Review – Let's Game More

1-4 Players

Designer: Costa, Rôla

Artist: Marina Costa

Publisher: PYTHAGORAS

Pythagoras brings us the third game in the Cinco Quinas line, full of Portuguese themes, cubes and odd rules. But, as an official hater of olives, does this leave a bad taste or does it flow well like a good Portugese olive oil?

How to Play

You play a number of turns depending on the player count, and each round starts with revealing a new nation card. Then players play cycles, once with each player leading.

Each cycle starts with players drawing five cards from their deck and playing two face down on their board, discarding the rest. Then, they go around revealing a card and activating its action. But, here’s the fun part, you activate the card you revealed and every card that shares it’s symbol.

The actions are pretty standard production business. Get olives, convert them into olive oil, get money, or use those to get cards from the display, which can be advanced actions or scoring opportunities.

After each player revealed both cards, the two cards on the top are discarded, the ones on the bottom go up, and play continues.

With two players, some cards are removed and there is a third “ghost” player that players take turns adding cards so they always contribute two additional symbols.

Solo has a dedicated automa deck that adds multiple symbols and takes cards from the display, but it’s not really an opponent, the game is a beat your own score deal.

Rules and Components

Here things get complicated on both ends. Let’s start with the rules. For the most part they are well laid out and complete, explaining well each card type and the flow of the game. I don’t think the wording is the best, but after a couple of reads I was able to play without major issues.

My biggest problem is with the alternative game modes, meaning 2 player and solo. The changes on the setup are clear, but the flow is often described with vague instructions and implied rulings. For example, for solo it explains that the automa plays the top card each turn, but it is not specified where they are played. Also, for solo, it’s said that it’s setup as a 2 player game, but there is no clear indication that the “ghost” extra player is not used.

Components are for the most part pretty good. The cards are of great quality, the symbology is big and clear, and it has that specific artsy / minimalistic look that is characteristic of the series. Once setup, it is a big sprawling for the box size, but it does have a good table presence.

But there are a couple of usability issues. For example, there are a few types of cards with the same back, expected as it is a deck builder after all, but they are just differentiated by their backs, which already is not idea for color-blind people. But some, for example the blue player and the grey special action / scoring, are hard to tell apart depending on the light.

Score: 7/10

Gameplay

Does this olive oil feel Greece-y to you?

Half of this game is pretty standard production game: get cubes, transform into different cubes, cash in for cards or money, get points. It’s a streamlined and clean implementation of a familiar mechanism that will make a lot of people feel at home.

But where it shines is on the deckbuilding and card playing side of it. It’s a game where reading your opponents is not good, it’s crucial for wining. Timing well and paying attention to what everyone else is doing creates these huge turns where you can be super efficient, but no opportunities exists in a vacuum. It’s not just playing the most common symbols, it’s being ready with the right resources for when those opportunities arise. This is a wonderful style of table interaction, where you get out of your own situation and are required to notice everyone’s game, but nothing is taken, it’s all positive and adding.

Score: 9/10

Theme and Art

Marina Costa has this particular clean, cartoon-y and very whimsical style that became the heart of the Cinco Quinas line, but here is where it’s displayed more and with more details. It’s very welcoming and warm, and makes you want to dive in this world.

And this ties together with the love that Pythagoras usually puts in with their Portuguese themes. It’s not just a game about olives and olive oil, but specific regions and traditions of that country. I may be biased as it is my heritage, but every small detail is evocative. It’s not a heavy handed theme, not in the slightest, but it’s seen and felt.

Score: 8/10

Conclusion

Oliva packs a punch from its small box, threading a nice line between familiar mechanisms and unique implementations. It’s a game that requires table awareness and promotes an environment where players are present at all times, at all turns, always seeing what’s next, what card each one took, what moves they are making and setting up to make. But that is not overwhelming as turns come and go blazing fast. It’s simple, but very rich.

And that is allied with all the Portuguese love that is a big characteristic of Pythagoras and the Cinco Quinas line. As the game is fluid, it allows you to appreciate the theme and feel yourself at home and sink in all the cubic oily goodness. But not the olives, those black cubes are gross and everyone knows it. Or maybe it’s just me…

Score: 8/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Tend

November 21, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-6 Players
Designer: Max Anderson, Zac Dixon, Austin Harrison, Toby Sarnelle
Artist: Kelly Nakamura
Publisher: IV Studio

IV Studios comes to us with a “Roll and Write” which gets pretty much everything traditional about the style and goes a different route: the box is huge, there are dice but you never roll them, and there are even scratch-off cards. But do those all crazy ideas form a beautiful garden or is it just a pile of mulch?

