Daybreak / e-Mission Review | Can a Board Game Save the World?
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
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As a graduating MA in global environment studies, I have a strong urge to get this game and work with my professors to develop a seminar around it.
do it!
The worst they can say is "No"
Do it!
That sounds like a great idea! Go for it!
Do it, do it!
Always love the deeper takes beyond the board games that your videos provide.
I've played about 7 sessions of Daybreak. Very much enjoy getting it to the table every time.
Inspiring hope, centering collective action, collaboration, and responsibility are where we have to start and I’m glad there’s at least one board game that gets that 😊
Great review!
I absolutely love this channel, including the outside of board game contexts and discussions. It's great how seamlessly you manage to weave in enough about the mechanics, the review itself, and the bigger context.
Personally I appreciate this game's optimism. I'm sort of getting the impression daybreak assumes the phasing out of capitalism, which is notoriously next to impossible to imagine, but fuck it, I can begin with that assumption for the purpose of the game in the same way I can imagine colonial powers getting smashed apart by the gods in spirit island.
Optimism is necessary to progressivism, in the end. You have to have an idea of what things should and could be like. Sometimes this means creating media set in a hypothetical better world, and the fact that it hurts means it's doing its job.
It definitely does not assume the phasing out of capitalism, it's just that economics are just below the level of abstraction which is modeled directly by the game. Your limited hand represents your limited capital, project cards embody tradeoffs (like decarbonization almost always increases energy demand), and some crises represent capital working against you. I mean it's true that the central premise that governments can set policy is not strictly capitalism, but that's true in the real world too, there are no purely capitalist societies with no government regulation.
@@AdrianQuark fair enough!
I enjoy this game a lot on BGA and IRL. My primary criticism involves the consistency of the difficulty. It tends towards the easier side, but once you're familiar with the mechanics, half the games feel swingy, almost on rails towards certain victory/defeat. Not an inherent design flaw by any means, but crunchier gamers should be aware.
I think you're right that it can be a little swingy, but also, co-ops generally are. Kinda inherent to the genre.
Did not know it was on BGA thanks for the info 🎉
This review was awesome. I really can't understate how much this meant to me. I had my own copy of the IPCC First Assessment report in 1990 which I later lent out (sigh). I was among a handful of students who were the first graduates at my University majoring in Environmental Studies (to be fair my other two majors were history and economics; followed by masters work in financial history). I was really surprised that a couple of games really covered my areas of focus were published recently. Hegemony and Daybreak. Both ridiculously well done and most surprisingly well received by so many. Who would have ever anticipated that crowd reaction? I would put these two games proudly next to one of my other favorite educational board games "Acquire". Ironic huh? Some games should never be purged from your board game collection due to their educational value and I think when this gets added to mine, that it should never leave on similar principles. Sorry I didn't back it at first but lately I've been a bit more gun shy on backing games and wanted to see how it did in reviews after it was published. I'm not sure I recall you speaking to whether this scales to four players well during your review. If you have any insights on the best player counts let us know. Thanks! I haven't played Hegemony yet so now I'm wondering if somehow it worked in mankind's impact on the environment into its design. The owners, vs workers vs managers theme may have left out that entirely. Perhaps that would have just been too much to expect out of a single game. I'm not sure if their "Crisis and Control" expansion or core game would have covered environmental impacts. Its ok, we can cover it across multiple games.
The QR code thing is something I haven't seen before, yet it makes so much sense I'm stunned I haven't.
Reminds me of the Wingsong app for Wingspan that plays the calls of the birds on the cards.
Reminds me of the Wingsong app for Wingspan that plays the calls of the birds on the cards.
This was an utterly brilliant and powerful review! I have a copy coming to review myself and I cannot wait! Thank you for your genuine passion on climate change too that was so good to see
This is the only video review channel that regularly feels like your on the same level as Space Biff's written reviews. You two are absolutely brilliant and I appreciate you. Also this game looks excellent and very needed.
My two favorites, right there.
Great review! It really resonated with what I've enjoyed about this game. I was part of the Kickstarter (so some amount of confirmation bias may be present) and have played it several times with my wife and teenage son. She really enjoys the cooperative aspect and that it is a game where the actions are establishing public policies and not grabbing military, economic, or political power. My son likes it because he can repeatedly (and slightly winkingly) tell everyone else about his region's outsized impact on saving the world, "We did it! and by we, I mean mostly me!"
