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In Children of the Colossi, you’re not here to quietly build an engine and admire it from afar. You’re trying to prepare an entire people for a future that may or may not go according to plan. You’ve been asked to tame the next generation of Colossi so your tribe can one day live on their backs. Sounds noble. Also stressful.
These Colossi carry whole cities across a broken world, and those cities aren’t just places to take actions. They shape how your tribe functions. Which actions you have access to, how your envoys move, and how much control you can realistically hold when things start to go wrong.
And they will go wrong. Because as the Colossi migrate, eggs pile up on thermal vents. Spark gets blocked. Options slowly disappear. Everyone can see a battle coming, and no one can fully stop it. When the eggs finally hatch, you’re forced to choose what kind of future you’re building. Do you go for the calmer newborns that might one day become homes? Or the unstable ones that give you power now, but come with strings attached?
Let’s face it, you’ll probably need both. And that balance, between preparation above and pressure below, is where Children of the Colossi really lives.
👥 2-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 30 minutes/player
📝 Designer: Jacopo Sarli
🎨 Artwork: Pauliina Linjama & Dann May
🏢 Publisher: Cosmodrome Games (review copy provided)
Gameplay Overview
Children of the Colossi takes place on two levels at once. Above, cities are carved into the backs of massive creatures. Below, the wasteland is split into regions, slowly filling with eggs and tension.
Each player controls a group of envoys. They’re everything. You use them to take actions in cities, gather spark in the wasteland, move around the map, and fight over newborns when battles break out. There’s no separate currency for actions. Your envoys are the cost.
The wasteland is divided into eight regions, partly separated by a deep chasm that blocks movement. Regions can hold any number of units, but only one Colossus. Where a Colossus is standing matters, because that’s where envoys can glide down from its city, and where they can be lifted back up again.
Eggs enter the game when Colossi move. As they migrate into regions, eggs are placed on that region’s thermal vents. Some vents still give spark, some don’t, and once eggs cover the active ones, that region is locked into a battle. You can see it coming. Everyone can. That doesn’t make it easier.
Turns are taken clockwise. On your turn, you pick one of the three Colossi and decide how deep you want to go. You can reset a city to pull your envoys back to the balcony, then start placing them again. The first envoy you place each turn ignores path costs. Every envoy after that has to follow the paths and pay whatever they demand, usually spark, sometimes resting another envoy. You can keep going as long as you can afford it and still have envoys left to place.
City actions let you move units, gather spark, glide envoys down to the wasteland, lift them back into cities, move Colossi through special actions, or trigger abilities tied to that specific city. Where your envoys end up in a city also matters for influence, which becomes important later when battles end in ties. You can also build obelisks in certain city spaces, locking in long-term advantages and presence.
Once you’re done taking actions, the Colossus you used has to move to a neighbouring region that doesn’t already contain another Colossus. Then you draw an egg from the bag and place it on the next active vent in that region. Some eggs can chain into more egg draws, which is usually when people around the table start quietly counting vents.
If that placement fills all active vents, a battle starts immediately.
Battles begin with all eggs in the region flipping over. Everyone secretly chooses a battle card and places it face down. Cards resolve in reverse turn order. Ambush cards stay hidden until later. During your battle turn, you resolve the actions on your card, plus any newborn abilities or banner effects you have access to. You can also move units out of the chasm for free during battles.
After all regular battle cards resolve, ambush cards are revealed and applied. Then strength is counted. Most units are worth one strength, unless something says otherwise. If there’s a tie, influence in the city breaks it. Higher level wins. If someone never climbed into the city at all, their obelisk starting position still counts as influence.
Newborns are then claimed in order, starting with the strongest player. Everyone gets one, and the winner gets a second. If there are inactive vp vents in the region, the winner also gains those points. Envoys that didn’t claim a newborn become resting, unless they’re shielded. Envoys that claim vp newborns stay ready, and envoys riding helper newborns are shielded automatically. Any newborns left over are removed, and a permanent vp vent replaces the last active vent in that region.
Play continues until someone hits ten victory points. When that happens, the current battle finishes, and then two more battles happen immediately in the regions with the other two Colossi. No turns in between. Just consequences. After that, end-game points are added, and the highest total wins.
Artwork, Components, and Visual Design
Children of the Colossi has a very strong and consistent visual identity. It knows what it wants to look like, and it sticks to it.
