In Reworld, players attempt to terraform a newly discovered planet, and to do that they need to use terrabots to establish new cities and shuttles to deliver materials that will populate those locations.
In game terms, over five rounds players fill the five levels of their spaceship with tiles featuring terrabots, shuttles, material vessels, and satellites. Each round twenty of these tiles are placed at random around the perimeter of a large ship, and each player receives a hand of cards. On a turn, a player can play one or more cards to claim a tile following these rules:
If neither tile adjacent to the desired tile has been claimed, the player can lay down any card next to this tile, claim it, then place it in the leftmost space of the level of their spaceship that matches the number of the card played. If you play a 4, for example, then you must place that tile in the leftmost position of your fourth level.
If one tile adjacent to the desired tile has been claimed, then you must lay down a card of the same number used to claim that previous tile or any two cards of your choice (with those two cards thus serving as a joker). Whatever number is topmost indicates the level of your spaceship on which you must place this tile.
If both tiles adjacent to the desired tile have been claimed and the cards used to claim them show the same number, then you do the same as described above. If the cards have different numbers, however — e.g., 1 and 3 — then you must lay down the same two numbers (1 and 3), one matching number and any other two cards, or any four cards. You place this tile on your spaceship in the same manner previously desired.
Once everyone has no cards in hand or cannot play further, the round ends. Any remaining tiles are thrown away, then you reset the board and deal out a new hand of cards. After five rounds, players now deploy these tiles onto the new planet, each turn playing 1-3 of the leftmost tiles from the row of their choice to create their personal terraformed world. If you deploy a terrabot, which are labeled A-E, you start a new city with this letter or extend an existing city of yours. Material vessels, which come in five colors, can be delivered to the planet's surface only if attached to shuttles, and each city can have vessels of only a single color. Satellites provide bonus scoring when added to a city. Shuttles and satellites can also be used for shields to protect your newborn planet.
Players earn points during the first half of the game for picking up terrabots and having cards left in hand. During the second half, players score for deploying satellites and for meeting targets set at the start of the game, e.g. having a city with eight tiles in it, having a city of each letter, emptying a level on your spaceship, having a certain number of shields, etc.
Once all the spaceships are empty, players score their final points for how well they've developed each city and their shields in comparison with their fellow terraformers. Whoever scores the most points wins.
- Hits dopamine well
- Leveling is really good
- Massive hit
- Early access
- AI of the game starts crumbling when automated elements are introduced.
- Gets really frustrating.
- Still has bugs.
- Feels like it has stolen Pokemon IP without actually stealing it.
- Pokemon-like
- Pokemon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- automation — Features automated elements where 'monsters' run machines and bases for the player.
- Base Building — Includes elements of base building.
- Monster catching — Features capturing and using creatures, similar to Pokemon.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Clash of Cultures I like I like the the new the Revis Edition or whatever I thought that was good
- Last Light is the 4X face game that plays in an hour
- You heard me right it plays in an hour
- You know what band there's a band that I I love it's in my it me it maybe every once a while it would fall out of my top five bands but it's it it'll always remain like top six or seven
- When you were that good you're just that good
- I want to see the Chiefs win the next six Super Bowls I do
- I don't think it's a big deal why are you googling Board Game Geek stuff when you could just go to the website
- your guy doesn't do any attacks it's just all of his little minions do do his attacks for him
- Bone Razer is ready five bucks
- all the reviews Say it'll hit your dopamine pretty well
- the AI of it starts crumbling a bit so it gets really frustrating
- The revised edition is good
- Rules are tightened up
- Includes the old expansion
- It is a huge game
- Has a thousand things going on
- Plays in an hour
- Has over 2000 backers on Gamefound
- Did better than the first time
- One of the worst Productions I've seen the cards fall apart
- It's pretty good
- It's a Monty Python game
- The python game doesn't look good I just ped it because it's python
- Very much your standard Vampire Survivors
- Five bucks
- Definitely get five bucks with the fun
- Keeps unlocking new characters
- Has a lot of gameplay
- Hits dopamine well
- Leveling is really good
- Massive hit
- Early access
- AI of the game starts crumbling when automated elements are introduced.
- Gets really frustrating.
- Still has bugs.
- Feels like it has stolen Pokemon IP without actually stealing it.
