I played with 4p, and enjoyed the game pretty much. I think the interconnection of these mechanisms - even though not groundbraking - is a great breath of fresh air to the hobby. I didn't find the luck factor to be too high either. my opinons: Pros + great artwork + interesting mechanism of locations and rituals and inner/outer circles + very easy to teach, very simple rules, but engaging and satisfying card interactions + assimetric factions Cons - the score track is horrible :) - even though the rules are simple, games can be long due to card texts - might be "solved" in a few plays, as it seems easy to know all the puzzles. In my opinion, a real gem standing out in the BIG crowd of mediocre games in Essen 2023. Maybe not for really heavy gamers, but a good medium weight euro with lot of enjoyment.
Thank you for making the game! I am always in awe of everyone making board games, and just thinking of how much work it is to design them makes me tired :P
More multiplayer solitaire, a problem with most of the hyped ESSEN titles this year: Evacuation, Kutna hora, Nucleum, Evenfall. Disturbing trend for years already that doesn't seem to be abating. i started with a list of 10 Essen games to check out this year and right now it's down to 'Zhanguo' (remake!), and maybe 'Rats of Wistar.' Even 'White castle' is dropping fast on my want list. Oh well! Money saved!
If you are into high player interaction like they used to be 10 years ago, I absolutely understand how you feel. I think that there are still many games coming out with a decent amount of interaction, but game design changes, and it changes to please the most people possible (I think) If you haven't played Yunnan (10 year old I think), then Spielworxx did a new version of it this year. The game is only interaction, and we really enjoyed it! I also find Kutna Hora to be quite interactive, with timing and looking at what others will be doing is very important. The prices change all the time, both for resources, but also for plots and rights. All because of what the other people are doing. If you don't look at what the others might be planning, or what they are doing, you will probably do worse. Nucleum also has interaction, with blocking, following someone if they do something too good, stopping people from making their own network and so on. The interaction felt a bit more subtle, as there is nothing stopping you from playing in one corner each. The player who plays in Praha will probably win, so if you want to stop that, you need to interact. With that said, I do understand that this is different from the old school euros like El Grande and Hansa Teutonica, but to say all of these arer multiplayer solitaire, I also do not agree with! :)
Wow your final scores were lower than I had anticipated after watching other reviews. Might be a try before you buy game for me now... thanks for the review!
Thank you so much for your honest review. I had heard raves about this theme and perhaps the gameplay. But any area control is not my jam. This will be a hard pass for me.
If u want the luck factor to be lower.... everytime during the game get cards draw one more and remove one... at the start of each round draw 2 more and remove 2, problem solved
There is a rule that lets you draw two more cards in the first round, but I'm not sure how much it will change! The luck will not be a problem for many, but I'm usually no fan of this kind of luck! We also never house rule games :)
Thats for the first round, just do it every round, an extra solution could be...always put 3 cards open from de draw deck... you can now take a card from the open ones if u pay a resource, or maybe a powerstone token... to take more of them.... these are some things that reduces the luck factor with 20% or even more
@@BoardGamingRamblings 💙 Your review perspectives helped me understand this is likely not for me. I'll be very curious to see if you explore The Old King's Crown.
I played with 4p, and enjoyed the game pretty much. I think the interconnection of these mechanisms - even though not groundbraking - is a great breath of fresh air to the hobby. I didn't find the luck factor to be too high either.
my opinons:
Pros
+ great artwork
+ interesting mechanism of locations and rituals and inner/outer circles
+ very easy to teach, very simple rules, but engaging and satisfying card interactions
+ assimetric factions
Cons
- the score track is horrible :)
- even though the rules are simple, games can be long due to card texts
- might be "solved" in a few plays, as it seems easy to know all the puzzles.
In my opinion, a real gem standing out in the BIG crowd of mediocre games in Essen 2023. Maybe not for really heavy gamers, but a good medium weight euro with lot of enjoyment.
Glad you enjoyed it :D Nothing makes me happier than someone having fun with a game! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Thank you guys for the review :)
Thank you for making the game! I am always in awe of everyone making board games, and just thinking of how much work it is to design them makes me tired :P
I like a lot of the games from this publisher so it's on my watch list. I'll definitely try and pick it up at some point. Thank you for your review.
More multiplayer solitaire, a problem with most of the hyped ESSEN titles this year: Evacuation, Kutna hora, Nucleum, Evenfall. Disturbing trend for years already that doesn't seem to be abating. i started with a list of 10 Essen games to check out this year and right now it's down to 'Zhanguo' (remake!), and maybe 'Rats of Wistar.' Even 'White castle' is dropping fast on my want list. Oh well! Money saved!
If you are into high player interaction like they used to be 10 years ago, I absolutely understand how you feel. I think that there are still many games coming out with a decent amount of interaction, but game design changes, and it changes to please the most people possible (I think)
If you haven't played Yunnan (10 year old I think), then Spielworxx did a new version of it this year. The game is only interaction, and we really enjoyed it!
I also find Kutna Hora to be quite interactive, with timing and looking at what others will be doing is very important. The prices change all the time, both for resources, but also for plots and rights. All because of what the other people are doing. If you don't look at what the others might be planning, or what they are doing, you will probably do worse.
Nucleum also has interaction, with blocking, following someone if they do something too good, stopping people from making their own network and so on. The interaction felt a bit more subtle, as there is nothing stopping you from playing in one corner each. The player who plays in Praha will probably win, so if you want to stop that, you need to interact.
With that said, I do understand that this is different from the old school euros like El Grande and Hansa Teutonica, but to say all of these arer multiplayer solitaire, I also do not agree with! :)
That a thing for 5 years Already... white castle is a great game, tight interactive and easy to learn... a bit like Bruxelles card game
Wow your final scores were lower than I had anticipated after watching other reviews. Might be a try before you buy game for me now... thanks for the review!
Thanks for watching :D Glad you got something out of it. I think this one will be a big hit for many, but didn't end up blowing us away! Good game!
That's sad that the luck factor is so high. Looks like I'll probably pass on this one. Thanks!
It's on the edge of being too much for me, so if you mind luck the same way as I do, then you might agree!
Thank you so much for your honest review. I had heard raves about this theme and perhaps the gameplay. But any area control is not my jam. This will be a hard pass for me.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching :D
If u want the luck factor to be lower.... everytime during the game get cards draw one more and remove one... at the start of each round draw 2 more and remove 2, problem solved
There is a rule that lets you draw two more cards in the first round, but I'm not sure how much it will change!
The luck will not be a problem for many, but I'm usually no fan of this kind of luck!
We also never house rule games :)
Thats for the first round, just do it every round, an extra solution could be...always put 3 cards open from de draw deck... you can now take a card from the open ones if u pay a resource, or maybe a powerstone token... to take more of them.... these are some things that reduces the luck factor with 20% or even more
Martin is no longer an expert on this channel? After Spiel, and after "In Bed With..." he's now glemt? Pffft. 😄
Haha :P Never "glemt", and we will try to let him have a guest appearance again ;)
@@BoardGamingRamblings 💙 Your review perspectives helped me understand this is likely not for me. I'll be very curious to see if you explore The Old King's Crown.
It is so ugly. I will pass for this one although a lot of reviewers rave about it
Art will always be subjective, hehe! I think it looks great :D