Storybook Time with Vantage and Its Memorable Tales
Travel down unknown paths to tell a character’s adventure of discovery and growth across the uncharted world of Vantage.
Can I stop playing Vantage? Probably, especially since setup and cleanup take a matter of minutes. But I am simply loving everything I continue to stumble across in my stories! This is an open world where the narrative is the focus, yet it hasn’t felt like aimless choices or wandering. Characters have their own stories to tell, always with a different twist each time!
Spoiler Alert
There are a number of elements shown here that go beyond the starting location. I’ve done my best not to explain what happens at a location or how to acquire a card, but know that there are spoilers for what might be found in the game. As always, please don’t share any possible spoilers with me as I continue delving deeper into this experience. I appreciate it!
Game Overview
Game Name: Vantage
Publication Year: 2025
Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Artists: Valentina Filic, Sören Meding, & Emilien Rotival
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Every play is unique with a ton of variety, yet this is not a campaign. Collected knowledge, often from the secret pages in the Book of Vantages, may help with future stories, but nearly anything can be done as the world is explored and new discoveries are encountered along the way. So fun!
First Play
July 22, 2025
Complexity
2
Latest Play
August 3, 2025
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
11
Play Time
1 Hour & 30 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
36" x 20"
Low Score
N/A
Storybooks & Skills
Cards provide thousands of possibilities for what might be encountered, ranging from the locations themselves to a huge range of cards that might find their way into a grid.
But don’t forget the storybooks! Paragraphs provide the difficulty and outcomes of every action. The nice part is that every action is always successful, yet may come with costs.
Skill tokens reduce matching action difficulties, but these are finite and often rare sorts of resources to manage.
There is certainly a game inside the game of being able to weather the storm of challenge dice, but the story is central.
Easy-to-Use References
For each of the 6 action types, there is a separate storybook denoted by symbol and color. These also include a handy key to easily find the right page to reference a paragraph.
Playing solo means I see some things before rolling dice or might have my eyes wander, but this has been minimal.
Pages are laid out well and even when I have choices, I can usually stop myself from reading the outcomes before making a decision. Tricky, but not too bad at all!
Note that there is a Depart storybook, which looks similar to the Move storybook. Make sure to use the right one!
To New Locations
Courtesy of my ongoing story involving Tina, I moved onto a new character. This time, I chose Soren, the Navigator. Luckily, this resulted in a brand new starting location!
It was thoroughly unique and I found myself leaning into a more thoughtful perspective. Tina was a bit prone to smash everything, which made sense for her! But not Soren.
He took his time to understand situations before acting. That made him a little slower to respond, yet it worked.
Before long, Soren was deep in a strange forest where the unknown lurked around every corner or tangle of roots!
A Quiet, Little Scene
Traveling to new locations happens a lot, and the artwork ranges in scope and size. For example, there could be an amazing view from a mountain, stretching to the horizon.
Or, it might be a very up-close sort of scene. This was one such example. Soren paused to watch from afar… Which was me trying to figure out what was going on and what to do!
I won’t spoil it, but this was a delightful and quiet sort of moment. Appreciation for the small things was central.
Some locations are like in-between areas without any major elements, yet they often lead to these beautiful moments.
The Most Surprising Reminder of a Similar Game
I’ve noticed that as I’ve learned more about the world, my plays often take longer as I make better decisions and manage time, morale, and health in better ways. To that end, the 9×9 grid of cards often gets filled up… At least compared to some earlier plays when I only got about halfway there. But it has limitations, and I started to get the feeling I recognized it.
A-ha! It’s definitely not the same thing at all, but I realized that the final grid was like a collection of the most important or most recent memories for a character. Thousand Year Old Vampire is a solo journaling RPG that doesn’t play the same at all, yet it has a mechanic about losing memories over time, simulating the finite amount that can be held onto.
The next photo shows part of a final grid, and I can tell you at a glance what experience came with every card. I don’t need to mark all of those since I’m not here to share an in-depth story (yet) but it’s interesting to see what stuck with Soren over a lengthy adventure. And, in many ways, what stuck with me. Each play has so much to offer beyond the surface!
