The Hungry Gamer's Steam and Cheese Mini Preview
Transcript
Oo, that looks tasty. Welcome folks to the Hung Gamers back with another mini preview. And today we are talking about Steam and Cheese. And now this is a game that I was paid to do a how to play video and a solo play video, rather a playthrough video, which I played two-handed. So take that for what you will. That said, this video is not something that was paid for. I am doing this because I feel like doing it. So, just keep that in mind. And again, take that for whatever it is that you will. So, this is a game that is about steampunk mice making cheese and bringing in spices on a zeppelin and doing all kinds of crazy crap to make cheese and fill cheese orders. Now, as I said, I have a how to play video, so I'm not going to go too in depth here. But the main thing to know is that it is a dice drafting action selection game. And when you draft a die, you're going to get a resource. You draft the white dye, you get milk. The yellow dye, you get gold. The brown dye, you get renet, which is a thing that you need to make cheese, which obviously all of us already knew. Clearly, I did for sure.
But then you take that die, you don't change the facing, and you pick an action. And depending on the number on the side of the die facing the action you take, and there's four actions. So maybe it's a six on the top, which means there's a one on the bottom. There's a four here and a three here. If I place it here on this side, the action I takes will have a strength of four because that's what's facing it. On the other side, if I take the direct opposite action, it'll have a strength of three. Or maybe I take the five which is facing up or the two that's facing down, whatever. But the side facings will determine the strength of the other action you take. And you're going to be running around the assistant board getting more renet and getting milk.
You'll be running up and down this zeppelin getting points and losing money and getting spices and all of those things. And at the same time, you'll be getting you'll be making cheese by combining your milk and your renet. You'll be pasteurizing cheese, which will keep it from spoiling faster. And you'll be pressing your cheese, which will be making it firmer cheese as you kind of go down. And then eventually you spice the cheese and make it very fancy cheese. And you're fulfilling orders. And you're changing the action spaces on the board and all that crap just so your mice are happy. And you're trying to well, you're doing a whole lot of stuff. This is a heavier game. I don't know if I'm ready to say that this game is as heavy as maybe a Sweet Lands or a SETI, but it's close. It is a complex game with a lot of moving parts and a lot of things going on. Now, with that being said, what do I like about the game? First off, I love me some anthropomorphic animals.
I don't like to admit this, but I dig steampunk. I shouldn't. It makes no sense, but I'm here for it. And I'm really here for steampunk mice. I'm especially here for steampunk mice that their only purpose in the world is to make money by making cheese. I'm here for it. I love it. The art is awesome on the cards and the orders. It's y'all, it's amazing art. I love it. Also, I have a sample of what will be the deluxe version of the game, and the components are really nice. It's not done yet. I'm sure that if you watch one of my videos, you'll see that the milk cubes are clear. I'm sure they're going to be white. I'm sure they're going to have ways to say that it's, you know, worth five cubes or three cubes, all that stuff. But with that said, the samples of the components that I have, they're really nice. screen printed meles, dual layer boards, really nice components. I really like all of that.
Now, getting into the game play, the main thing is the core mechanic of the dice drafting. And what I mean by that is you draft a die, you get the top face in a resource. Then you place the die and depending on where you place it, you're going to spend the sides of the dice to activate other actions. Or if you put on your own player board, you're going to do the the bottom facing of the die. And there's a few other ways you activate the bottom of the die as well. But it's really clever. It's a really clever puzzle every single turn to figure out, okay, how can I maximize what I'm doing, make progress towards my goals for the round? Cuz there's a whole bunch of ways that you score points. Just having a bunch of trash, a bunch of spoiled milk will get you a goal and 15 points is nothing to to sneeze at. So maybe you want to chase a lot of milk and get a lot of milk and let a lot of milk spoil and you're going to get 30 points and you got to deal with that trash. You got to throw it away. You're going to lose a bunch of points. But at the same time, you're also trying to fill orders. So that means you got to find the best place to place the dice to do what you need to do while everything is spoiling constantly and understanding that every time you send an assistant out or send one of your ownership markers out, you have to pay money. So you got to get money. So everything is tied together in one of those very satisfying to do B you have to have done A but to do A you have to have done C to do C you have to have done B. That delightful little triangle that makes for a crunchy experience and
I think it works really well and more importantly it's unique. I have never even heard of a game that does what this game does with dice. Really really cool. Next thing I'll say is this is a game for planners. If you're someone that can plan what you're trying to do, it is so rewarding. You're going to play through like, ah, I'm going to put this here and I'm going to get this machine and I'm going to put this machine out and then someone else is going to use my machine. I'm going to get something paid for it and at the same time I'm getting all this milk. Oh, look. I just finally got all these points for having all this milk. Oh, it all expired. That's such a shame. But oh, look, I got more points cuz all this milk expired. and oh look, I put out the machine that's going to allow me to throw away a lot of trash.
It's so satisfying when you can hit that. And if you're the type of brain that can plan like that, it's just reward, reward, reward every time you play. And as I just said, it's really satisfying when you're hitting those rewards. And every single time you play, the game is going to be different just because of the way the dice roll. And I really appreciate that the replay and the feel of discovery is really high as you're going through and I really really enjoy that. So with that said, what are my quibbles with the game? Sometimes it's hard to do things and that's something I always say in these games where I'm like it's a crunchy euro. It's a very tight economy and there's definitely times and you can watch my solo play. I keep saying solo play, my two-handed play and you can see where I'm like I'm going to go here. like ah if I go here I can't do this other action and that will happen 100% the first time you play several times it's hard to do things well next thing I'll say is it definitely has potential for hate drafting you can absolutely see what people are working towards and be like oh I'm going to put this die here oh are you blocked out of that action now oh so sad I'm so sorry for you and in a six turn game it can feel brutal when that happens Next thing I'll say is the core concept of the way the dice works. And I think it's because I've never seen it before.
It can be confusing. There's definitely a I put the die down. Wait, wait, wait. That's going to be this one. No, I'm going to turn it. Turn it. Turn. No, that's No, no, that's not what it can be a little fiddly and a little confusing kind of tracking what it is that you're trying to do. And the last thing I'll say is this seems like it's going to be a light, cute, simple game. And that's just because it's mice using gears and making cheese. It is not. I mentioned Sweetlands earlier and STI. Two games that I really, really like. The complexity of this game I think is up there with those. This is a heavy game. Don't be fooled by the cute mice. If you're looking for a heavy euro, this is one to check out. If you're looking for mice making cheese, careful. But there you have it, folks.
That is Steam and Cheese. I am terrible at this game. I wish I was better at this game, and I want to play this game again. That is the core of how I feel about this game. It's very clever, doing very interesting new stuff, and I'm definitely here for that. But there you have it, folks. As always, if you found this video useful, please like, subscribe, share, maybe become a channel member. As always, thank you so much for watching. Have a wonderful, wonderful day.