's random orders warp your plan.

Designers: Josh J. Carlson, Shannon Wedge
Published by: Chip Theory Games
Editions by: YOKA Games, GoKids 玩樂小子

burncycle (2022) is a puzzly infiltration game where you command a team of robots in the far future. Your mission is to take down the human-run corporations that keep AI under their heel, sneaking into each headquarters and shutting down both the physical operations and the digital networks. The twist is creative action sequencing: every round brings a randomly drawn set of programming directives that dictate the order in which your bots may act, so you are always bending a plan around a bad draw. Guards, viruses and hostile architecture fight back, while new items and abilities reward your progress. Solo or co-op, scenario-based, and a long evening.

Random programming directives set action orderPhysical and digital infiltrationSolo and co-op scenarios

Who it's for

You love tactical puzzles and sci-fi heists, and you want a hard game for yourself or a small, patient team.

Not for you if…

You want a quick game or light chatter. It is long, demanding and rated for older players, with plenty of fiddly rules.

Vibe's take

Tense and puzzly, with the thrill of improvisation. You squeeze a clever sequence out of an awkward set of orders, and sometimes it works spectacularly.