Voidfall - Solo Board Game Review - A Heavy Toll Must Be Paid
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- Voidfall - Solo Board Game Review - A Heavy Toll Must Be Paid
This review is focusing ONLY ON THE SOLO MODE! And yes, I need all 30+ minutes to talk about everything good and bad about this game!
Voidfall is a space 4X game that brings the genre to Euro enthusiasts' tables. It combines the tension, player interaction, and deep empire customization of the 4X genre with the resource management, tight decisions, and minimum-luck gameplay of an economic Euro. Win by pushing back the Voidborn in the solo/coop mode, or by overcoming your rivals' influence in restoring the Domineum in the competitive mode - both using the same rule set and game system. Variability is ensured not only by multiple playable houses with their own strengths and weaknesses, but also by many different map set-ups for all game modes.
As the leader of a defiant Great House, you play through three cycles, each with a game-altering galactic event, a new scoring condition, and a set number of focus cards that can be played. Focus card decisions and sequencing is the centerpiece of the gameplay. By selecting two of their three impactful actions as you play them, you develop and improve techs; advance on your three house-specific civilization tracks; manage your sectors' infrastructure, population, and production; and conquer new sectors with up to five different types of space fleets. Space battles are fought either against the Voidborn's infected forces (which are present as neutral opponents even in the competitive mode) or against other players. Instead of relying on the luck of a die roll, battles in Voidfall are fully deterministic and reward careful preparation and outsmarting your opponents.
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Who Am I?
One single batchelor from the UK talking about his passion for board games and the people who play them! I support small content creators, board game cafes and go against the status quo when it comes to the board game industry. I give my honest opinions without bias towards any publishers or designers and will not hold back if I don't like a game.
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I look forward to engaging with you, the community on my live streams or in the comments on my videos!
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction and KIENDA Promo
01:11 - Background (I Do Like Heavy Games!!)
02:42 - General Rules Overview
04:22 - Game Comparisons
05:59 - Pros (Components, Galactic vs Retail)
07:57 - Pros (Focus Cards Are The Best Part)
09:45 - Pros (Euro Fare You've Seen Before)
11:01 - Pros (The Crisis Board and Solo Difficulty)
13:26 - Pros (It's A Big Giant Puzzle With A Space Theme)
14:43 - Pros (So Much Variety)
16:20 - Cons (So Many Rules.......Oh So Many Rulebooks)
19:38 - Cons (Setup Is Painfully Long And It's A Table Claimer!)
22:28 - Cons (2-3 Hours Just To Play By Yourself)
23:59 - What I Want In The Upcoming Companion App
27:19 - Summary and Verdict
32:07 - Please Share and Support The Show
#brokenmeeple #voidfall #mindclashgames #davidturczi #boardgames #boardgame #lukehector #supportsmallcreators #tabletop #tabletopgames #bgg #solo #boardgamereview
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Full credit to BoardGameGeek and its members for any images used that aren't my own or part of the publisher press kit. - Ігри
I just dedicated 34 minutes to simply watching you rant about the extensive time investment of a game I have already backed and already know I want to play when my copy arrives. So yeah...time investment is not an issue for me. 😀
He he that section was closer to 3min 😁
This was a thorough and fair review with great considerations from all sides and great photography. I think your app recommendation was a good one that I hope MindClash will consider them if the game does well enough to warrant it. Also, the clips give me a chuckle.
Thank you for the kind words!
Such a fantastic game. Pretty sure it will will take the top spot for me (kicking Spirit Island to #2) for solo game. As much as I like it solo I like it even more multiplayer. I am also a person that doesn't mind the setup time. I find it therapeutic. That said, I wouldn't just break this out at game night. If I was bringing it to game night I would setup the game ahead of time same as I do the other lengthy setup games that I have.
I am still waiting on mine but you sound a lot like me, i love setting up games as you said i find it very relaxing.
