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Description
In 1566, Jean Parisot de Valette, 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, laid the foundation for Valletta, the future capital of Malta.
In Valletta, players take inspiration from Jean Parisot de Valette in order to procure raw materials; hire merchants, bricklayers and roofers; and build their own version of the magnificent capital, with its mighty bastions, baroque buildings, and a right-angled street network. Cultivate your contacts with the Order of Malta to improve your reputation.
Players are supervised in their work by de Valette, who patrols his streets as a building inspector. When he reaches the end of his patrol, the game ends and a winner is determined.
Year Published
2017
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment:
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mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
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Secret Vault game_review at 0:00 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 3998 · mention_pk 11642
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Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Theming is well-integrated with Valletta's historic city-building
- Deck-building is used in a unique, non-trivial way
- End phase mechanic adds compelling late-game tension and scoring
- Conflict around scarce valuable buildings due to the Jean Parisot de Villette mechanic
Cons
- Limited card variety leading to reduced replayability
- As a lighter euro, it may lack depth for heavier euro players
- Deck replenishment and card balance could be more varied
Thematic elements
- city-building, deck-building, resource management
- Mediterranean city-building in Valletta, Malta, during the era of the Order of Malta
- historical flavor embedded in a procedural deck-building engine
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Adjacency discounts — Building costs are reduced if adjacent to owned properties.
- Character-driven synergy — New employees provide additional actions and create synergies with existing buildings.
- deck-building — Players manage a personal deck of worker cards, discarding and reshuffling to perform actions.
- End phase deck crawl — At the end, players shuffle discard into their deck and go through it once more for late scoring.
- Resource management — Gathers wood, stone, money, bricks, etc., used to construct buildings and upgrade them.
- Worker/employee cards — Each card provides actions and resources; hiring and firing affect future options.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I really do like Valletta
- it's an excellently designed game
- it's probably a little bit too much on the lighter end of the scale for me
- the end phase... shuffle your discard piles back into your deck and run through that entire deck one last time
- the end phase is the best, the best I love it
- this is the epitome of paying attention to the players fun
- I think this is a good one to check out
- it's got a good set of mechanics, it's got a unique set of mechanics and it works really well
- they paid attention to making the game fun first
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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