Uncharted Waters - Genesis Game (Retro Fam)

I like a game which is not overly complex to learn but requires a solid strategy and depth of play to win. This fits that bill and some. I've never felt better having my butt kicked like this before. Game just makes me want to start over and refine my strategy as I learn more about the game. And, this is just playing ONE spirit thru three times. The variety with so many spirits to play and the different levels of complexity available makes this game incredibly replayable….. This more than offsets a hefty price which did/does seem a touch high to me.

short summary:very complex game that takes a long time to set up, and understand the rules. set aside a lot of time for your first playthrough. but it goes quicker once you get a handle on it, and builds to a big splashy climax that everyone can contribute to both individually and collaboratively.Longer review:Just got this game and played once through with a 12/15 yo, and both are familiar with complex tabletops. We played it (and pretty easily beat it) with both of the two nerfing rules in play, as we were learning the game; next time I'll play with just one of the nerfs. It still took about 4 hours to play, after setup, and that only got us through about 1/2 of each of the game timer decks before we won outright. (I wouldn't expect a game that consumed those decks to necessarily take 8 hours--it's just the learning curve).The below notes are feedback from just the first play through. I really think it'll get much much easier with experience.Cons:-it took about 90 minutes to follow the setup instructions. I'd expect subsequent games to be closer to 30 mins now that we understand the nomenclature of the pieces. There's still somethings that will take time, like deck building.-it needs a good size table. There are lots of cards for the players to manage individually that cycle in and out of play.-the rules are daunting. I spent 2 hours reading them and grokking them, and then another 30-45 mins teaching the kids, and it took about two turns before we really all got.

I picked this up over Christmas and it quickly became one of our favorite games.The things I like most:* Cooperative game with no individual turns - everyone is working together the whole time* Nobody is eliminated until you win (or lose)* Victory and loss conditions are decoupled - you can be one turn away from victory and one turn away from defeat at the same time - this makes the game much more dynamic* Gameplay is surprisingly varied, especially with the wide range of difficulties you can play at* You feel like you can think your way out of most of the situations, because there's a lot less luck/random chance than in most games

Spirit Island1-4 players, CooperativeOverview-You play as a spirit working to rid your island of colonists! They are invading your land and you are not having it so you must work to either scare them off or destroy them. Very deep, very strategic and VERY fun!Win Condition /Length-So for you to win you have to achieve your victory condition listed on the current Fear tab on the board. Starting out you must fully clear the board of all explorers, towns and cities. Lol good luck on that. Luckily as you spread more and more fear throughout the island these victory conditions become easier as the game progresses. The next fear condition is just clearing out the towns and cities and the 3rd is just clearing out the cities. If you get ALL the fear cards removed it’s an instant win! I love the fact that the win conditions become a tad bit easier as the game progresses. It really makes it seem like you are making progress within the game with all your efforts.That’s not to say the game is easy though. There are three ways you can lose which are by either completely having your presence removed from the board, all the blight tokens are added to the board or if you need to draw an Explore card and cannot. So as you are working against the invaders, they are working against you and time is not your friend.The game plays in about an hour and a half which for me is perfect. Luckily since all players take their actions at the same time, adding more players doesn’t really increase the game.

I had not originally jumped on this bandwagon because I thought it was subject to the latest game hotness. However we decided to do so after playing it at a friend's house and my husband (who is not a huge boardgames) loved it. We taught my parents how to play and they had a great time playing it too!