Neon Hope
🐸 Dettagli da BoardGameGeek
Consiglio BGG sul numero di giocatori
Categorie
Meccaniche
Design & Art
Lingua
Pre-order - leggi i dettagli
🐸 Una rana saggia sa quando dividere l’ordine… e quando aspettare il salto giusto.
Si abbina bene con
The FroGames Card
You are holding three cards. One buys you time, one reveals the truth, one risks everything. Choose poorly, and in two hours the world will be worse than when you started.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A cooperative campaign where your choices decide whether the future will be solarpunk or cyberpunk
Designed by Francesco Grothe and Dominik Schönleben, with art by Robert Herzig, Neon Hope is a playful response to the fatalism of cyberpunk: a game that puts you in the shoes of ordinary people who uncover a conspiracy bigger than themselves and must decide whether to surrender to dystopia or fight for a better future. Published by Hopeful Games after a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a cooperative narrative game that blends deck-construction and branching storytelling.
Each game is a session of a larger campaign: draw event cards, face difficult choices, build your personal deck with cards representing skills, contacts, and resources. Every decision opens or closes story branches, and the consequences accumulate until the ending. The action point system forces you to choose between progressing the mission or preparing for future crises. The world changes based on what you do and what you DON'T do.
What they say abroad
"Will the tech giants take over?"
— Hopeful Games
This is an initial review based on pre-publication data: the card will be updated with real feedback as soon as the game is in players' hands.
— FroGames
Neon Hope
The game supports solo play in the basic rules: you control multiple characters and make all narrative decisions alone. The experience is complete mechanically and narratively, but you obviously lose the cooperative discussion about ethical choices — which is half the charm with a full table.
FrogScore · FroGames editorial rating · based on rules, international reviews and play sessionsThe tools of resistance
What you build while saving the future
Action Cards
Skills, contacts, technological resources. Each card you add to your deck represents a choice: do you want to hack systems or persuade people? Deck construction is character construction.
Events and Branches
Narrative paragraphs that change based on your previous actions. They are not flavor text: they are the heart of the game. Read, choose, mark the consequences on the campaign sheet.
Action Points
Limited resource you spend to play cards, face threats, progress in the mission. The invisible timer of the game: every action costs, and you never have enough points to do everything.
Future Track
Visual indicator that measures how much the world is sliding towards cyberpunk dystopia or moving towards solarpunk utopia. Your choices move it. The ending depends on where it lands.
Recommended sleeves 400 cards in 1 dimension ▼
If you play often, we recommend protecting your cards with clear sleeves to make them last longer.
| Dimension | Quantity |
|---|---|
| 64 × 89 mm | 400 |
| Total cards | 400 |
Come si gioca
Video dimostrativo di gameplay.
🎲How to PlayThe rules in four steps▼
How to Play
The Flow of Each Round
Each round is a cycle of actions, events, and consequences. There are no individual turns: you decide together, act together, suffer together.
Draw an Event card or read the paragraph indicated by the campaign sheet. Discover what happens in the world: a threat, an opportunity, a crossroads. Some cards give you immediate choices, others add complications.
Everyone plays cards from their hand by spending action points. You can play cards to resolve threats, gain resources, and progress mission objectives. Collaborate: one player's cards can enhance another's.
Check if you have met the conditions of the event or mission. If yes, read the success paragraph. If no, read the failure paragraph. Both have consequences. Update the Future track and the campaign sheet.
Discard played cards, draw up to your hand limit, prepare for the next round. If you have enough resources, you can add new cards to your decks or upgrade existing ones. Then the cycle begins again.
⏱️Your First GameThe chronicle, moment by moment▼
A game in five moments
What happens at the table
Not the rules. The experience.
The Trigger
Read the first paragraph of the mission. Someone nervously laughs because the description is too close to the real world. Deal out the characters, shuffle the starting decks. No one knows yet what is about to happen, but the feeling is that this game matters.
The First Choices
First narrative branching point. Someone reads the options aloud. The discussion begins: save time or save a person? Optimize or do the right thing? Vote, mark the choice on the sheet. Someone says "I hope I don't regret this." Spoiler: you will regret it.
Deck Construction
You have enough resources to add a powerful card to your deck. Someone wants advanced hacking, someone else prefers the card that gives extra action points. The choice defines the character for the rest of the campaign. The deck is no longer generic: it is YOUR character.
The Crisis
Surprise event: a consequence from three sessions ago comes back to haunt you. The Future track slides towards cyberpunk. Someone curses. You must sacrifice something to contain the damage. The tension at the table is real: you are not losing points, you are losing hope.