How To Play

Don’t be fooled by the huge box, the game is quite straight-forward in terms of rules. You will play for 12 rounds, each round will start with basically some upkeep, like replacing friend bonus cards, refreshing the action row and ticking up your crops and animals.

But the main focus on the game is in the action phase, where from the 5 available action cards, each player chooses two and executes them in any order. There are four main actions in the game. Tending allows a player to till soil and also plant and water crops in your garden. Fishing allows you to roll dice and fish in the coordinates rolled in any available fish spot. Cutting and mining takes you to the scratch-off card and just scratching an available spot, which will give you resources, but sometimes also additional actions and level ups.

In Tend, any resource gained must be immediately spent, either on various upgrades and awards, sold to the commissary, or stored in your bins with cute and super handy stamps included in the game. Items in storage, awards gained and three end of game scoring opportunities will give you points.

Rules and Components

Starting easy, rules are really clear, well laid out and structured with plenty of illustrations to make sure that all areas of gameplay are clear. The only downside is that the rules present all components in details before explaining what they do, so starting off can feel a bit daunting, but once rules start going it’s easy to parse what everything is and how it works.

Components are, well, excessive, in a good way. I mentioned the huge box, and its goal is to house every component comfortably. It’s not that there are too many components, but the game does include an obscene amount of pads and scratch-offs so you can play and play and play. There is SOME overkill, like the stamps in the pens, but absolutely nothing feels extra or unnecessary, and everything comes together to create a beautiful play experience.

Also, the components feel super premium. The pens are nice, the dice are nice, the pads are nice, the cards are of amazing quality. Every upgrade feels like a quality of life upgrade, they have a purpose and do make the overall feel better.

Score: 9.5/10

Tend is the type of game I greatly appreciate in terms of how they handle the rules. The rules themselves are actually simple, nothing too fancy or out of place. From the first gameplay and every single experience since, I felt like every single turns goes like a breeze, everything just clicks in place, the actions feel fluid and you can see the many lines of play the four actions will allow you.

Gameplay

But, let’s be clear: this is a thinky game. There is a lot to keep your eyes on, lots to plan and everything feels interconnected in an interesting way. The game heavyness lies completely on how you handle your opportunities, how to get the most out of them, and just keep track of everything you want to do. The path for each of the 3 scoring goals is multi-stepped and requires you to hinge your opportunities and have a clear plan ahead.

Score: 10

Theme and Art

IV Studios chose a very video-gamey feel to Tend. The icons are simple, there is plenty of pixelated icons and fonts, and everything is super bright, but somewhat minimalistic. Each individual component seems to be created to maximize usability and simplicity. That being said, everything comes together in an incredibly cohesive package that just looks good and thought out.

This also ties in really well with the theme and feel the game puts out. It’s a light theme, a futuristic farming simulator. That’s pretty much it. But it’s not about depth, it’s about how it makes you feel. It’s a friendly game, with friendly challenges and friendly looks. It’s, overall, a feel good package. For me, it did make me feel good playing, even when my brain was going into overdrive.

Score: 9/10

Conclusion

I was not sure of what to expect from Tend, and I purposefully went in blind. It’s a game of contradictions: it’s a game that is both excessive and minimalistic, easygoing and brain burning, easy to play but hard to play well.

But very rarely a game is so consistent in making me smile. Even in all contradictions, every aspect of Tend clicks and ticks like every single element in this game is on the right place, in the right amount, and it’s all up to the player to make the most out of it.

Every aspect of the game is super friendly, from the visuals, themes, mechanisms, components. It’s a heavy game in terms of tactics and strategies, but it feels way lighter. It will make you work and sweat your neurons to do well, but it never feels oppressive or unachievable. It’s a 60-90 minutes game that feels like a 15-30 minute game. And every single game so far I looked at the completed session and I wanted to just go one more time, try something else, something different, discover more.

