The Smog Singers: An Initial Impressions Review (Patreon)

Spoilers for:

• Smog Singer Showdown at all levels
• Smog Singer Hunt Events
• Luck the Wanderer (lore based, not much on mechanics - That section is spoiler marked at start and finish.)

Node 2 monsters are a weird breed; they almost always sit alongside Node 1 monsters at a pure statistics level and they scale up in similar ways; however, both the Screaming Antelope and Spidicules failed to completely stick the lantern landing. The former has had multiple revisions to its gear which has pushed it up and down the power rankings, while the showdown has remained deeply flawed. The Spideriffic latter is almost the inversion of that, with one of the best showdowns in the entire game followed up by some of the most uneven gear power levels and frustrating timeline events we've seen in any monster. Neither one has felt satisfying or as smooth a fit the way that the White Lion, Gorm and now the Crimson Crocodile all do.

The Smoggies therefore are arriving in a Node that is beset by issues; and their gear already has a long shadow cast upon it by the design space devouring worm; but there are some very interesting/powerful instruments and Singing Armor is one of my favourite armor sets both in mechanical design and general aesthetics. So there's a lot of potential here, but I have mixed feelings about these monsters and a big part of the reason for wanting to write about them after multiple L1, L2 and L3 showdown fights is to try and help untangle the wide range of conflicted thoughts I have.

We'll start with the narrative elements of the monsters.

The Narrative and World Building

Smog Singers are a form of siren, with a lot of their design being a a classic body horror twist on the Mermaid. The models are a wonderful part of this, with a blend of Junji Ito style faces mounted on top of a body which blends crustacean elements with humanoid and instrumental. We've called these things Stinky Shrimps, Pollution Prawns, Bagpipe Babies and Loud Lobsters. Its fair to say that from the very first moment they flopped and bobbed their way onto the showdown board that they generated a very visceral response from the players. I hate them, I hate their stupid faces, I hate everything they stand for and that's exactly what the game is trying to get across. They're a perfect physical manifestation of why sirens and emotion/mind control based fantasy creatures are detestable cockroaches. Nothing gives me more pleasure than smacking them around until they deflate with a sad “PFFT” or explode with a satisfying wet bang of viscera. Honestly, it's really refreshing to have such a different response to these monsters when compared to the Crimson Crocodile who is just a fun goof (with a nasty side that comes out when its life is threatened) so I think that the design team knocked it out the park on that front.

The introductory event sits a little at contrast to this, with the survivors feeling sadness and grief at the body the poacher brings to the settlement, this is inflicted by the monster's face, suggesting that the Smog Singers enchantment is not so much song based as it is physical. It is however interesting that despite this remorse, most of the time the survivors will take the Singer's body and carve it up for parts rather than giving it a burial. They feel bad about it, but in my settlement they still peeled the pink flesh right off that thing and tucked it into storage.

Hunt events are a bit more mixed on the thematic front, with only a small amount of them dedicated to the actual monsters, while a lot of the rest are more environmental in focus. I really love the world building that the Mudwhale presents, but the one that most builds more into the Singer's character is the Dazzling Mural, which has the interesting mechanic of punishing Paint users (so, basically everyone beyond a certain point at the moment) and also giving a hint of world building that is built upon further with the later Level 3 Smog Singer showdown and Luck the Wanderer's personal journey.

The showdown itself gives the monsters a lot of personality, however at level 1 this doesn't fully come through because the showdown is so short in duration; at no point have I ever felt threatened by the Level 1 Smog Singers because they are missing multiple pieces of their full design. This does paint an excellent picture of peaceful creatures being slaughtered by savages who feel bad about it, but need the sustenance and resources. There's this tug and pull between guilty survivors manifesting their hate for the monsters, being punished for that behaviour and being offered relief in the form of those song cards.

The monsters AI cards are themed around their being generally peaceful towards the survivors, but capable of causing harm without intention. AI Names involve words like Greeting, Kiss, Rest, Trust, Connection alongside things that bring forth the idea of operatics such as the balletic move of the Grand Jeté. It's a superbly expressed coalition of themes and ideas that coalesces together well and though I never used it, I really liked the offer of concord printed on one AI card. I also love the card where the Smog Singer tells a survivor that they 'believe in you'. Great stuff, I hate it.

Now I've mentioned Luck the Wanderer a bit before, but now we're going to dip into the big bits of lore. If you want to skim past this bit because you've not yet experienced the full campaign, I will put markers in caps. Sadly I can't use spoiler tags as that's not a function in patreon's coding.

SPOILERS FOR L3 SMOG SINGERS AND LUCK THE WANDERER

When you fight the L3 Smog Singers, there's an extra level of pressure in that if all survivors start singing the showdown ends in a draw/defeat where the Sky Whale turns up. The Sky Whale has been a part of the game's lore for a long time now, sometimes appearing in Overwhelming Darkness and also being printed on the Strain Fighting Art Ethereal Pact which turns a survivor into a saviour.