Days in the Forest
At the end, I saw all new sights in areas I never encountered. And not to reveal too much, but even traveling across dozens of locations was just a fraction of those available.
One highlight was when Soren made friends with an animal, who quietly tagged along. Shortly after, he helped out a group who had some amazing advice for him…
“Head over there to hunt big animals!” And my eyes went wide as I looked at the matching animal RIGHT THERE. Ha!
I found new items and gained more knowledge from pages in the Book of Vantages, but Soren didn’t survive forever!
A Very Quiet Ending
This adventure came to an end at this peaceful sort of treehouse. Soren was simply too physically exhausted to continue his story, and I imagine he had a nice, long rest!
But this is another card that shows how interesting it is to really look at a scene. You might spot some mysterious features that would warrant investigation in another play.
I was a little sad to see this adventure come to a close when there was more to do… Yet I still loved the natural end point.
It isn’t designed to be a campaign, nor an adventure that goes on indefinitely forever. Every story has an ending.
Never Judge Too Soon
Was I done playing? Not at all! Late in the evening, I decided to take Soren on another expedition around the planet. His starting location was labeled a difficult one. Awesome!
A-ha! Without spoiling anything, this was a spot I had been to with Tina. And I had information to put into practice from another previous play. Hurray for learning!
Soren’s journey started off with a rather poignant moment that wasn’t unexpected, yet was simply… Nice.
It also probably made a difference that Soren seemed much less likely to attack than Tina had been. Oh, Tina. Ha ha!
When Hilarity Ensues
This was my longest play yet, clocking in at around 2 hours. I was mesmerized! Soren saw some familiar locations, but nothing was the same. He had himself a real adventure!
But after all that time with exciting and surprising moments, it was the end that will likely stick with me.
Soren crested a ridge, weary with practically nothing left in his body or mind. Onward he went, though, crawling at some points until he investigated a strange monument…
Which promptly sent him airborne directly into its side. Splat! What an ending. Ha ha! Again, just so much fun!
Session Overview
Play Number: 5 & 6
Accessory 1: Vantage: Metal Coins
Accessory 2: Vantage: Playmats
Accessory 3: Vantage: Wooden Skill Tokens
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 2 Complete Plays
However, this last play resulted in a completed destiny! That’s right: Soren opened up a market and ran it to his heart’s content… Possibly after being scraped off of that monument? Ha! I simply can’t get enough of the stories this game tells, and there is still a long way to go. Awesome!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each play offers memorable storylines, many of which lean into different pleasant emotions for a relaxing experience.
- There is a staggering amount of variety, but plays never feel overwhelming with a fairly small number of cards in play.
- Locations range in size, allowing some sights to evoke feelings of awe or delight over the little details to be found.
- Although missions and destinies provide guidance for how to proceed, “winning” can have a very fluid definition.
- The location artwork does a wonderful job of setting up scenes with just enough for the player to fill in more details.
- Although it’s easy to read beyond an entry in a storybook, immediate action with other components makes this rare.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although uncommon, there are some cards or linked cards that feel a little clunky to use in certain situations.
- Filling in a grid is an excellent feeling, but can then require a bit more time to always be aware of available options.
- Storytelling does require some work from the player to make everything cohesive and fun, which isn’t for everyone.
- Play time can be very variable in length, and although it’s simple to pause, this can make the timing a bit unknown.
Victory Conditions
Reach a Natural End Point to the Story
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete at least 1 game with a fulfilled destiny.
Complete at least 1 game with a fulfilled mission.
Complete at least 1 game with a full card grid.
Continue the Conversation
Do you have a favorite character from Vantage? What sorts of adventures have you gone on lately? This game does call for a focus on the narrative, which takes a bit of imagination. However, it’s just so excellent with everything it does! Never thought this would work in a board game setting, and yet it does. Continued apologies for my incessant plays… Ha ha!
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