Score: 9.5/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Flamecraft Duals

November 2, 2025November 9, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-2 Players

Designer: Manny Vega

Artist: Sandara Tang

Publisher: Carboard Alchemy

Following the footsteps of its already classic older sibling, the adorable little dragons of Flamecraft now come in Duals form. But is this head to head iteration hold the flame or does it just burns out quickly?

How to Play

Turns in the game are comprised of 3 steps. First, the player draws a token from the bad and places it any open spot or on top of any dragon as long as there is never a stack higher than 3.

Then, the player can fire off the dragon’s ability, and those can be to add more dragons, move other dragons or fire their abilities, which can cause a whole lot of chain effects. Finally, the player can score if they have a pattern in the board that equals the card in their hands. Most points from the scored cards win.

There are a couple of additional modules. Fancy dragons will add player powers, while fountains adds shared scoring opportunities while also adding a fountain to the board, which will get in the way.

Solo is quite simple, every turn the player needs to score a card, from their hand or a fountain card, or spend a coin. If they can’t, they lose. If they are able to score all 6 fountain cards, it’s a victory.

Rules and Components

The rules are fine. It’s a fairly simple and straightforward game, and the rules do a good job in presenting the game in a well structured way explaining briefly each phase and how each dragon works. It does leave some specifics a bit too much to interpretation, which is unfortunate.

I will start the component part with a caveat: I do have the the Deluxe version, so that’s the one I’m reviewing. But, as expected from Cardboard Alchemy, the art is stellar. It’s the gorgeously adorable art of Sandara Tang displayed in all tokens and cards, and they look as good as ever. The dragon tokens are nice and chunky, so satisfying to handle, and the metal coins are pretty and big. I did find the cards a bit on the thin side and quite slippery to handle.

Score: 8/10

Gameplay

This is at its surface quite light and simple, draw a dragon, place it, fire its ability, score. But, in all honesty, this is way more combo-y than expected. There is a lot of chain reaction, specially when 2 types of dragon (breads and leaves) and fire another power, which can in turn fire more and so on.

It’s strikes a great balance of light and gamery, and the results are quite satisfying. On 1v1, your scoring cards are hidden so there is not a lot of hate drafting or spoiling the other movements, it’s more setting up yours and seeing the opportunities immediately. It’s pretty much a tactical game, not a lot of long term strategy, it’s who can be the most efficient in terms of opportunities.

Solo is a bit more strategic, since you do know you have to setup and score all 6 fountains, and each is comprised of a 4 in a row of a single type. But, since you don’t know which order they will appear, there is a lot in making sure you have open opportunities each turn.

Score: 8.5/10

Theme and Art

On one end, the game is for the most part quite abstract. The scoring cards have no names, the dragons are all the same and there is no lore described. It’s a game solidly based on its mechanisms, and in fact you could replace the theme and it could work just as well.

But why would you though? The art is disconnected, yes, but as I mentioned it’s beautiful and evoking, and there is so much cuteness your heart my just explode. It has a small size but great table presence, and the art does vibe well with the relaxed theme of the gameplay.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

First of all, the obvious question: if I like Flamecraft, will I like the Duals version? Sincerely, there is absolutely no answering that. Aside from art, the game are mostly disconnected, though there is a sense of familiarity on a surface level with the dragon powers.

On its own, Flamecraft Duals is a chill but engaging abstract game, quick to play but has enough to keep you coming back. There isn’t a lot to discover, it’s all pretty much at your face, but it’s a game that will reward multiple gameplays in terms of acquired skill and board understanding.

I think Duals fits right into my collection for when I want a quick investment of time and brainpower, but still will come out satisfied with a gaming experience. And, adding to that, manipulating those chonky pieces is so fun!

Score: 8/10

PnP Review, Review

Let’s Review More: The Tracker

December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Denis Kurdiukov

Artist: Denis Kurdiukov

Publisher: Nuka Zombee

The world outside is a horrible nightmare, full of zombies, mutated beasts, and horrible people just waiting to take you and everything you have. But you insist in going on and trying to find a way to save a little girl. But is your will strong enough or are you going to succumb along the way?

How To Play

Setup is just getting the sheet, it already has all the resources and starting situation. You also need 8 dice, 4 of each color and a marker for your position. On each turn, you may do some trades with the locals for clues, but most often you will try to go to a new area for clues are resources.