Thanks for your comment. Many teenagers struggle with ecoanxiety and it's good to know that gaming can help them get knowledge and confidence to face what's going to happen in their life time. A cooperative game also seems to adress better our shared experience and help to support relevant political changes.
Thank you for a great, informative and inspiring review with perspectives. I backed Daybreak on Kickstarter (i think it was ks) and i really love the game and the way it shows hope. I like the storytelling in the game. When ending a round we let every country explain what progress they have done. It is really fun to create stories about how the world could be. Im not a role player gamer, but in this game it comes so naturally, we gets carried away by green the possibilities and opportunities we created.
We already surpassed mean 1.5 c rise in the last 12 months. :/ look it up
This game mostly shares its theme with Gigawatt, which I really enjoy. Gigawatt has a lot fewer additional theme, focusing almost exclusively on supply/demand and on emissions, but it changes the feel of it by making it competitive. While I really like that Daybreak is cooperative and I plan on giving it a shot, the cynical grumpy man in me likes that painfully accurate depiction of Gigawatt that it is a competitive race about saving your own ass and making money.
That being said while Gigawatt really nails the intricacies of the energy transition, I feel Daybreak does a far better job on the theme of actually stopping climate change.
This. Just this. Thank you, NPI for the continued deep dives and sincere board game conversations. Love it.
I really want to try the game to save the world but it's almost too real
This channel is freaking awesome. Brilliant review, brilliant segue into climate reality.
We can enjoy power fantasies of fighting monsters and using magic, but it turns out hopeful fantasies like global cooperation against climate change are even better. But it does reflect some things about the real world, even though its abstracted! One evident in your video is that reducing emissions from energy generation is much easier than reducing them from any other source. (Each power starts with the technology to do so and can ramp that up fairly easily.) And as someone with not as much time to play as I'd like, I've still managed to get in close to dozen games of this (many of them solo) since my copy arrived. Thanks for articulating many of my thoughts about the game.
Many magical creatures are also using magic to protect the environment too.
I love that the mechanics reinforce the idea that you need to develop a plan ASAP and kinda stick to it. At least keep building on what you have learned. And share freely between nations.
But the fiction meant that after my one playtest (pre-release) I found myself quite depressed that night. We had won the game, worked together as global powers and saved the world. But IRL I cannot imagine governments working together and prioritising this issue so honestly. I cannot imagine a world in which I can effect the sort of changes that I did in this game.
Maybe I need to work on my imagination. 😞
It's what I felt playing Shadowrun : rpg with my former friends. I was wondering why they were supporting radical mesures as characters but had trouble to implements small changes in real life. I found new activist friends later on that lacked the gaming experience and ended up bridging my interest between friend groups. Some of the new people I ended up playing with were from a scientific background and were very efficient to make points in games, but their logic was very instrumental and the game experience was less social than experimented as a team project. Daybreak seems to bring a political dimension which can makes us experience frustration and also political repression IRL. With social networks, you can look for environmental projects in your region and often they are linked to other projects. You end up getting notified as they look for volunteers. Just to like and share their initiatives can help bring more visibility and awarness on issues we collectively face. For example, with the forest fires last year, scientists from around the world joined forces to develop more knowledge and share practices. There seem to be a post-covid shift in the way science is made.
Usually governements work with businesses to help citizens get jobs. We can support b-corps that are ecoresponsible and secure more jobs in climate changes related areas. Orient our collective purchase power with buycott and boycott. Often, we get depressed to disinved behaviors before to reinvest in an adjusted one. Keep on.
Thank you for this review. We picked this up and played at four players today. We embraced the fundamental fiction as you suggested.
I can say without hesitation that it was one of, if not the, greatest co-op game experience our group has ever had.
Each decision felt consequential and tight, we had to really communicate to create synergies, and we found ourselves saying things like “we have to go all in on getting rid of this industry... Even if that puts some communities at risk.” Not typical table talk.
We think this game is a masterpiece. Thank you for brining it to our attention.
While the theme doesn't excite me ( it doesn't put me off either) the mechanics look interesting and I like the ability to vary the difficulty. Design is also clean making it easy to see what's what. I think I'll be buying this one.
For full realism the game needs a traitor mechanic where players are incentivised to keep dirty power around for their own personal point supply.
