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I was fortunate enough to preview and earlier edition of this playbook. Things I enjoy about it.

- It immerses you in a new playable setting in the Shattered Isles

- Heat and entanglements are dealt with in a way that feels authentic to living in the Deathlands, surrounded by a hostile wilderness and the relationships you have with others

- New opportunities for gameplay than the usual chicanery in Doskvol

But most of all, it's amazing that Glass Games has created a playbook and to an extent, an expansion, that feel almost optimistic within this bleak setting. It's fitting that this playbook is part of a Hopepunk bundle. The idea of creating a life and even a community amongst the danger and ruin of the Deathlands is strangely captivating.

I encourage you to give this a try.

The creator used Midjourney AI for the art.

The TL;DR version of my review
Fun. Creates tension well. Surprisingly adaptable to other settings or genres. Don't expect to win-win.

Fugitive is based off of Wretched and Alone by Chris Bisette and draws inspiration from John Harper's Blades in the Dark. You play a "creator" on the run from oppressive authority figures with the "device" you've created. Gameplay involves you trying to elude your pursuers or else they will separate you from your creation and then either jailing you or even worse. I participated in a playtest of an earlier version and it was exactly what I was looking for at the time; a means to dislodge me from my doldrums and spark my creativity.

In Fugitive you are tasked with coming up with a setting concept for your playthrough. The creator offers guidance on factors one should include in the setting. I did three playthroughs where I sketched out a basic setting concept for two and used the Blades in the Dark setting to resolve the story arc of a character I played in a previous campaign. What I enjoyed is that for the most part, any of the events that come up can work for your setting. Sometimes you just have to squint a little bit to make them work. For my third playthrough, I tried to break the game by playing a famous pop star on the run from their manager, record label, and handlers. It was possibly my favorite playthrough as the prompts really seemed to mesh with the feelings and struggles that I imagined the artist feeling being separated from the environment they'd once thrived within.

Now it is possible to "win" this game. In fact I'm told that I'm the only player that was able to successfully complete the game with their character escaping with the "device." But the game’s author is quite clear that this is a game about navigating the experience of a fugitive on the run. Hope is a luxury. Fear and anxiety are commodities in all too great supply. 

Best of luck on your playthrough of Fugitive.