To get into a dangerous area, first you spend a water roll your 4 dice to create your pool, and set one of the enemy dice as the danger of the area as stated on the map. One die at a time, you assign one die for the scout test, roll another for the enemy and assign a final one if needed. If you match or exceed, scout is successful and you proceed to battle. If not, you just lost time and a water.

Battle is similar, you assign your dice then roll two for the enemy. If it is enough, you win the loot, if not you lose a medpack and, if able, spend bullets to finish off or accept defeat.

Each time you get a clue from locals or secure an area, you mark the clue or number into the main quest grid. Your goal is to make a continuous path from the starting arrow to the finish where the girl is. If you are able to do that and defeat the final boss, you win. If you ever run out of resources, you lose.

Rules and Components

The iconography is pretty clear for the most part, and it may seem overwhelming at first it does make sense once you start playing the game. Even though there are a ton of icons, I never felt the game got too cramped or messy as I went along.

Rules are, as usual for Nuka Zombee, laid out nicely in a kind of a comic book flow type of way. Rules are organized progressively, as if you are playing the game and reading the rules along for the first time, explaining as they are needed in the play. It’s an interesting approach, but not the most friendly at times.

It takes a bit to really internalize everything, but this is a game with a fairly unique flow and I honestly don’t know if any other layout would be better beneficial. I do appreciate the lengths they go for different examples.

On the other hand, there are terms and functionalities there are left to be understood by context, and I usually prefer things clearly laid out, like spending bullets to adjust dice or finishing off enemies.

Score: 7.5/10

Gameplay

Unlike many games within the genre of apocalyptic survival, this game never feels oppressive. Instead it takes the other common facet of such games, dwindling resources, and makes it the heart of the problem. You know what is your dice pool BEFORE deciding where to go, and it’s up to you to be open in terms of choices and how much you’re willing to spend to achieve a certain objective.

It is a slow and analytical game, where along with the resource management, luck mitigation is key. You will have to take risks, no questions, but it’s all about how and when. That being said, it is also a game of patience and repetition, and getting into the game knowing that it is not going to be an in and out situation. You will never win quickly, and very rarely will lose quickly either.

Score: 9/10

Theme and Art

The artwork is stark and evocative, and it does a great job in setting the mood. The muted color scheme also adds to the feel, while also helping the game sheet feel less overwhelming.

The setting is left vague, only with a brief explanation of what is the current situation and not how it got there. It is left to the player to fill in the gaps. But I didn’t feel that this stopped me from being immersed into the theme and caring for the characters around me.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

The Tracker is a tense, methodical and analytical roll and write with a continuous sense of dread and slowly building up your path to the end. And I described this game as slow many times during this review, but yet not once I felt the game was sluggish. Instead, it is a game that takes its time in progressing, and encourages the player to do the same. It is also engaging for the whole duration, and the scouting and combat setup is both thinky and exciting.

In the PnP realm, this one for me easily stands out if you read the description and see yourself in this world and you understand the pace of the game you’re getting into. But, if those things are for you, you will find here a well crafted and well designed game that will reward smart plays and will engage your brain (or leave them on the floor if you’re not careful enough).

Rules and Components: 7.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Theme and Art: 7.5/10

Score: 8 / 10

Review

Let’s Review More: Storyburg

December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designer: Kyle Walters

Artist: Kyle Walters

Publisher: Dancing Koala Games

On Storyburg, you will take characters from different stories to try to face the perils that are breaking the world. Foes will appear, tough choices will be made, and pages of the story will grow. But will your story have a happy ending?

How to Play

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Storyburg is that there is no fixed play pattern. Players will follow the story book, make decision and navigate to chapters. On some of those chapters, a challenge or enemy will be presented, and only then players will take their turns.

Turns are a mix of playing cards, equipping items, purchasing new cards and preparing your dice pool. Challenges are a single roll depending on the attribute, while combat are a simple rolling attack versus defense back and forward between characters and enemies.

The end of each chapter is also variable depending on the choices of the players and where the story leads you. The whole campaign goes for 5 chapters, but how to navigate these chapters can vary from play to play.