The problem is that cooperative games with a traitor don't work when all players are traitors, so this level of realism just won't work as a game...
After watching this video I ended up buying it. Just played it with some friends and we had a blast!
Huge Kim Stanley Robinson vibes game. Thanks for exploring the poltics.
I highly recommend The Ministry for the Future to anyone who hasn't read it, it's a brutal yet ultimately hopeful read.
oh man, an ecoterrorist/children of kali 5th player expansion sounds scary!@@emmaplaysgreen2849
Don't forget his other books such as New York 2140 and his Science in the Capital series/Green Earth. Also highly recommended.
Thanks, I didn't knew about him. I already read some of Philip K. Dick novels though. I imagine his works will be adapted into movies too, at some point.
I've not played with the extra difficulty options which address the only concern I have with the game, tiny though it be but even so, it's such a great game. Meaningful, elegant and genuinely fun (soooo combo-y). Great review!
This looks like a fun game. Reminds me of Earth Rising: 20 Years to Transform Our World, another board game about global cooperation to save the planet from a climate crysis. Might be worth having a look! Would be nice for more people to hear about such positive games! :D
Well put. Hopefully this game inspires engagement over hopelessness. Things can certainly seem bleak, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't swim for shore. Thanks again!
I now strangely feel both depressed and hopeful at the same time. Never knew a board game review would move me.
Man, that's probably one of your most powerful video to date. Inspiring (like Daybreak seemingly want us to feel) and empowering.
The other side to the fume covered Amazon van ( the contractors in their non-descript vehicles) being intentionally provided the most inefficient navigation system which forces them to drive hampered routes so that they can never meet efficiency goals for packages being delivered quickly because Amazon would have to pay them a bonus for it. This is a thing.
But what if I'm already subscribed!?
cross your fingers and there's also patreon
Probably my fave games of the last 6 months. Thanks for the clever review!
Agree strongly about the theme and.. emergent? Intentional? Whatever it should be called narrative design of this game.
One thing I did wish to emphasize in the comments (besides complimenting the review and engaging for the algo) is that this is my single favorite way I've seen a game handle tableau style engine building.
Its engaging and provides excellent tension as to when you cover a column to change its action. You're able to pivot while not being punished for investment providing you plan properly, there are ample ways to smooth out luck of the draw but you can acheive greater economy if you chose to fly a bit more by the seat of your pants.
I think my only critisisms are that it is a bit multi player solitaire (though as you mentioned there are ways to share cards/tokens and I'd argue the discussions during/after the game help as well) and that the game can be punishing if you fall behind and don't keep pace (pandemic is similar and the game will end quickly if this happens so not a huge negative).
Nice work as always :)
Limiting your tableau to always 5 cards is pretty smart, it keeps the complexity manageable so you won't forget to use any actions and adds difficult decisions and opportunities for clever play to maximize the use of only 5 actions.
Great review and sounds like a great game, hopefully it gets buzz and brings more attention to the urgent matter. Having it available already on BGA is fantastic also!
My vote is for Efka for world leader, would do 10x a better job than a lot of them.
I've read and watched in a few places that one thing that modern generations have to do is believe in the concept of Utopia again, unironically. Not because we think a perfect Utopia is possible, but because there needs to be hope and motivation for people to rally around rather than cynicism and despair.
I've played Daybreak twice and fell in love with it because of just how hopeful and aspirational it is.
Environmental sciences are quite pragmatic, that helps to break out of the belief in Utopia / cynism and despair axis.
great review! thank you:)
also the challenge cards just sold this game to me hehe
Game looks amazing, appreciate how much work the developers put into their website for background information! Thanks for the thoughtful review NPI :)
They didn’t even mention that all the components are designed to be as low-carbon as possible. Board games have such a huge opportunity to be zero-carbon “cradle-to-cradle” products, and yet we still put up with big dumb plastic trays filled with plastic bits. Huge props to the designers and CMYK games 👏
We (sort of) did! 13:27 is the timestamp.
I really enjoy your in-depth talks about the underlying themes of board games and their implications for real life. In my opionion you and your channel achieve this like no other :)
Great fuckin speech!!! People need to hear more of those.
Also the game looks hela fun, heard about it on su&sd thunder road vedetta, and went here, for sure gonna buy it on the future
After listing all the things that you are tired of at 10:50, just gotta connect the common disease that causes all those symptoms ( it begins with a C) and then say "I wanna get rid of that".
