Onirim, Sylvion, Castellion, Nautilion, Aerion, Stellarion, Cyberion, Urbion
Together, these games compose the brilliant solo-play creation of genius game designer Shadi Torbey, The Oniverse.
Released in the US by Z-Man Games (through Aerion) and inPatience (Stellarion forward), the series has had a slightly twisty publication history.
The first release was Onirim, in a 2010 basic edition. Then came Equilibrion in 2012. This was later renamed Urbion due to an earlier game with a trademark claim.
Then Torbey started over: An expanded 2nd edition of Onirim (seen above), released in 2014. After that, the games came out in similar, expanded-from-the-get-go, editions: Sylvion in early 2015; Castellion in late 2015; Nautilion in 2016; Aerion in 2019; Stellarion in 2022; and Cyberion in 2023. An expanded 2nd edition of Urbion (seen above) was released in 2024.
The wonderful, surrealist dream art on all of the games is by Élise Plessis. You can see more of her work on her (French-language) web site.
The game boxes are engineering marvels, and works of art in their own right. The foldouts and die-cuts – decorated in copious artwork – serve no practical function, but they kickstart the process of immersing you into the world of the games from the moment you lift the lid.
The ninth and final game in the series, Ultimion, has no release date yet, but there are five- or ten-thousand of us gamers champing at the bit to get our hands on it.
At which point I may very well disappear for a solid week or two, playing a marathon, multi-game, campaign-style romp through the ‘Verse. I just hope I can bring myself to stop playing long enough to eat.