Rules and Components

The main issue on the rules of Storyburg is that, by the very non-linear nature of the game, rules are explained in chunks without any of the flow. That can a bit overwhelming at first, so it starts to really click once you playing it makes more sense. The game is, however, not particularly complex so one read before reading and a few consultations on the first few games are enough. However, there are a few spots where the rules are vague or not clear enough, mainly on what occasions players take full turns and when they do not.

One thing I wish it was clearer on the rules or any appendix is the initial organization of cards once you first open and setup the game. It would help to set the initial flow and organization.

The cards are fine quality, not great, but they are well laid out and organized with a good mix of iconography and text. The player boards could be a little bigger and more well organized. The main example of this is the fact that you can only have one item of each type, but there is no spot for each type. Not a huge deal, but not ideal either.

Score: 7.0 / 10

Gameplay

I’m going to preface this section to make something very clear: Storyburg will not be for everyone. This is a narrative experience backed by a game, not the other way around. If you go by a strictly gameplay perspective, this game is a bit on the simplistic side, with quite a bit of randomness from the dice rolls and a slow paced deck-building and character progression flow.

When you take that, and combine with the actual narrative flow and use that as the main driving force of the game, it makes much more sense. Gameplay is designed to be unobstructive and direct, making the actual narrative choices the main gameplay element of the game. In a sense, this is an elevated version of the old choose your own adventure books.

Since this is a story driven gameplay, your enjoyment will depend on how much you enjoy the narrative aspect of the story, as both cannot be considered separately. As I am a theme driven gamer, my score on this will be reflected as such.

Score: 7.5/10

Theme and Art

I will be brief here on the theme so I won’t discuss much on the actual narrative choices on the storybook. That is a big part of the game, so I will analyze that but not give much context.

Before getting into that, I will start by saying that I absolutely love the art. It is whimsical and child-like, as if they were actually part of a children’s book. That helps to set the tone of the whole adventure. Even the iconography and dice faces follow this style.

On the narrative side, between the book, events and enemies you face, it does still follow this same whimsical feel, but it has just enough depth to keep players interested and engaged.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

I can’t be clear enough on this: this is a game about narrative and theme, so your enjoyment of this game will depend completely on how you are engaged by the story elements. Even though it is meant just to be an introduction, you will know on chapter one if this game is for you or not. This is, in my opinion, a niche game.

It is my niche though. I love the unique flow of the gameplay, the simple game choices that are there to aid the narrative choices, and the story kept me engaged throughout. I never took this game too seriously, nor do I think it takes itself too seriously. This is a cozy game to enjoy over a cup of hot cocoa (with a lid, please, don’t endanger the components).

It works great as a simple solo adventure, but I do feel like having more people to share the narrative and choices enriches the game a lot. I had a great time going through all the chapters, and I can easily say that I don’t feel like even after concluding the story that it is done. I feel like coming back, approaching it through different lenses, make different choices and see where it will take me that time.

Rules and Components: 7/10

Gameplay: 7.5/10

Theme and Art: 7.5/10

Score: 7.3/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Deck of Wonders

August 2, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-2 Players

Designer: Dennis Furia

Artist: Lauren Brown

Publisher: Furia Games

Deck of Wonders gets the whole idea of dueling TCGs and boils it down to one single deck, shared by the player and the rival. But is this deck really or wonders or does it leave you wondering?

How to Play

To setup the game, you first to setup the deck. You get all the cards for the villain you’re facing, then a number of base cards. The base cards have a “suggested color” so the base cards with the green icon go well with the green villain, but they can be mixed in any way.

You then shuffle and deal 4 cards to the player and the game begins. At the player’s turn, they can play any number of cards they want and are able to. Cards are paid by discarding other cards. Creatures you play are ordered by their priority, and cards with the same priority you decide. Then you can use your ready creatures to attack either the villain’s cards or the villain itself freely.

Then it’s the villain’s turn, where you simply draw and resolve the top card (except for the first turn, when 3 are drawn). Then their creatures try to attack your highest priority creature they can kill. Any left over attack you directly.

Game continues until either the player or the villain are reduced to 0 life. The game comes with a campaign mode where you unlock more cards and modification to cards by achieving certain conditions during the game.

Rules and Components

I found the rules clear and well written, but they do lack in examples and illustrations that would make the understanding easier. However, I didn’t find myself lacking for the most part, but there are some doubts regarding specific cards and interactions that deserved an appendix or FAQ.

