Quick Review: River Wild

1 player
Designer: Steve Aramini
Artist: Milan Zivkovic
Publisher: Button Shy Games

About The Game

Steven Aramini has made a name for himself with the ‘Opolis trilogy for Button Shy games, and now he is presenting another tile laying game, this time about a river with inhabited by mystical creatures. Is it unique enough to stand out?

Gameplay

The basis will sound very familiar. You start with a card, which is the top of the river, and you have a hand of 3 cards to chose and place. I promise I will stop making ‘Opolis references, because the similarities end there. Each card has rivers, lands and mountains, and you need to match them (mountains can be matched to and by either). Each card can be placed directly below or half shifted from the card above, and the goal is to created completely enclosed islands along the way.

On each land section, there will be either one of 4 animals, or one scoring condition. When you created an enclosed island, called a protected land, you score that at the end of the game. The lowest amount for the biggest protected land, and the higher for all others.

Components

As usual, Button Shy has great card quality and the snazzy little wallet it comes in. Iconography is pretty clear, and the rules, that are sometimes an issue with the company, are clear enough and I think it leaves little room for questions this time around.

The artwork is something else though. While the theme is not super unique, the decision to go with striking funky palette was absolutely a win here. Milan Zivkovic was able to transform a fairly mundane setting into this cool little world that you look and know it’s River Wild.

Conclusion

It’s hard to review River Wild in isolation, as it carries a lot of DNA from other games from the same publisher and it’s against a line of very good solo games. But, on its own, it’s a super fun and light game. It is a completely tactical one, as you need to be quick to evaluate the opportunities you will be able to actually accomplish. Placement is not trivial, as the positioning and be awkward at times, forcing you into less than optimal plays.

But, inserting it into the line, it does have some issues with replayability. Yes, there is and there will be expansions for it to increase longevity. But, on its own, even though each game will be unique, the overall arc is mostly the same. Luckily, I think this is pretty much the only criticism of the game. It’s cool, beautiful, quick and fun.

Score: 7.5 / 10