Avatar The Last Airbender “Aang’s Destiny” Co-Op Boardgame – Review

As a fan of Avatar The Last Airbender and boardgames, I was very excited to try ‘Aang’s Destiny’. This co-op tabletop game allows you to revisit moments from the animated series while facing ever-increasing threats.

I was provided the Avatar the Last Airbender ‘Aang’s Destiny’ boardgame by The Op Games for free for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

This particular offering is meant for 2 to 4 players and is divided across 7 stages, with each stage getting tougher as you progress. Being a deck-building game, your characters will also continue to grow stronger as you face numerous challenges inspired by the ATLA animated series.

‘Aang’s Destiny’ comes packed in a single big box with the front showcasing the iconic Avatar State and the sides featuring the four different elements. The back of the box has a very helpful image depicting the game board and other contents. This game includes a rule book, game board, 4 player boards, 378 cards, 15 divider cards, 87 chip tokens, and more.

Understanding the mechanics of the gameplay was simple enough. After going through the rule book, you placed the game board on a flat surface and made the Token piles. Open Box 1, which is basically the tutorial, and you are good to go. The first stage allows you to play as Aang, Katara, Skokka, and Appa. Depending on the number of players, you can easily play this game with at least two characters.

The goal is to defeat all of the Adversaries and complete all of the Objectives before the Fire Nation captures you. The Fire Nation’s battleship has a tracker that moves on a map placed on the top right of the board. If the ship reaches location 15, it means game over. Take note; two Fire Nation cards need to be drawn when the ship enters location 10. Of course, there are cards that allow you to make the ship move back a spot or two.

A thing I liked about the gameplay is that your characters can’t die or be benched for long periods. Each character has 10 Health Points. Reaching 0 Health Points simply means they have been stunned and they can come back with a full health bar for the next round. Of course, being stunned does come with a penalty. You will need to discard all of the character’s Tokens, half of the cards in your hand, and move the Fire Nation ship forward by 1 on the map.

The Fire Nation cards are resolved at the start of each turn. So, that means that the bad guys get to move first and then your team tries to strike back depending on the cards they have. Defeating certain Adversary cards can give out certain Rewards to help Aang and his crew.

On a player’s turn, they draw five cards from their character deck and can go ahead to use as many cards as possible (depending on the conditions that can be met). The characters come with unique cards related to their skills. For example, sticking to Box 1, Aang can use Water and Air Bending cards while Katara can only use Water Bending cards. 

Another gameplay mechanic I liked was the Ally cards. Having a Bending Ally card allows you to use that Ally’s particular bending skill if you want to. For example, having King Bumi’s Ally card will let you use the Earth Bending support cards. Support cards can also be used if no Ally card is present or when the player’s character doesn’t have the required bending skill. However, the impact of said Bending Support Card won’t be as high as it could have been.

Let’s say you are playing as Sokka and you have the Air Kick Support Card. Due to Sokka not being able to air bend, using the card will only give you 2 Purpose Tokens. However, if the same card was used by Aang or if Sokka’s player had an Air Bender Ally Card, you will also get 2 Attack Tokens along with the 2 Purpose Tokens.

Talking about the Purpose and Attack Tokens, you need them to attack enemies, complete objectives, and buy Support and Item cards. Adversaries also have Health Points. Putting the required number of Attack Tokens on the Adversary card allows you to defeat them. Depending on the Objective card, you will need to place Purpose and even Attack Tokens to complete it.

Purpose Tokens can also be used to buy Bending Support cards and Item cards from the ones placed face up on the game board. The cost of each card is shown in the lower right corner. Buying these cards allows you to strengthen your deck as the game progresses. Some cards need to be played during the events of the upcoming boxes while some need to be retired. For example, the King Bumi Ally card can be played during Boxes 1 and 3. However, it can’t be used for the events that will occur in Boxes 4-7. The card’s availability with regards to the Box you are on is shown in the lower left corner.

Once a player has finished their turn, they will need to discard any cards in their hand along with any unused Purpose and Attack tokens. I liked this particular mechanic because it encouraged players to try and fully utilize what they have instead of hoarding cards and tokens. It’s all about doing the most during your turn before handing things off to a teammate.

As mentioned, working together is a must. I liked how cooperative ‘Aang’s Destiny’ felt because you are encouraged to talk to your teammates to come up with the best strategy fashioned by the cards in hand. There’s no rule against not being able to see another player’s cards. Depending on the cards your teammates have, your role can change every turn. You could find yourself healing another player or attacking an Adversary knowing that your teammate can heal you on their turn.

Being a deck-building game, each player’s decks are supposed to grow stronger with time. This also means that the characters also grow stronger. For example, the character cards for Aang and the crew you begin with in Box 1 will get swapped by character cards that give them certain abilities down the line, essentially leveling them up. Aang unlocks Earth Bending while Katara’s able to heal, etc. Toph joins the crew and so on. The upcoming Boxes also continue to add new game mechanics to keep the gameplay feeling fresh.

Word of advice, try not to work your way toward Box 3 and above if you aren’t confident about your ability to finish Boxes 1 and 2. The game will get tougher and trying to “cheat” your way through the Boxes is likely going to lead to frustration and an incomplete player experience this game has to offer.

I do think the game designers did a good job of adapting the story to such a boardgame style. Seeing certain characters and scenarios pop up made me remember the actual scenes from the show. The Fire Nation ship sailing to location 15 while your team scrambles to find ways to push it back or finish the Adversaries and Objectives does add a nice level of tension. Trying to get better at completing the Boxes and utilizing different characters during the gaming sessions does add a lot of replayability.

If you’re a fan of Avatar the Last Airbender and are friends with other fans, I do recommend checking out ‘Aang’s Destiny’ by The Op Games.

Have you played ATLA ‘Aang’s Destiny’? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

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The Op Games also sent along the Hello Kitty and Friends version of Yahtzee. It’s very cute!

You check my unboxing video below.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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