- It was fine
- Puzzly
- Really simple
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Warband starter — Picked up a starting warband for Arcworld.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I don't not every game needs to have deep lore Some people just want to play fun games Some people want to take the lore from game a and bring it into a game B where they like the rules better
- lore is interchangeable so you know one of my favorite games out there is space weirdos it has literally no lore it's fine I make up lore on the Fly
- I like the fact that they're giving you options to play with the models you already have without having to go through and go geez I don't know what are they trying to get a point like what is this again you're like well these guys are supposed to be tyranids oh well it didn't come across as tyranids or whatever I have a whole bunch of tyranids and so I should use this
- the rules are generic not the lore
- Are they officially model agnostic I mean sure yeah you can use whatever ever models you want I mean to be fair every game is officially model agnostic even if they don't say it is it is
- I just don't like moving them in a chunk I like being able to move them separately I don't like that that just here's a thing and the the type of play where it's like well this part has to wheel over and do this and then then you're attacking from a flank
- rivenstone is the game that you're talking about
- the problem is this well it's not the problem here's the most recent answer they still haven't produced the stuff yet but the most recent email I got from them which I think was in July was them saying another company is basically buying the game from us and they will do the production and the the Fulfillment
References (from this video)
- The concept of survival and resource management is engaging.
- Building a permanent power source is a key objective.
- The game is very difficult and repetitive.
- Running enemies can be tedious.
- Players rarely win, often dying or failing to achieve objectives.
- Survival on a hostile planet, managing colony resources.
- Aridia
- Soul Raiders
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Colony management — Players manage a colony, focusing on survival needs like warmth and food preservation.
- Combat — Players must defend against attacks from raiders and creatures.
- Resource Management — Managing power sources, food, and defenses is crucial.
- scenario-based play — The game can be played in sandbox mode or with specific scenarios.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's the longest running weekly live stream uh on YouTube.
- I felt like garbage, I still got this stupid cough that just will not go away.
- After the Empire, it's a game where you really feel like you're in charge.
- The complexity is part of the appeal.
- It's like a cute woodland creature war.
- Every game feels like a different experience because of the factions.
- Everdell, it's just so pretty to look at on the table.
- I love the feeling of building up my little city.
References (from this video)
- Will be a giant box game with lots of content.
- Jonathan Gilmore provided a strong storytelling basis.
- Co-op game about playing Rim World and watching your colony.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- achievement system — Players need to achieve three big achievements for their colony to win.
- Storytelling — Jonathan Gilmore provided a strong storytelling basis for the game.
- Stress mechanics — The game includes stress mechanics related to a colonist's mood and negative events.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We funded in seven minutes.
- The video game is five bucks. The board game is $59.
- If you can't tell what anything is anymore. I mean, it's like when I look at that stuff, I'm always just like I don't know if this is AI or not anymore.
- Halloween would have is a much better name.
- My buddy. My buddy. Good guy doll.
- The Thing should have a scale of like a 14. Easy.
- You know, it's like, hey, look, look at all the crazy stuff I can do. That's what that felt like to me, you know?
- That's a very good movie. It pres on your uh your claustrophobia a great deal.
- That's the one where you can't make any noise.
- I thought it was insanely scary.
- That's my jam, baby. Love me the flea market.
- Cosmic RPG
- It's like improvisational space magic.
- It's a really fun RPG system that you can kind of just pick up and play.
References (from this video)
- Great solo
- Gorgeous
- Love animal-themed games
- Does things differently than other animal games
- Rewilding a region so animals have a habitat
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action cards — On your turn, pick one of your action cards and resolve its action.
- Habitat creation — Create habitats on your personal board. If requirements are fulfilled, animals might come live there.
- Resource Management — Plant plants to get resources, which are needed for pretty much anything in this game.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Has this year changed our minds? Have we played this less or more? Do we love it more or less?
- Unstable that is a one to two player medium weight deck builder that takes around an hour to play.
- It is a cooperative game and this is how it plays. So, this is a deck builder board game with one of the coolest board game mechanisms ever created. Might I say the coolest?
- You also are upgrading the bad guys.
- It's an amazing and unique deck builder, but is it uh still worthy of my collection or maybe it has fallen?
- One of the best solo games I've ever played.
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian Adventures. Longest title in this video.
- It's a super heavy game for one to four players and takes at least two hours to play, right, Mr. Yiannis?
- It is very heavy. I mean, not just in the physical sense. It has tons of rules, tons of armies, tons of things happening.
- Welcome to a game where you can plan everything carefully, then roll some dice and get screwed over all the time. But you will enjoy it.
- Time for the top three coolest things about this board game with Mr. Yiannis.
- Harrow County is an asymmetric game for one to three players that takes up to an hour and is medium. Wait.
- This piece of lint is not an action.
- I still find it a fascinating two-player asymmetric game.
- It's a candy-like board game that looks good and plays super quickly.