The game is all based on the cards, and thankfully they are very readable and easy to understand, even being double sided. It helps that the texts are never too wordy.

That being said, the font used is too small. That is noticeable on the minions, but it’s even more so on the villain cards. There is a lot of text regarding setup and gameplay elements, and the font is super tiny. In my opinion it would have been better to have more cards or use it double sided.

Finally, a minor quibble, but I think cards that don’t go on the main deck should not have the same cardback as cards in the main deck.

Score: 7.5/10

Gameplay

The game inspiration is clear, being Magic the Gathering and other dueling TCGs. But it threads a thin line between having all those elements available for the player while simplifying the villain side. And it does so very well. Villain’s cards attack in a predicate manner and are organized by the player, while the spells have very specific targets.

The players decision space is all about resource management and figuring out how to outsmart the villain. The cards on the villain side are both more dangerous and attack immediately, while the player’s minions have to wait a turn. But the player controls its own minions in terms of priority and how the enemies attack.

The decision space is quite interesting, with a lot for the player to decide on the risks they are willing to take. But the game has a steep learning curve, not for the rules, but for its tactics and strategies.

Part of that is because the game can be very swingy. The cards are well balanced for the player in terms of utility and cost, but there are some that are just better. If the villain happen to draw those or draw certain spells at the right time, the game can get to an unwinnable situation, sometimes even from the start.

Score: 7.5/10

Theme and Art

There is a lot of theme in this game. It takes its time in setting up the world and each villain. Not only that, but as the campaign progresses, each new pack brings in cards that not only add mechanically, but make sense thematically and evolve the characters and scenario presented.

Adding to that, the art on the game is really high quality. And, despite the game being packed with information they need to convey, the art is on full display. Not only that, the art is color coded. Cards from the green base set and green villain have lots of greens, so at a glance you can identify and place them.

All cards are double sided, and each side shows almost the same art, but one for the player and one for the villain side. The change between each side is subtle. It’s not as simple as good side and bad side. It’s things like a wolf just running or running with its teeth bare.

Score: 9/10

Conclusion

Deck of Wonders is a small game with big ambitions. Trying to boil down a full game to a single deck is a tall order, but it does so smoothly and successfully. It has, by its own design, a lot of luck involved. It is unmistakably a big factor, sometimes too big. But, then again, it’s a quick game, so it’s forgivable in my view.

In addition to that, the ambition goes beyond just the initial set. It has deck building aspects, cards to unlock, a legacy mechanism to it. This is a small box with a big heart.

Rules and Components: 7.5/10

Gameplay: 7.5/10

Theme and Art: 9/10

Score: 8 /10

Review

Let’s Review More: Dieson Crusoe

July 31, 2024July 31, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 player

Designer: Jinhee Han, Heewon Kang

Artist: PASIO

Publisher: Best With 1 Games

Crusoe is lost in an island full of danger, dice and rondels, and it’s for him and his friend to overcome this and survive. Is this game a great adventure or should it be fed to the wild animals?

How To Play

To setup the game, put the two cloth mats side by side. Put the meeples on the map on the action rondel, and markers on the event rondel and day tracker. Also get all tools and pick one character, one friend and one mission card.

Every day is split in morning, afternoon and evening. On mornings you roll the 3 available dice and put them in crescent order. The lowest value moves the event marker on the rondel and triggers a new event.

Then on the afternoon, the player chooses one die at a time, advance the meeple in the action rondel and either take the action, advance the marker on your friend or build a tool. Each die value gives the player 0-3 stars to use in certain actions. The actions vary on building your shelter, getting resources, moving on the map or hunting. The stars also determinate which tools you can build.

During night, you first eat a food, then depending on the value of the die placed there on the turn before it’ll trigger the weather (which will damage your shelter or you) and animal ambush (which varies by the area your in).

You win if you achieve the mission on your quest card, which usually is building a specific tool, getting to certain area on the map, hunting a certain animal, etc. You lose if you run out of health or out of days.

Rules and Components

This was originally a PnP, and just now got published. I think during this time the rules were tweaked and refined by the designers and it shows. Rules are clear, concise and, for the most part, comprehensive. There is also a big section for individual cards, which I appreciate.

