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Game Info
Year
2020
Collection
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Description
Lead your tribe to the Gates of Mara, portals to realms of pure elemental energy. Encounter powerful elemental lords, manipulate intricate economies, and summon colorful magic. Vie for the most influence in each realm so you can establish your tribal claims.
Gates of Mara blends upgradeable worker placement with layered area-control mechanisms, all brought to life by the art of Nastya Lehn. You can lead reptilian dragonkin, the amphibious goblins, the insectoid antids, or the arboreal elves.
Strategically position your tribe members around the realms and gates. Enchant your tribe members to give them new abilities. Compete for short-term objectives, but keep your eyes on your influence. Only the player with the most influence can lay claim to the Gates of Mara!
—description from the publisher
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Review
Gates of Mara Review
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 1 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video omCsf96tTy0
Meeple University Review at 0:27 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 90315 · mention_pk 291431
Click to watch at 0:27 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Interesting and tight area majority gameplay.
- Plenty of choices and interaction with other players.
- Many 'shiny things' to chase for points.
- Neatly put together with a lot going on.
- Good scalability due to the number of boards.
Cons
- Components are hard to play with.
- Standees are different colors than player colors.
- Resource gems are difficult to distinguish.
- Standees block line of sight.
- Small logos on components are not easily readable.
Thematic elements
Comparison games
- Viticulture
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Card/Ability — Enchantments and banners can be picked up to level up characters with extra effects.
- Area Majority — Players compete for area majority in realms to gain bonuses each round and points at the end of the game.
- Engine Building — Actions are taken to build an engine and get resources while performing worker placement.
- Set Collection — Players collect keys by being adjacent to particular lords or on their caravans, with majorities granting points.
- Worker Placement — A worker placement game where players place standees on specific spots, paying an energy cost to gain influence and resolve effects.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The game plays over four rounds and so you'll have four chances at doing this area majority influence sort of thing and that's a major part of the points that come in this game.
- Energy is probably your cap most probably you can't use all your workers because you have no energy.
- It's one of those game that requires you like a little bit of planning and really think what do you want to accomplish.
- The biggest downfall of this game for me is the components are very hard to play with.
- There's plenty of choices and enough interaction with the other players as you're fighting for these majorities.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video xHe0q5ASsgQ
Meeple Mountain Review at 0:16 sentiment: positive
video_pk 89880 · mention_pk 283343
Click to watch at 0:16 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Worker placement with strategic depth
- Maximizing energy and turn usage is challenging and rewarding
- Banners and enchantments create powerful unit customization and strategies
- High replayability due to random setup and variability
- Good component quality with a nice finish on tokens
- Offers agency and choice to the players
- Asymmetry of factions encourages replay
Cons
- Not ideal for players who dislike 'thinky' games
- Lacks strong catch-up mechanics; poor decisions can be difficult to recover from
Thematic elements
- Elementalists vying for control of elemental gates
- land of mara
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Majority — Players gain influence on gates, and the player with the most influence at the end of the game gains points.
- asymmetric factions — Players take on the role of slightly asymmetric clans with unique specialists.
- Objective Fulfillment — Completing round-specific objectives grants victory points.
- Set Collection — Collecting elemental gems (crystals) is necessary to pay for enchantments and other actions.
- Variable player powers — Banners and enchantments can be added to units to grant them asymmetric abilities.
- Worker Placement — Players send out workers to various locations on the board to gain influence and benefits.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I really enjoyed this game and was super excited about it a long time ago
- the fact that your units can only go to specific places based on their type is really nice for me
- I love the freedom and agency and choice the gates of mara gives you
- this fluidity is what makes gates of mara a gem in my opinion
- this game definitely leaves the balance and the score to the players
References (from this video)
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