- Just like a sumo fighter, you will have to push your way to victory.
- And as you probably understand, it's just a silly little board game that's, well, fun. That's it. That's the game.
- Le Havre is quite a heavy Euro game from one to five players. I would recommend the smaller amounts, yet it is quite a game.
- But watch out because you actually will need to feed the bustling city, which means that you will lose a lot of these resources.
- Despite it being a really crunchy Euro game, it has actually quite a bit of interaction.
- Yes, they looks might have aged already, and it's pretty hard to get to the table. Yet, well, I will place it in my collection. I really enjoy crunchy Euro games. It's an oldie, but a goodie.
- Rewild is a medium-weight strategy game for one to four players that takes 1 hour to play, maybe less. It's, by the way, great solo.
- Are you ready to rewild this region so the animals have a great habitat where to live?
- I like it because my wife likes it, and we know how that goes.
- Welcome to Blood on the Clock Tower. Unfortunately, I just died, and one of you killed me.
- This is rather an experience than it is a board game and I love this experience.
- Survive the Island, which is a light family game for two to five players and takes less than an hour to play.
- This is a very mean game because you will throw other players treasure hunters into the water, try to eat them with sharks, with sea monsters, or kick them around with a kaiju.
- A lot of games stays at our collection. Some don't, but that's okay.
References (from this video)
- Purchased at a significant discount ($10)
- Published by eggertspiele, a publisher the reviewer is beginning to trust due to their work on Great Western Trail.
- Clear layout of game information on the back of the box.
- Two-phase game structure is interesting and compared to other games.
- Spaceship components are noted as 'fun'.
- Colony tags with city names are 'kind of neat'.
- Large rulebook with visual examples.
- Very bland looking game.
- Artwork quality for character portraits is not spectacular and reminds the reviewer of the quality in Race for the Galaxy.
- Box insert is a 'detested' well, implying poor design.
- Insufficient and poorly sized bags for components are provided.
- Colonizing planets
- Great Western Trail
- Jaws
- Galaxy Trucker
- Space Alert
- Tiny Epic Galaxies
- Eclipse
- Race for the Galaxy
- Terraforming Mars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Module loading and unloading — Phase one involves loading a ship with modules, and phase two involves unpacking them in reverse order upon reaching the planet.
- Two phase game — The game is described as a two-phase game, where in phase one players load up a ship with modules, and in phase two they unpack those modules on the planet they are colonizing. This is contrasted with other two-phase games like Jaws and Galaxy Trucker.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Is it because they were selling it brand new in shrink for $10 at my friendly local game store? Yeah!
- i trust - i'm beginning to trust this name, eggertspiele.
- It's a two phase game, where in phase one, you're loading up the ship with all kinds of modules that you will unpack on the planet that you're reaching to colonize it. It's a big theme now in board games, isn't it? Colonizing planets? It's huge.
- It's a very bland looking game.
- Sci-fi doesn't have to be bland, in my opinion.
- The detested boardgame box well. 'Here, kid: dump your crap in there.'
- It's like 'do you not know what's in the box? Because you put it in there.'
References (from this video)
- overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam
- grown a lot since its early access release with new areas, bosses, and collaborations
- one of the best survival crafting games you can play today
- survival crafting game that sees you control a bunch of creatures known as pals in a Pokémonlike style
- Pokémon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- survival crafting — The survival crafting game that sees you control a bunch of creatures known as pals in a Pokémonlike style.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- PalWorld is set to hit 1.0 later this year.
- Since releasing in 2024, PalWorld has grown a lot since its early access release with new areas, bosses, and collaborations.
- Despite people being unsure before its release, it's now one of the best survival crafting games you can play today.
- Stay tuned for more coverage when PalWorld hits 1.0 know later this year.
References (from this video)
- Elegant hand management and pool drafting
- Neat stack-building mechanism with important planning
- Good thematic integration with colonization and space setting
- Rich, multi-layered scoring options (Terrebonne, satellites, final population ship, colony capsules)
- High replayability due to randomized tile bag and tile order
- Iconography can be small and hard to parse, making analysis of opponents' boards difficult
- There is a large amount of data to analyze especially in higher player counts
- Some feel the early phase lacks clear direction and there could be more variability (e.g., hidden objectives) for variety
- Some rigid rules (e.g., must use a shuttle to grab certain buildings) may constrain decision space
- Colonization and city-building in a space setting
- Interstellar colonization game split into two phases: orbit around Earth, then arrival at a new planet
- Two-phase progression with hand-management and stack-building mechanics
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Colony capsules (races) for points — Each of the 14 colony capsules has a condition; the first to meet a condition earns the points.
