February 28, 2025

Pair A Dice Games Corner

Daybreak

People have always had mixed feelings about cooperative games. They could be too easy. A single player could control the whole game. Daybreak doesn't do that. Daybreak gives you a glimmer of hope that you could win, just to snatch it away from you when you are at the precipice.

Daybreak has players taking control of world powers like the United States or China in the hopes of curtailing climate change before the breaking point. Cards in hand represent projects, regulations, and new technologies that your world power can put into effect. 

Each power has its own starting emissions, representative of their current emissions. Using your cards, you need to reduce those emissions and convert your dirty energy production to clean energy while keeping up with the ever-growing demand. 

But there is always a crisis looming on the horizon. These crisis cards don't affect everyone, allowing players to either help shield the player that will be affected with social, agricultural, or infrastructure resilience or stop it from happening altogether.

The game at its heart is an engine builder, with every turn you are looking for the best way to deal with your problems and how you could help someone else.

One of the best things about this game is how rooted in reality it is. Every card has a little QR code that takes you to a page on the topic and talks a little bit about how this project, technology, or crisis has an impact on our world.

Daybreak is a must-have of a cooperative game and will have you asking yourself, can we all lower our emissions enough that the world's current carbon capture of plants and the ocean alleviates the temperature increase?