Familiars and Foes (2023)

The Good Witches and Wizards of Joralee have been kidnapped by a horde of evil Foes! The only hope is for their Familiars to dutifully band together on a quest to overthrow the Foes and save their spell-casting partners. They’ll bumble their way through new spells, unleash ancient artifacts, and craft crazy combo attacks to succeed. They may just surprise their Witches and Wizards with a few tricks (and Familiars) of their own! Familiars and Foes is a co-operative style game where you play as one of five Elemental Familiars with their own unique abilities - Earth, Wind, Fire, Air, or Aether. The game is played in four waves. Each wave increases in difficulty and reveals a new set of Foes that must be defeated to save a Witch or Wizard. On each turn a player must choose one of three actions to perform - a physical attack, cast a spell, or use an artifact. The success or failure of the action is determined by a dice roll or coin flip. The rest of the players have the opportunity to contribute to the active player's turn and create combination moves. They can perform team attacks, use special abilities, or cash in rewards to boost the initial attack or benefit Familiar health. Group strategy is key to surviving and beating the game. The Foes don't just sit idly and take beatings the whole game. They have their own turn each round where they release potentially devastating attacks on the Familiars. The Familiars have a few tricks to defend themselves or they can just hope for a weak attack to survive another round. The game is won when all four waves of Foes have been defeated, all the Witches and Wizards have been rescued, and at least one Familiar is still standing. —description from the publisher