Zoological stacking game Beasts of Balance is out in the UK today

Beasts of Balance, the dexterity game of stacking animals formerly known as Fabulous Beasts (but we don’t talk about that – thanks, Harry Potter), has launched in the UK today.

The debut game from publisher Sensible Object, which raised almost £170,000 on Kickstarter, Beasts of Balance challenges players to work together in order to stack abstractly-shaped animals on top of each other and earn points.

This is complicated by the companion app portion of the gameplay, which sees the various land, sea and sky beasts losing health points if they’re deemed to be less ‘fabulous’ than another creature.

Players can boost the animals’ feeling of self-worth and avoid them becoming endangered or extinct by adding element artefacts to the pile, or making use of specific miracles to retain their points.

There’s also a neat mechanic that allows the faunae to adapt to other habitats or combine with each other to create unique animals.

When the tower inevitably topples and the volcano explodes, the game’s over.

Next month’s issue of Tabletop Gaming magazine (plug: buy your copy now!) features a review of the game – without giving too much away, we found it to be a smart hybrid of the physical dexterity genre and the digital world with surprisingly deep and engrossing core mechanics.

John Lewis and Harrods appear to be the only places currently stocking the core set, which includes six beasts, the plinth base and a selection of other elemental and miracle artefacts.

Beasts of Balance costs £69, and the app is available for free on both iOS and Android – we experienced a few crashes using it on an original iPad Mini, but Sensible Object has assured us a fix has since been issued to rectify the problem.