The Session Finale
Mission completed, but at what cost? Read the final paragraph, update the campaign sheet, look at the track. The world is a little better or a little worse. Someone says "next time we'll do better." Someone laughs bitterly. Put everything away. The campaign continues.
🐸Good to know beforehandThree honest things, from friends▼
Good to know beforehand
Three things you need to know
It's a legacy-lite campaign
The game changes based on choices, but you don't destroy components or attach stickers. The campaign sheet tracks consequences and unlocks new narrative paragraphs. This means each group will experience a different story, but also that once your campaign is over, the replay value decreases (unless you want to explore alternative narrative branches).
Requires long-term commitment
It's not a one-shot. The campaign unfolds over multiple sessions (the exact number depends on your choices), each lasting 90-120 minutes. You need a stable group committed to finishing the story. If someone skips sessions, the narrative continuity breaks.
The theme is political (in a good way)
Neon Hope explicitly talks about inequality, corporations, and ethical choices. It is not a neutral game: it takes a stand against cyberpunk cynicism and for the possibility of change. If you're looking for a game that's just mechanics without messages, this isn't for you. But if you want a narrative that says something, you'll find it here.
🏆Victory and defeatWhat the ending rewards▼
How it ends
How to win and how to lose
Victory is not binary: it's a spectrum. The ending you see depends on how far you managed to push the Future track towards solarpunk.
Success (partial or total)
- Complete all campaign objectives before the Future track reaches the cyberpunk limit
- The Future track ends in the solarpunk zone: utopian ending, the world is saved
- The Future track ends in the neutral zone: bittersweet ending, you avoided the worst but not enough
Defeat
- The Future track reaches the cyberpunk limit: corporations win, dystopia is inevitable
- Fail a critical mission objective with no chance of recovery
- Accumulate too many negative consequences: the worst ending is automatically unlocked
Few games make you feel that your choices build the world. Neon Hope does, and you only realize it at the end, when you reread the campaign sheet and realize how much has changed.
💬Frequently Asked QuestionsQuick answers before checkout▼
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ about Neon Hope
What mechanics does Neon Hope use?
Cooperative deck-construction (you add cards to your deck during the campaign), action point allowance (spend points to play cards), narrative choice with branching paragraphs, event management, variable character powers. All within a campaign structure with persistent consequences.
How long does a complete campaign last?
It depends on your choices, but expect 6-10 sessions of 90-120 minutes each. Some decisions shorten the campaign (sometimes negatively), others extend it by opening side missions. It's not a weekend commitment: it's a month-long commitment.
Can I play it multiple times with the same group?
Yes, but with reservations. The first campaign is the best experience because everything is a surprise. The second time you can explore the narrative branches you ignored, but you already know where certain choices lead. The game offers enough forks in the road to justify a second playthrough, but hardly a third.
Is it suitable for those unfamiliar with the cyberpunk genre?
Absolutely. The game explains its world within the missions; it doesn't assume you've read Gibson or seen Blade Runner. In fact, precisely because it subverts genre clichés, it works well (especially?) for those starting without expectations.
What language is this edition in?
This edition is in English. The game is heavily text-dependent (narrative paragraphs, cards with text), so a good understanding of the language is required. There are currently no official Italian editions or translations.
The people behind the game
Who invented it, who designed it, who publishes it — and what else they've done.
Neon Hope is a cooperative narrative game for 1-4 players, lasting 90-120 minutes, recommended age 14+. Designed by Francesco Grothe and Dominik Schönleben, published by Hopeful Games, it combines deck-construction and branching storytelling in a branching campaign set in a sci-fi future where your choices decide whether the world becomes a cyberpunk dystopia or a solarpunk utopia. It uses action points mechanics, event management, narrative choice with paragraphs, variable powers, and persistent consequences. Available on FroGames.it.
Neon Hope
Frequently Asked Questions
The answers you're looking for, no beating around the bush.
📸Do the images match the actual product?
The photos on the website often come from BoardGameGeek and are intended to give you an idea of the game. They may vary slightly from the version you receive. The content declared by the publisher is always binding.
📦Does the content of the box match what is indicated?
We always strive to provide the correct content, but minor variations are possible due to reprints or updates. The information comes directly from the publishers. If you have any questions, please contact us!
⏳How do pre-orders work?
Pre-order the game before release, payment is immediate, and the game is reserved for you. As soon as it arrives, we'll ship it right away! If there are any delays, we'll update you promptly.
🔒Can I trust buying here?
Absolutely! Secure payments, tracked shipments, and a team that loves board games as much as you do. If something goes wrong, we'll do our best to fix it.
🛠There's a problem with my order, what should I do?
Write to us now! Whether it's a missing part, damage, or an error, we'll help you resolve it as soon as possible. Your experience truly matters to us.