SETI Review - Chairman of the Board

And finally, at number one, I have Seti. Definitely one of the hits from 2024. Um, haven't really seen many bad uh reviews or feedback on this rather heavy and involved cardriven Euro. Um, you know, I wasn't so sure I was going to dive into this one because I thought it might be a little bit too heavy and too long for my collection and I probably wouldn't get it played.

But after hearing so much positive feedback, I thought, you know, let's give this one a go because I'm probably going to miss out if I don't. Um, and you know, it is number one here, so you can probably tell that I do like this game quite a lot, but I do have some issues with it, which hopefully I can explain now.

So, um, let's start with a bit of an overview of the game. So, what you're trying to do is that you are launching these probes into space, landing on these different planets on this based on this really cool kind of universe system where as the game goes on, just passively the board is going to rotate, which means the orientation of these planets is going to change and line up differently, meaning that the the distance between certain planets and from the Earth is going to change around and might take you longer or shorter to do certain routes.

Once you've landed on these planets, you can either again land on the planet itself or you can orbit the planet which is a bit cheaper, get bonuses as you do. Uh the bonuses are things such as know cost money, you got data, h you got these presents as well where you are trying to compete for majorities in these different segments on the board.

And that's probably my first nitpick of the game is that I think the the area majority thing when it comes to scanning it's called um and competing for the majorities of these little sections. I thought that was a little bit weak. Um although it's definitely worth doing because of course you can um you get data from it which is another facet of the game.

Um but you are often rewarded for of course create being the majority uh presence in these regions but it only cashes out once it's completed and what that means is that you are kind of relying on the other players to partake in that part of the game as well and I found over my games playing this people would start quite enthusiastically competing for these regions but as the game developed and people bought built up more of an engine of cards and things it would be ignored and it kind of just faded into obscurity and nobody really touched it anymore.

And when you had presence there already, it seemed like you wasted your previous efforts. Um, again, maybe that's just the way we played it as a group, but I definitely noticed it in each time I played this one. So, that's one kind of small nitpick. Now, another thing you're trying to do is you're trying to build up your engine on your playerboard, which will make you more efficient at different actions.

again gaining data um which is going to populate this different kind of strip on your playerboard and an action is to cash it in in order to gain I think it's called like um DNA or kind of um intelligence based on these two alien races that are going to um be randomly determined for each game. And what you're trying to do is you're trying to get three different types of I think it's called DNA.

And once you've done that, you're going to unlock the alien race, which will kind of throw a bit of um make the game feel a bit different based on different rules, and you're essentially competing to get more of that DNA to put more of your control markers down there to get points, bonuses, combos, uh and so on.

So, there's a lot of moving parts on to this game, but um it's actually pretty simple to play because all you're doing is you're either kind of launching a probe, landing, orbiting, or or scanning essentially. Um, but where the main fun of the game lies, at least for me, is in the in the card play. So, this is definitely one of those multi-use card games where you can use these cards for, of course, multiple different reasons.

Number one, of course, paying for those cards in order to get the the benefit from them. And that could be like a little engine building benefit. So, whenever you take a certain action, you get an improved version of it. It could be like a one-off benefit. Um, it can be endgame um objectives. So, of course, it'll give you something to aim towards.

It can even be something like these uh little milestone objectives where if you do something from that point on then you'll can gain a benefit um and give you little boosts and so on. Now if you don't want to use these cards for the kind of um the main ability, you can just discard them for the corner ability that will give you like little boosts.

So that could be like an extra bit of cash or um an extra data token or even like free movement with your um with your little probe that's going around the the universe. So sometimes there is a bit of a dilemma on the cards you want to keep, which cards you want to get rid of. Um, and you're even building up a bit of an an engine or like an income engine.

Um, where at the end of each round based on cards you've tucked beneath your little player card, your starting card that will give you a boost of income at the start of each round, which again can which again can be more like money, um, more energy, which is like a secondary currency, or even more cards, uh, and so on.

So again, lots of moving parts here, tons of strategies you can go for. or you can kind of ignore certain parts of the game and just focus on other things. Um, and yeah, it's definitely a feast for the senses. You're not going to find yourself bored with this one because you're always kind of thinking of your next step, what you're going to do, how you going to combo these cards, what actions are you going to prioritize, are you going to move before the the universe shifts?

Are you going to wait until the universe shifts so that you can be more efficient? Uh, and I even like the way that you can, you know, leave your probes in certain areas and just like the board itself can kind of push you along into more optimal or sometimes sub optimal positions. Um, so yeah, I think if you like your your heavier euros, um, especially if you like games like I think underwater cities, games like Ark Nova, um, I think this is going to be the sweet spot for you this style of game.

Again, lots of meat on the bones, clever combos, good card play, um minmaxing everything, trying to squeeze everything out of the round. You know, you can stay in the g stay in the rounds, you know, and exhaust yourself if you want to. Um and it's quite interesting to see how much mileage you can get out of these cars to get do everything you can.

So, I don't really have many negative things to say about it other than I thought the competing for the majorities was a little bit weak. Um, and most importantly, the game is rather long. So, each time I played this one, it's taken around three hours to play. And although I wouldn't say it's outstayed, it's welcome.

Uh, I would say that by the end of it, I was I was ready to move on. And these styles of games, I don't have that many opportunities to play them. Um, and after the few times I played this one, I feel like I've kind of seen what the game has to offer. Um, I'm sure people will bounce back on that. Um, but I feel like I've got the SETI experience, if that makes sense.

I've enjoyed it. I've got a lot of value out of it. But is this a game I'm going to pull off the shelf regularly and choose this one over other kind of epic, larger, more grandiose euros? Probably not. I would rather lean towards something like Colution or something like Barrage. those games just have a bit more unique about them and a bit more engaging for me.

Whereas this one, I'm really grateful I played it and I and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I I even recommend it to the right gamers. For me, the main issue is that I simply wouldn't play it, I think. And once a game is going to be sat on my shelf for a year or two before I play it, it just needs to move on because we're so we're drowned in in so many games.

But objectively, a fantastic design. Again, love the card play. Um, and even generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of um, you know, sci-fi or space theme games, I think this game did a really good job of um, using that theme to the max. and especially that the presence of the board. It looks awesome on the table.

Way the planet shift round. It's just got a really nice uh table presence and even some little some little additional wrinkles of the game I really enjoy such as these milestones that you're hitting by going up the score track which will let you invest in different endame scoring categories. Um and kind of the earlier you go to them, the better points return you get based on your own strategies that you're going for.

So, this game is probably more suited for a review when you can actually see everything and um a more in-depth star review, but I just wanted to share my overall overarching thoughts on the game where it's a solid game. In fact, it's an excellent design. Um, but it's one that's not quite right for me and my gaming group.

Um, and yeah, it just simply would not get played. But still, it's I think it's going to be really well regarded for a long time to come because it's clearly um a very well polished game. So that is seti at number