The Colossi themselves are the obvious stars. They feel like living landscapes rather than monsters, with cities built directly into their backs. Each one has a different colour palette and mood, which helps both thematically and practically. You rarely forget which city you’re dealing with.
The city boards are vertical, with paths climbing upward. It makes influence easy to understand just by looking at the board. Iconography is clear, and while there’s a lot going on, it’s mostly readable once you’ve played a round or two.
The wasteland board is large. Very large. Regions are clearly marked with different terrain colours, and the central chasm does a good job of visually saying “you can’t just walk across this”. Thermal vents stand out, and watching eggs slowly cover them does a lot of work in building tension without needing reminders.
Component quality is solid. The Colossi figures are big wooden pieces that feel good to move around. Envoys are clear and functional. Egg and newborn tokens are thick and easy to handle, with art that helps you remember what kind of problem you just picked up.
Overall, it looks impressive on the table, but not in a flashy way. More in a “this is going to take a while” way.
Our Experience
Children of the Colossi felt less like a game about reacting and more about waiting. Waiting for eggs to fill. Waiting for the wrong Colossus to move into the wrong region. Waiting for a battle you know you’re not fully ready for. The tension comes from anticipation, not surprise.
What stood out early was how every turn pushes the game forward whether you like it or not. Worker placement leads to forced movement, which leads to egg placement, which leads to battles. You’re never just improving your own position. You’re also speeding things up for everyone else. Sometimes including the person who benefits the most from it.
The economy shifts in a very visible way. Early on, regions are good for gathering spark. Later, those same regions become bad for resources but important for positioning. After battles, vp vents make future battles happen faster. It creates a clear arc, but it also means the game doesn’t really slow down once it gets going.
Turns feel weighty. Choosing which Colossus to activate matters. Resetting a city at the wrong time can cost you a lot. Spending too long in cities can leave you underprepared on the map, but focusing only on the wasteland can starve your options later. The glide and lift system ties those two things together nicely, but it does demand attention.
Battles didn’t feel wild or chaotic. If anything, they felt procedural at first. There are phases, timings, and small rules that matter. Early plays involved a lot of checking and a few “oh, right” moments. Once things clicked, battles became more interesting, but they never turned into quick, dramatic explosions. They’re more about resolution than emotion.
The ready and resting system puts pressure. Fighting costs you, even when you win. Resting units still move, but they don’t help much until you recover them. Without the right tools, repeated battles will drain you faster than you expect.
Influence mattered more than some players realised. Losing a battle on a tie because someone climbed higher earlier can feel rough, especially the first time it happens. It’s fair, but not always obvious, and it took a few games before everyone really respected city positioning.
Interaction stays high throughout. Even during turns that look solitary, everyone is watching egg counts and Colossus positions. That said, the board is big enough that tracking who owns which newborn and what abilities are active can get messy later on.
The endgame is sharp. Once someone hits ten points, there’s no gentle wrap-up. Two more battles happen immediately. If you saw it coming, it feels tense and satisfying. If you didn’t, it can feel like the game just pulled the rug out from under you. To be fair, the warning signs are there.
Our Thoughts
Children of the Colossi has a strong identity. Migrating cities, visible battle timers, and newborn drafting layered on top of worker placement make it feel different from a lot of games in the same weight range.
It’s best suited for players who enjoy interaction and don’t mind pressure building over time. This isn’t a game where you quietly do your thing. Other players will affect you, sometimes indirectly, sometimes very directly.
That said, the rules are dense. There are a lot of overlapping systems, and early games can feel heavy. Not because the ideas are bad, but because there’s a lot to hold in your head at once. Groups that don’t enjoy learning through repetition might bounce off it.
Once the systems start to click, the depth becomes more rewarding. Battles offer real tactical decisions, and timing starts to matter more than raw strength. But it does ask for commitment from the group.
The modular Colossi add replayability, but also variability. Some combinations feel smoother than others, and first impressions can depend a lot on which Colossi are in play.
The endgame doesn’t soften outcomes. It rewards planning and punishes being out of position. That will be a positive for some groups and a negative for others.
Overall, Children of the Colossi is a game that opens up with repeated play. It doesn’t charm you immediately. It grows on you. For players who enjoy interactive, system-heavy games and don’t mind a bit of friction, it can be a very memorable experience.
📝 We received a copy of the game from Cosmodrome Games.
