Ryan Laukat (and in extension Red Raven Games) is best known for his story-infused big box titles such as Sleeping Gods, Near & Far, or Empires of the Void II. The degree in which story is the driving factor varies from game to game – from being at the forefront in Sleeping Gods to pretty …
The base game of Kingdom Legacy, Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom, has been one of my favourite solo experiences of 2024. As a small package of 140 card deck and some stickers, it is affordable yet packs a mighty punch. In 3-4 hours, you’ll build your kingdom from untouched grasslands to castles with knights, astronomers and …
Read more “Review of Kingdom Legacy: Distant Lands – Onwards to New Horizons”
After much waiting and a couple of false news alerts, the latest expansion for bike racing game Flamme Rouge is finally really here: Grand Tour is available for purchase. For some unknown reason, this expansion has been multiple years in the making – or rather waiting as there were multiple times where it looked like …
Read more “Review of Flamme Rouge Grand Tour – A Beautiful Swan Song”
October 2024, SPIEL Essen, one day before the convention opens. I’m browsing through the novelty show, a press-only event that’s basically all new releases cramped into one convention hall. Each game has about 30-40cm of table width, maybe less, and the hall is buzzing with representatives of the publishers pitching their games as well as …
Read more “Review of Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom – Honey, I Shrunk The Kingdom”
After playing the original Pandemic for over ten years, struggling with mutating viruses and terrorists in Pandemic: On the Brink, and upending the usual way to cure things with Pandemic: In the Lab, the prospect of digging into another version of the all to familiar Pandemic seemed daunting to me. Pandemic has rightfully become a …
Read more “Review of Pandemic: Rising Tide – You Saved the World, but Can You Save the Netherlands?”
Have you ever thought about the effects of pollution in medieval Italy? I sure hadn’t. But Joris and Jeroen – better known as Dutch design duo / boutique publisher Splotter Spellen – definitely have! And as always, they ended up with a game that is challenging, punishing, and quite different than anything else out there. …
I’ve been enjoying publisher Sit Down!‘s output for a while now. They first came on my radar with 2017’s collaborative no-speaking supermarket heist Magic Maze and since then I’ve both enjoyed my plays of competitive minesweeper-style Tiwanaku and the gorgeous, nature photography themed Redwood. While definitely more on the lighter end of the spectrum of …
Read more “Review of Maps of Misterra – Forest? What Forest … ?!?”
I always planned to – at some point – write about games that have been part of my collection for a longer time. I guess it has taken me two years and a current lull of interesting new releases to finally get there. While there are a great many “older” games out there that players …
Do you know that feeling when you see a crowd funding project and immediately fall in love with its visual presentation but at the same time get super skeptical regarding its game play? It just looks too good? There are positive and negative surprises when venturing into that territory. For example, I remember first seeing …
Grand Austria Hotel is a game I adore, much more than I rationally should do. It’s punishingly tight, can easily become multiplayer-solitaire, and I get it to the table way too infrequently. But that’s emotions for you, right? There doesn’t have to be a rational explantation why we feel attracted to certain games while we …
Read more “Review of High Season: Grand Hotel Roll & Write – Catering to an Audience”