The game comes with two cloth boards, which are super nice, but they are small and that causes a few problems. The map is hard to read from a distance and the spaces for the resources can get cramped and block their information.

All the rest is relayed through icons and they very functional and clear, specially after a few games under your belt.

Score: 8/10

Gameplay

Dieson Crusoe is an intense game for its duration. It’s an interesting mechanism to have larger numbers on the dice be better for actions, but also more dangerous. Also, I like that every resource has a secondary effect to manipulate the game state in some manner, but it’s also something that you will not use often as things can get tight and you need them for tools and buildings.

It has a nice tension arc, where the danger rises as you progress through the island and through the days. It gets more dangerous, but you also yield more resources for exploration and hunt. I feel like this is a well balanced, albeit tough game. Don’t let quest 1 fool you.

Score: 8.5 /10

Theme and Art

The artwork and design is fairly simplistic and quite clean, but it does have a very distinctive look. It for the most part favours usability, but the game still looks great on the table.

The map is where you will find the most details, but it is very evocative of illustrations on books. Robinson Crusoe is a story told many times on baord games, so it’s well known. Dieson Crusoe takes that and uses just the right elements to evoke parts of the story without being too complex.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

I think it’s no secret that this game was inspired by Robinson Crusoe: Adventures in the Cursed Island by Ignacy Trzewiczek, but condensed down into a 30 minute adventure. You can recognize easily the DNA, and I felt right at home instantly.

But that’s not all it is. It has its own unique mechanisms that are engaging and fun. I really like the action rondel and the way the dice used determinate the bad things coming your way. Knowing when to be risky and when to play safe is a huge part of the game.

I feel like this is a very solid and tense solo experience that will have you coming back to beaten time and again. My impression is that this game was designed by and for players, as lots of PnPs are, and got a deserved polished release.

Rules and Components: 8/10

Gameplay: 8.5/10

Theme and Art: 7.5/10

Score: 8/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Metrorunner

June 23, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-5 Players

Designer: Stephen Kerr

Artist: Ignacio Bazán Lazcano

Publisher: Thunderwork Games

Thunderworks stepped out of the Roll Player universe and allied with designer Stephen Kerr to have a go at the classic cyberpunk big corporations world with Metrorunner. But is this job a hit or bust?

Gameplay

On a player’s turn, they will first move one or two spaces clockwise on the track, then either do the space action or a district action. Space actions are simple, like getting resources, getting more jobs, or playing a route mini-game to get resources and some track advancements. A district action is getting resource cubes and finishing jobs from that district.

Whenever a player completes a job, they tuck the completed card on one of three spots (each holding three cards). This gives additional resources or advancements, and also allow the player to compete for majorities and specific combinations.

Players keep going until someone crosses either the notoriety or the influence, every one has one last turn and the game is over.

Solo Gameplay

The AI system is very simple. You play with two tokens to represent them, and after you turn you turn over one AI card. They will move to block spaces, take jobs away, and or remove cubes, and advance on tracks depending on how it’s notoriety compares to you. However, the Automa does not score, instead the game has a beat your own score system.

Components

Everything has a classic cyberpunk look, with lots of acrylics and pseudo code flying around. However, the presentation never superceeds usability, and the iconography is simple and objective.

One thing I highly highly highly appreciate is how the players board are made. They have elevated slots on the back that you can easily tuck the cards with messing everything around. Having played a lot of games with cards being tucked behind player boards, that is a very welcome addition.

Just one additional note, you have the option to get the metal version of the hack tiles. It’s totally unnecessary, but wow is it satisfying to manipulate!

Conclusion

Metrorunner is an incredibly well produced game, but, most importantly, it’s engaging and fun. It’s a fairly light and quick game, but it takes that spirit and runs with it, pun intended. Rules are easy to understand, that game doesn’t overstay its welcome, but I do feel it rewards repeated plays to learn the efficiency puzzle. If you’re into this weight, it’s a great addition to your collection.

Score: 8.5/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Lata

March 29, 2024March 29, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designers: Rola & Costa

Artist: Marina Costa

Publisher: Pythagoras

With the second edition of Cafe, Pythagoras started its small box collection called Quinas. The second of this collection is last year’s Lata, about the production of can sardines and mackarels. Can this be a good game or is this collection just fishy?

