Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles – Episodes 3 & 4

As the months since the shipwreck turn into years and memories of our past life fade, we now call this strange new land our home. Perseverance has grown from a weathered foothold to a bustling city, where new landmarks improve our living standards, and expansive ranches contribute to society’s welfare and the ongoing exploration. The once ferocious Shieldheads now walk among us tamed, and our brave Dino Riders are finally able to chart even the most distant parts of the wilderness. They come back with tales of abandoned structures in the far reaches of the island, similar to the one that held the secret of Shieldhead taming. If the rumors are true, we may be able to make our peace with even the stalwart Thunderhorns and the fearsome Ironjaws, and our society’s influence will soon span the entire island! And while these eerie ruins hold answers, they raise even more questions. Who are their creators? What happened to them? Are they truly gone? The answers are out there, waiting to be discovered. Let’s hope we’re ready for them!

Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles - Episodes 3 and 4 are two medium-heavy, thematic Euro games, concluding the story of time-lost survivors on a dinosaur island. Each Episode is playable as a standalone game, or in the Chronicle mode that ties four games - one with each Episode - into a continuous story. As the hallmark of the Perseverance series, each Episode features many unique characteristics and a very distinct game feel, but their core mechanisms and concepts are similar, making each new Episode much easier to learn.

In Episode 3, Perseverance is finally safe from the dinosaur attacks and has grown into a bustling city. As players discover how to tame and ride the Dinosaurs (including the new Thunderhorn and Ironjaw species), as their primary action, they may now choose to send a Dino Rider into the far reaches of the island instead of placing a die in the city. Besides streamlining some of the usual area majority elements, Episode 3 takes a new approach, focusing on engine and tableau building. City Landmarks provide powerful passive benefits, while players may build and customize their own Ranches on their player boards, activating them as a secondary action using the new Supply resource acquired from the wilderness.

Episode 4 brings the story to an epic conclusion as you face off against the Ancients, a mysterious race that once ruled the island. Even though the situation is dire, the dimensional storm that made their return possible also presents an almost impossible opportunity: to refit the hollowed-out husk of the Pearl of the Seas ocean liner for one last journey, back to your homeworld.