I Bury the Gods
This is a weird little game that starts of with a brilliant high concept and then promptly abandons you to try and make something of it as it drifts off into describing various rules and tables. Just another confused OSR inspired booklet then? Well there's something I feel is compelling about this game, enough to make me want to fill in the blanks.
There is a colonialism theme with an invading empire that has been killing the divine spirits of the country by having the spirits possess someone (accused criminals) and then executing the possessed humans, killing the spirit in the process. A kind of literal cultural genocide.
A crisis in the empire has resulted in the imperial soldiers being recalled and in the confusion your character is spared execution but is still possessed of the divine spirit. At liberty they now have the chance to reclaim their land before either the empire returns or the threat that defeats the empire becomes a threat to them and their society as well.
The imperial and spirit possession themes really resonated with me; evoking the Roman Empire as portrayed in the Sláine comic and Britannia TV show and the opening moments of Morrowind. There is the menace of a military power using cunning to cull the local divinities.
The recall reminds me of Britain under the Romans with the sudden departure of the Roman Legions who had re-shaped the country but left practically overnight due to circumstances that must have seemed obscure and far away.
The game is illustrated with photos of beautifully painted miniatures in dioramas. Each one features a strange character which presumably represents either the spirit fused characters or the monstrosities they might face.
I'm not clear whether this game is means to be played solo or as a group. Clearly a group of prisoners could have escaped together but the game doesn't really have any focus on group play but the scene setting section doesn't feel like it has enough structure to really spark interesting solo play.
Bury the Gods is intriguing and mysterious, it could have been a bit more explicit but it just manages to fall on the right side of being compelling.