Gameplay

At the beginning of each of six rounds, players bid with their action points for turn order. Then, following that order, they get more cards for their factory, then spend actions to activate their production cards, spend that production to fulfill contracts for money, and to get end of game scoring.

At the end of each round, the contract and end of game scoring are refilled and every production is discarded except for regular sardines.

Solo Gameplay

The game flow is the same for solo, except or instead or the initial bid, the player spend their actions to see more production cards. Since they have to add two, and some spots cost money, the player can be forced to place unwanted cards and disrupt their engine. There is no win or lose, it’s a beat your own score type of deal.

Each of the player boards have a solo specific side with its own twists, like one starts with no money and another only have options of pairs.

Components

As usual for Pythagoras, the components are somewhat minimalistic and very theme driven. That means that it’s not the most obvious for gameplay, but they do look good. The cards have a nice quality, and the artwork is well done. Symbology is fine, not the best, but the rulebook is clear enough that I didn’t find a lot of issues playing, even on the first time.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed Cafe, their first on the collection, but I like Lata even better. It feels like a tighter and more cohesive game, while still having the high efficiency gameplay elements.

Specifically for solo, this feels more well tested and developed, which I appreciate. And the fact we have four different boards add to the variation.

Score: 8/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Ark Nova

March 22, 2024March 22, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designer: Mathias Wigge

Publisher: Capstone Games / Feuerland Spiele

I’m slowly venturing into the heavier side, specially on euros. Ark Nova is a game that has made a big impact on BGG, but is the fame deserved or is it hype?

Gameplay

In Ark Nova, you are managing a scientific zoo, by playing animals, acquiring sponsors and making deals with universities and other zoos. This is all based on a very interesting 5 action card system, where each card lies under a position 1-5 that determines the strength of the action. When you take the action, it goes to the 1 position, pushing all others one space up. Each action can also be upgraded to a more versatile version where you can usually do multiple things at a time.

By playing cards and doing many actions, you go up on two different scoring tracks, appeal and conservation. Appeal is your actual points, and also your income, while conservation gives you bonuses and has ranges that subtract from your score. Once those two meet, the game will end, and the score will be your appeal minus the lower range of your conservation, which can be negative.

Solo Gameplay

Solo play replaces the break system that some action use to move the game forward and activate income with a fixed time system. You start with seven cubes, and each action moves one to the left. After the last one is moved, the break is triggered like on the multiplayer game, the top cube goes to the main board, and you reset with one cube less. At the end of the sixth round, game is over. You have to be positive to win.

Components

Ark Nova has a ton of pieces, from habitats from sizes 1-5, special habitats and other diverse tokens. Thankfully, it comes with two trays where you can organize them and make them super quick to both setup and tear down the game. Components have a simplistic look, very euro-y, but are very effective in their usage.

This is a card based game, and believe it there is variety. The pile of cards is absolutely huge! Normally this can be good or bad, but Ark Nova does not require specific cards, but actually is all about collections of symbols, and there is a nice spread. Cards also present some scientific information and try to be as thematically accurate as possible.

Just a little quibble though: this has to be the blandest and uninspired money ever. It doesn’t even look like money. But, honestly, it’s not the star of the show anyway.

Conclusion

I love card based euros, so there is a lot of competition on this area. Does Ark Nova shine? Oh, yes, it does. Before playing I was a bit intimidated by the many things happening in this game, but it takes but a few rounds to get adjusted, and its heart it is a very fluid game. The action card system is the big differential, and it works beautifully, creating a lot of tension and very interesting decision spaces throughout the game.

Also, this is a game where you can’t do everything. That’s not just a statement, it’s a built in mechanism. You can only upgrade 4 out of the 5 cards, you can only partner with 4 out of the 5 zoos. You upgrade or have more workers for the influence board, but not both. However, you never feel out of options. Every turn feels relevant and rewarding.

The sheer amount of cards is impressive, and it could be a good or a bad thing if not well balanced. I have now played with I believe most if not all of the deck, and I never had a game where I felt that I couldn’t do anything. The fact that the spread of the symbols is well done, there is always a route you can go to, and very rarely is the same. Just be aware that the deck is a pain to shuffle…

Score: 9.5/10