And then you're a good 100 steps on the way of realizing the solution, comrade.
Get organized!
Watching the section on green tech exports just a few months after it came out now that the US government has passed heavy tariffs on Chinese made green tech is, ah, well, uh, something
A helpful, and passionate, review. Thanks!
reminds me of CO2 the board game. what my concern might be with Daybreak, how is the replayability? from your review, it looks like that for example if you play it with the same friends a 3rd time, everyone knows the combos and you just pick who goes for what and stack the bonuses. or is it not like that?
There are hundreds of project cards so you cannot plan on any specific combo being achievable during any game. You really have to be tactical and make the best use of what you draw at any time. If anything, it's a little too variable and hard to plan ahead.
@@AdrianQuark thanks for the clarification :)
Are the players asimmetric? I feel like part of the "cooperation fiction" feeling weird is also all players being equal. The 4 different "factions" mentioned are completely different in terms of carbon emissions and natural resources available. The contrast between a country like the US or China producing the highest carbon footprint, versus Latin America (part of "the rest of the world") having LITERALLY the Amazon we talk so much about (and Lithium)
Its not a Chess symmetry game. Each player has different starting cards. Resilience Shields , Communities in Crisis and Emissions totals to remove.
Majority world and China need more help from other players as their energy demands increase at (2X 3X) speed and they already have more Carbon cubes per turn on the board to clear.
Loved this video!
And this is why I want to support you guys. For reviews like these, they are awesome!
The Smile. ❤
Such a shame that hope for the future seems to be the best path forward, I was hoping that raging anger at all the greed would get us there.
Has anyone in Europe been able to find an English language retail copy yet?
You've given me hope for my next replay. A "next play" was already planned, meaning, I definitely wanted to give this game some other tries but... and you've summed it up pretty clearly at the beginning but for some reason I didn't really realized it during our first play, it starts fast, brutally fast, that's obvious, but because of that, it ends relatively fast and equally brutally. For us, it came almost as a surprise, it was anticlimactic (no pun intended). Like, omg omg omg, done... it fell flat... not the gameplay.. the story arc.. the narrative.
Perhaps, pointing out that, from the get go, in four turn we loose the game, this would set the expectation for the players and make a difference. Also, it's possible that it was our cards combination and the way the crisis came out that made it feel that way. We won our first game, it was a challenge but not that much, perhaps that was it.
In any case, you've given me hope for our next game.
With all the cards to play, I imagine it's motivating the players to improve. It's not like we would get out of creative ideas to fight climate changes.
Yeah, it's not that the gameplay is not exciting, on the contrary (might be part of the problem actually).. the card play is nice.. it provides nice opportunity to pull nice rewarding combos and all..
Again, what I pointed out is the "story arc"... let's take Pandemic for instance..
It starts rather smoothly, we have rather clear puzzle to figure out. We have some time to figure out our stategy, how to play our own character and the chosen team of caracter together.. then it starts to intensify.. sometimes theres busts of intensity with, if the players are lucky/good some respite, a beacon of light... and then we see the game end coming (either in a good way or badly).
For daybreak its more
(Start) Holy f what is going on
(Mid) How is this possible
(During last turn) Oh! The game is ending after this turn, we got it! (Or we dont).
It might (very sadly) be a bit too thematic.
Anyways, after 4-5 plays now... tgis is definitely something I mention, and point out to new play... "ok, so, be aware.. it'll feel and go that way..."
I have a fledgling Board game YT channel, and I’ve just found yours. I think I’ll delete mine…as it will never be half as good. Convinced me to find copy of Daybreak too.
Bollocks to that. Just watched one of your videos, your presentation skills are great - you sound very engaging. Keep it up!
@@NoPunIncluded Appreciate it.
Thank you so much. This is absolutely beautiful.
Reminds me of Anno 2070.
The game idea is interesting. But I'd like to see some mechanism that makes cooperation dificult. Perhaps adding a ecnomy system, or individual player objectives that get in the way of helping each other. So that you have to balance working together with the others, while still trying to advance your own agenda.
Great review. I’ve played this solo and with 4 players and love everything about it. The solo mode doesn’t feel like you’re only experiencing a lite version of the game either.
unforming mars
Re-terraforming Earth?
Anti-terraforming Terra Firma?
I hope so
That's Science!