This White Whale opens its mouth to reveal an entire city of smog; one where the survivors happily head inside with their new friends. This is the place where those survivors will stay, leaving the settlement behind them apart from sometimes one lone survivor being sent back with a gift and a new ability.

We get more of a glimpse of this city, its inhabitants and the nature of Smog Singers when Luck the Wanderer's personal philosophy levels up. Luck is closely linked to the Gambler, but also seems to hail from the City of Dreams, a name for the place located inside the Titanic White Whale (as depicted on the artwork) and seemingly a haven for humans and singers alike. In addition, his second level can turn survivors into part Smog Singer; giving us a point of origin for the creatures – being survivors who have mutated into singers. It's a complicated puzzle, and not one that I nor anyone could claim to completely understand the answers to, but it is compelling and provides enough closure on the mystery box of the Singers themselves while also leaving larger questions still surrounding if the White Whale is the Ethereal Dreamer or at least connected closely with that Entity.

SPOILERS OVER

The Mechanics

Now it is time to get into the nitty gritty of the actual game processes through which these creatures “battle” with the survivors. This is the part of the Singers that I have mixed opinions on. As such I want to praise a few things before getting into the weeds of critique; because I do straight up love these stinky little loathsome punching bags a huge amount. Instruments, music, feeling an emotional engagement about the enemies; these are all things I value a huge amount and there is a lot of success in the Prawn's design.

Performing Artists and Harmony cards are our first grand success; having three monsters attacking the survivors is a huge potential design risk, done wrong and it'll be very bad for the monsters. It's done right here with the combination of this plus Vibration Damage leaves the situation in a fantastic balance. It was a tightrope walk to achieve, and at no point did I feel concerned that the increased number of monsters was purely an advantage for the enemy units. The way Persistent Injuries work with Harmony is another great little change for the multi-monster fight. So I'm appreciative of what's been crafted here and I am looking forward to more of these. Smough and Ornstein style battle with the two Scissor Knights when?

I also like the addition of Disarm to this showdown's construction, while the phrasing of “your favourite weapon” is a little subjective, KDM's always been halfway in the roleplaying world anyway so these days I'm fine with that kind of stuff, especially when it is adding texture to the showdown.

The songs is another really good part of the showdown design, they're a release valve from excess guilt, but they are also a punishment and a signal of what will happen at higher levels. It is always good when a lower level monster teaches you what the higher level ones are going to be doing. Even the “gotchya” of turning one over the first time without realising is a great learning moment; you're punished a bit, but not too much and that is good design.

As I wrote above, the Level 1 versions offered virtually no resistance at all for my survivors; they were constantly able to be in range for multiple attacks a turn and the core mechanic they use to threaten attacks on the survivors – guilt – takes too long to build for it to be a true issue. Otherwise so much of what they're doing is either harmless or even beneficial for the survivors. That can be helpful for newer players, but let us be honest, new players should not be running into the GCE without having a fair amount of showdowns under their belts. I can't see the level 1 version being balanced out for experienced players in the future outside of adding a few Overtone moods into the deck and I couldn't even start to figure out what's right because the root issue is the same one that the Flower Knight and Screaming Antelope has – they're designed for a certain showdown experience and they project that well. It's just less challenging when compared to other showdown designs.

At level 2 we start to see the intention behind the design be realised; adding in the O level cards (I love that they chose an O which echoes a mouth in full song) gives the Singers enough durability that their mechanics surrounding the concept of “We take a beating and then reflect that back onto you emotionally” starts to come to life. I think for myself Level 2 is going to be the start point for fighting them, the lower toughness of 9 plus the increased threat and rewards means I think that's the sweet spot for myself. I'm in a similar spot with the Flower Knight, were I only fight it at level 3 and that's OK. There's room in this game for monsters that ease the newer player experience.

Summary

At the end of all of this I have to congratulate the design of the Smog Singers, while they continue the trend of Node 2 monsters with issues there is still a lot to enjoy and love here. I do not think they are a slam dunk success in the way that the other new monsters in this box are, but they are also not a failure. Something unique was attempted here and the thematics, personality and world building are all huge triumphs. The Smog Singers add a lot to the game and they are very engaging to hunt, it is just hard to feel properly threatened by them and you add that onto the gear's inbuilt weak spots then we end up with one of the rougher elements of the GCE.

I love them, and I'll use them a lot in the future, but I think losses against these will be few and far between, which is fine overall, but a little unfortunate. I do hope that Campaigns of Death takes some steps to smooth out the wrinkles in Spidicules & the Screaming Antelope, certainly the direction we've seen in the GCE is a very promising one and until then I think that as far as the Node 2 monsters go; Spidicules has the best showdown but the Singers have the best gear package overall at the moment because their armor is in a better spot than Silk armor (no L3 issue, no Silk Body Suit) and their weapons complement the other early game monsters rather than strictly replacing them.

Overall though? While it isn't as high a level as much of the other GCE content, it is still good stuff with a lot of potential down the bagpipeline.