Corrosion

A steampunk engine builder in which every machine rusts and you must time your factory's clock.

Designer: Stefan Bauer (I)
Published by: Deep Print Games
Editions by: Capstone Games, Hobby Japan, Pegasus Spiele, Maldito Games, Galápagos Jogos, Broadway Toys LTD, uplay.it edizioni

Corrosion is a heavy-ish engine builder with a clever clock: everything you own rusts. Each of you runs a factory, deploys engineers and builds machines into scoring and production engines. Your enemy is time, because machines and gears wear away fast, so you want chrome gears and rustproof chrome machines that last. On your turn you either play an engineer card or turn your factory's corrosion wheel. Engineers earn new machines and better engineers, and rivals can copy your action by playing an engineer of the same suit with a higher grade. Turning the wheel puts your machines to work and returns your engineers to your hand, but it also rusts old parts. The art is knowing when to shift from one engine to the next, in about two hours.

A corrosion wheel that ages your machinesCopy rivals' engineer actions with a higher gradeChrome machines that last

Who it's for

You enjoy engine builders with a real clock ticking on your own engine, and you like optimizing hand and timing over a couple of hours.

Not for you if…

You want a quick, forgiving game. Corrosion rewards planning and punishes engines left to rust.

Vibe's take

Thoughtful and tight: each turn trades growth against wear, and the dread of rusting parts keeps pushing you to build the next engine before the last one crumbles.