I grew up in Wisbech in the seventies.

Life was simpler. Despite only having three tv channels I think my tv and movie education was richer than the media bloat that we have now.

Holidays for me were watching which ever 1930’s serial the BBC had decided to show each morning. I loved Flash Gordon with Larry Buster Crab, King of the Rocketmen (the inspiration for Disneys The Rocketeer). I got to watch classic comedies from the likes of Harold Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy. I had Tarzan movies and tv show to enjoy. The Lone Ranger helped set my moral compass! I loved series like Champion the wonder horse, Skippy the bush kangaroo, and Whirlybirds, etc.

But one series both tv and movie that I loved was Planet of the Apes.

The tv show was great for the time, and like so many I watched at that age had fewer episodes than I remember. When I’ve looked into getting the series on dvd I’m like “no way was there just fourteen episodes”.

My memory of the show has me thinking it was formulaic for the time with the protagonists wandering from village to village fixing a wrong. Which seems to describe a lot of shows at the time such as Kung Fu, Logan’s Run, etc.

Mum and Dad even bought me a Planet of the Apes mask. It was plastic (light grey if my memory isn’t playing tricks on me), no hair, just something that went over the face held in place by elastic.

But after being left high and dry by the tv series when it ended I got to enjoy the cartoon series instead on (my memory wants to say) a Saturday morning.

I liked at the time how from that first movie and it’s shock ending, the movies, tv show, and cartoon expanded the world and lore. Although I was too young at the time to know what lore was, or pick up on the allegory/themes in the movies.

The Tim Burton, Mark Wahlberg reboot in 2001 was watchable, but despite its modern production values didn’t have the same impact emotionally as the original movie.

It’d be another ten years before we’d get more Ape movies that used modern sfx to create realistic looking apes and “remake“ the origin of the series. I love these movies. They did a great job of updating the franchise and it’s themes. I wish others would learn from this.

I’ve skipped the original book all this was based/inspired by (although my Audible library may be growing soon) as I’ve never read it. And back when I was enthralled by each new movie, and episode I had no idea there was a book behind all of this.

It had also escaped me there were also comic books expanding the universe. But thinking about it I shouldn’t be surprised. I need to correct this oversight soon.

So it’s fair to say I’m a fan. Not a hardcore fan that can quote chapter and verse about the lore or lines from the movies and shows.

Is it any surprise that I was then drawn to the theme of After Us?

The nice thing is the French designer acknowledges the influence of Planet of the Apes on the game.

However that’s were it ends.

To be honest like the majority of deckbuilders the theme is so paper thin to be non-existent.

I love the art by Vincent Dutrait. It truly is beautiful.

What I like about this deckbuilder is the simultaneous play. It really does speed things up.

Having now played the game at five players and two players I think it worked well at both player counts.

I like that this stands out from a lot of other deckbuilders with it being a race to get to eighty points, and not all about inflicting as much damage as possible to the other player.

There is very little player interaction, with the little there is in the game being which reward you copy from one of your neighbours in the second phase.

But it has to be that way with the chaotic simultaneous play.

I love the arranging your hand of four cards each round so you complete as many frames as possible. As the only frames you can activate are complete ones. Incomplete frames get you nothing.

Not having the buy 5 points tile out made a big difference in the two player game. I definitely prefer the game without it.

Is it my favourite deckbuilder? No. But it is probably top of the list if I want to play a deckbuilder with a group of people. It’s fun.