Description

A competitive semi-anti-co-operative board game of world domination. Warring human faction must choose to keep fighting one another or join forces to defeat the Alien invaders... or both... or side with the aliens to get help in defeating their human foes... or not.

Day of Independence is a grand strategy game for 2 - 5 players set in an alternative steam-punky future. Each player plays a human power trying to take over the world. At some random point in the game Aliens may show up. The Aliens' true intentions are slowly revealed over time, and players must decide whether to fight the Aliens or not. Players choose actions that will make them either Collaborators with the Aliens or Resistance Fighters. The benefits and penalties of each decision depends upon the Aliens' true intentions. Lots of strategy, forced cooperation, and the ever present possibility of a knife in the back makes this game fun and different each time it is played.

You live on an Earth that is a fractured world of rival human powers, struggling against each other for dominance… you know, the usual — like it’s always been. Each unwilling to let other nations just chill.
Culture, art, religion, language, population, and even military might have been reduced to a single quantified unit of influential power, called Influence.
Advances in technology have allowed all economies and industries to rely on just three resources: Ever-Stones, a chewy red resource crystal especially good in stews and as a sealant for nuclear waste sites; Green Avoidium, an aromatic mineral green resource used to put off chores and unpleasant tasks until tomorrow, and; Un-salt, a yellow resource ore best described by what it isn’t — it’s not salt.
Scientist the world over have postulated the possibility of extra-terrestrial life for centuries, but there has never been any proof that Aliens exist and no proof that they are heading to earth on a mothership filled with super-powerful weapons and a willingness to use them.
So don’t worry. There probably aren’t any super advanced Aliens out there with incredible technology that could pose a threat to humankind. Just keep fighting amongst yourselves. If only you could capture enough territory to declare yourself Ruler of Earth, everything would be great. All problems would be solved and you could go to bed at night and sleep the sleep of the just, knowing that you are the winner, ‘cause winning is all that matters.
But, if Aliens came… they might Exterminate the human race, or maybe they would come to Enslave you all. If they knew the Earth contained the Resource of Interest that they have been scouring the Universe for, they might come to Mine the Earth dry. Or maybe they might just come to say ‘hi’, as part of their mission to Explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations. Or maybe capitalism would be their bag, and they would come to Trade, with a special offer, just for you.
But they probably don’t exist, so just keep fighting amongst yourselves.

—description from the designer