Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Game description from the publisher: Alien Artifacts is a 4X-style card game in which you play as an interplanetary faction, sending your research vessels into uncharted space to expand your knowledge and power.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Variable Phase Order
The order of phases changes according to player choices or game state.
Read the full game description
Game description from the publisher: Alien Artifacts is a 4X-style card game in which you play as an interplanetary faction, sending your research vessels into uncharted space to expand your knowledge and power. Build powerful ships, develop new technologies, and explore distant planets for anything — or anyone — you can exploit. Alien Artifacts is built on a Resource engine - each turn you will have 3 Resource cards in your hand and you will decide how best to spend them. Each resource card has two different resource types for you to use. You can only use one side and only two cards per turn! Using these resources, you will build Ships, develop Technology, discover Planets, or Trade for currency! New Ships allow you to attack the aliens and gain their valuable artifacts which provide huge bonuses. With each new Technology card in your Empire, you will have access to more actions, bonuses, and scoring opportunities. Each Planet you explore provides valuable resources for future actions. There are two sides to each of these cards, and as you build them you will decide: Logistics - play cards on this side to gain ongoing bonuses that will make your Empire stronger and help you build faster. Operational - play this side to gain a new way to score victory points (and yes, you will be able to activate your operations more than once, if you play well). Manage your Resources, build the right cards, make wise choices. Win! Alien Artifacts provides a true 4X experience in under an hour. With over two hundred cards, Alien Artifacts offers players many scoring strategies and great replay-ability.