- Compound Scoring — Final scoring uses a 'population ship' scoring with six criteria, including largest city and shield counts, plus race-based bonuses.
- Final population ship scoring and city-majority — Final scoring uses a 'population ship' scoring with six criteria, including largest city and shield counts, plus race-based bonuses.
- Hand Management — Players start with a hand of cards (numbers 1-5) and draft from a central pool, placing cards to influence which tile you can take and how it affects future turns.
- Hand management and pool drafting — Players start with a hand of cards (numbers 1-5) and draft from a central pool, placing cards to influence which tile you can take and how it affects future turns.
- Layer Building — Each time you take a tile you place it into a row corresponding to the number you used, building a stack that you later destruct from the left in the second phase.
- Pass option and round-end scoring — If you pass, you gain points for unplayed cards; there is a round end with tiles discarded and a new round begins.
- Shields and alternate scoring options — Shields can be activated by flipping modules, enabling alternate scoring routes and defense bonuses for objectives.
- Shuttles, satellites, and module deployment — Shuttles can carry up to two modules; satellites launch and score based on their own criteria; modules attach to cities and can be upgraded with shields.
- Stack-building (row/stack creation) — Each time you take a tile you place it into a row corresponding to the number you used, building a stack that you later destruct from the left in the second phase.
- Starting player token and round cleanup — Takes the starter token when you place a tile in some ways and triggers end-of-round cleanup.
- Terrebonne tokens and round-based scoring — Each round has Terrebonne tokens awarding fixed points (4 in early rounds, decreasing in later rounds) when tiles are taken that match the round’s tokens.
- Tile drafting with adjacency and number-matching restrictions — Tiles are drafted by placing a card on a slot; top card dictates allowed row; to bypass restrictions you can play two cards; the chosen tile is then placed and added to your row.
- Two-phase gameplay (orbit phase and planet phase) — First phase involves drafting and assembling your Colossus station; second phase involves activating tiles to settle the planet and build cities.
- Variable Phase Order — First phase involves drafting and assembling your Colossus station; second phase involves activating tiles to settle the planet and build cities.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think it's just a wonderfully elegant mechanism
- I love pool drafting in games in general
- it's a really neat idea
- I think this is a really good game all of these mechanics really seem to button themselves up quite well
- I've enjoyed every single one of those plays
- heartily recommend you give it a shot
References (from this video)
- Unique guitar-themed euro flavor that integrates real guitar elements
- Robust solo mode (Gym Bot) broadening playability beyond multiplayer
- Parody-song objectives provide musical flavor and lighthearted challenge
- Varied actions per turn keep decision-making dynamic
- Requires an interest in guitar concepts to fully engage
- Complexity may be intimidating for players without musical knowledge
- Availability concerns noted by the creator (some titles out of print or limited runs)
- Guitar performance competition with parody song objectives
- Tabletop session with guitar-themed components and real guitar picks used during play
- Competitive tabletop experience framed as becoming the most famous guitarist
- Surfer 18
- Ship Load of Gold
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Players choose one of three actions each turn (one, two, or three) to decide their immediate move
- hand/resource management — Players manage picks and chord cards drawn from supply and bag to set up their song strategy
- parody song objectives — Scoring is driven by completing parody songs (e.g., a song with specific chords)
- Resource Management — Players manage picks and chord cards drawn from supply and bag to set up their song strategy
- set collection / pattern building — Players collect chord cards and fits to fill out a fret-board-like display across five frets
- solo mode (Gym Bot) — A robust single-player/solo mode representing a composite of famous guitarists via Gym Bot
- Tile Placement — Filling the fret board and placement of picks contributes to scoring and control visuals
- tile/board placement — Filling the fret board and placement of picks contributes to scoring and control visuals
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a guitar themed euro
- we're using real guitar picks and real guitar chords
- the gym bot and he's an amalgamation of all of the different famous guitarists named Jim
- over the course of five frets you're going to fill in the entire board
- parody songs like the food fighters learn to fry
- Surfer 18 which is our sort of first flagship game
- it's an 18 card microwave game
- it's 18 cards
- we've also got surfer 18 which is our sort of first flagship game that took off for us
References (from this video)
- easy to learn
- family-friendly
- limited depth
- word construction
- tabletop word game
- light, competitive drafting
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- word drafting — players draft letters to form high-scoring words
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- One of the greatest experiences I've ever had playing a board game ever.
- It's all about board games, but especially the people who play them.
- This is Look Back, a series that I do where I talk about games that I reviewed one year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 20 years ago during this time frame.