Is there a way to buy the game in English in Europe without importing it from the US? I would love to show the game to my friends but German is not really an option
I believe a wider distribution will happen sometime later this year, but it's worth asking the publisher. We don't really liase with publishers so no idea really.
Publisher here! Our UK distributor, VR Distribution, has ordered copies, so it should be available soon.
i want this game so bad
This is brilliant
Truely like your analysis! And the point of view of this game seems fascinating.
It is either we do it by cooperation, or we do it anyway after cataclysmics consequences of inaction... and at that point, it'll surely be by dictature.
But if you can work out how to save the world pretty much every time, where's the challenge and long term interest in actually playing?
This is a reminder of how great this channel is. This is a board game review but really it's so much more than that. I'd never heard of this game but I might pick it up now because the art design and aesthetics look clean and really well done and the central concept of the game is genius frankly. This is the kind of co-op game that deserves to be a mainstream hit like Pandemic.
Wonderful review! I have my copy, but our group has yet to play it. This inspired me to make it my pick for this weekend. Can't wait!
Interesting how they package it as attainable IF the world can be motivated and work together. Which is an IF that is purely theoretical. We had a good run.
ruclips.net/video/g9p5VKd8VkE/видео.html
folklore
I really enjoyed this review! Looking forward to playing my copy.
Absolutely amazing video like always! I want to buy it as soon as it becomes available not overpriced in Europe
I follow your channel because i love these deep dives. The use of critical theory, if you call it that, it's the forte of your channel for me
Bravo~♡
Your negative reviews tend to be quite a bit longer 😂
Thanks again for your thoughts
You play this game with Donald Trump, you lose it in two rounds.
✌
I love your reviews. Definitely Ted Talk worthy.
Really problematic that this game uses nuclear power plants as “green“ and does not incorporate its dangers (waste and catastrophes) neither as negative effects nor on the homepage!
Yeah, nuclear power is not a green option at all. Luckily is very expensive to install and with renewables outpricing nuclear and coal, both these industries are struggling at the moment. I suspect there will more such technologies likes this included in the game so I'm very curious to see a much deeper dive into the game.
I think it's fair since the game has to keep its focus. The risks of nuclear power don't even register at the level of abstraction this game uses, and if you're worried about realism the problem is more likely that alternatives like wind and solar power in the game are too good. In the real world nuclear power is essential to decarbonization, while in the game it's not. So if they added some additional disadvantage to using nuclear power in the game it would be even less realistic.
Fantastic video. Just lovely stuff all around. Good on ya.
Ok perfect! Let's speed run this one....
Let's boil the sea!
The documentary 2040 as a board game. Love it
Thank you
AH! This sounds delightful
Thank you
No Pun Included should review the 2013 game Tomorrow, a cynical (but sadly plausible) scenario. It strikes me as naive to publish a boardgame on climate control with optimistic outcomes included when we already know the issues and the solutions and aren't taking action already. The game isn't going to move anyone's needle who isn't already engaged. It's a comfort blanket. What a game should do, to be more effective, is scare the crap out of people with the consequences of inaction - water conflicts, heat death zones, crop failures, sea level flooding, mass migration etc etc. Try and make a game about surviving in a world like that.
Some younger players might develop interrest on that topic. Scaring people can be very demoralising. It's necessary to educate and to capacitate.
Please continue to be Efka with Us !!!
Amazing video. Thank you
Amazing work guys. Terrific piece ✊🏻👏🏻👏🏻
So happy to see this game getting more review coverage and discussion.
I love your tirade!!! I feel the same!
Thank you so much for this!
Hmmm I'm looking for a critique and not a review. Honestly this looks great, but I would like to delve deeper into the actual technologies and politics represented in the game. The game is very northern hemisphere coded and I would like to see the imaginary space of the game to include other countries partaking in solving climate change as well. Pretty hard to see the USA and Europe to change their ways. Especially with the genocide occurring in Gaza atm and their complicity in keeping it going.
The politics in the game are pretty abstracted but with more players the entire world is represented. The four players are US, China, Europe, and Majority World.
@@AdrianQuark Yes I know, hence the comment on being northern hemisphere coded.
I am so happy to see you guys bringing us more reviews! I miss the more regular uploads. You both are the best in the game at these reviews!
That little dog at @10:50 is also tired.
Another great one!
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Yes.
Very interesting one!
That is one good video!