And i am the same if i have preplanned to play a game with a long setup when going to the club i get there early and set it up so the other players don't have to wait around lol, i am looking forward to this one so much
Woah, big call if you're saying it topples Spirit Island from your #1 game (it's my favourite too)! Might have to take a closer look now, even if the rules overhead seems headache inducing...
Setup is just wasted time. I don't enjoy putting stuff out just like I enjoy cooking and eating the meal, not having to set up the table and clean up the dishes after.
@@TheBrokenMeeplefair enough. But allow me to illustrate for those of us who don't mind the setup: I compare it to the experience of doing a jigsaw puzzle on the table. Can provide focus/relaxation and builds anticipation!
So not wasted time in our minds😊
I also plan my setup for heavy games well. I usually set up in the morning, and we start playing in the afternoon until late in the evening.
Love those heavy boardgamesessions.
Very good description and frank, well considered assessment.
Thank you! I like the game genuinely, but I do feel many are too forgiving of the fact it's a behemoth in many ways. And competitive mode honestly isn't that good - you play this solo or co-op or not at all IMO.
Great video & as always a brutally honest review!
I wouldn't say this one was brutal by comparison to something like Expeditions but honest all the same! 😁
I'm going to suggest that most of what you listed as "flaws" are actually better described as "characteristics" of the game. Most of them are there to provide a very robust and challenging gameplay experience with long term replayability through variability. They become "flaws" for you because they do not provide you enough payoff to justify the investment. There's no argument with that. The only other way I could see them being characterized as flaws would be if you could see how the same depth, challenge, and robustness could be provided in a way that required less investment. Maybe your automated Crisis Board concept is a good example. I guess I think a more accurate way to describe the things you mentioned as "flaws" would be to describe them as things that were negative "characteristics" for you that people need to be aware of. BTW, you did a good job of pointing that out but it just struck me that I kept hearing the word flaw(s) a lot which implies a more fundamental game problem to me.
I'd agree that the flaw you mentioned regarding lack of labeling of the House Trays is in fact a flaw since this could have been addressed with a sticker for the end or side of each tray. Recognizing this is in fact an area that could be improved, the designer has since provided files on BGG which provide House Tray labels and House Reference cards for each House.
As always, I do appreciate the thorough review and analysis and believe you were accurate regarding everything you covered and that the evaluation and score was fair based on the game characteristics that were negatives (flaws) for you. Thanks!
Your critique is very helpful. There are limits to how large and complex a physical game can get and it sounds like this is over the edge for me. My arms are only so long, my table so big, my eyesight so clear, let alone the setup time and rules overhead…
Happy to assist!!
And you forgot to mention your shelf too!
18:32 "Overwhelming" is why most of us (and you) like this type of heavy games I guess. I absolutely love the feeling of getting to learn a complex set of rules (in a game at least).
It's just so satisfying once you've gone through all the preparation, which is a lot of fun thanks to our beloved You Tube teachers as yourself, and start playing those first sessions.
I like the heavy games for the fun decisions and epic feeling you get when playing the game. Rules learning is always a chore.
Nice overview of this game, I already own Gaia Project and Eclipse and just bought Voidfall as well.
I'd rather play Void than both of those two, especially Eclipse. But Void quickly just became too much fath to deal with.
Cool review! I don't agree with all of it but most of it is fair, especially the part about the setup slog and the House trays (and a good chunk of the insert overall, they dropped the ball on that).
But if that's the worst part about the game, I think we'll be okay :)
Whenever I play this, I'm happy with the time I spent on it and it just flies by. It definitely doesn't compare to something like Spirit Island which doesn't have the same level of intricacies, it's simply a different experience so I don't think these can and should be compared. Definitely something lighter like Septima is interesting, but it really doesn't bring me the same level of enjoyment so it just depends on people.
I definitely don't agree with the amount of rules. The rulebook and glossary are long because they are extremely detailed, half of the setup pages are images! And you certainly don't need to (and likely didn't) read ALL 3 rulebooks. You just need the one main rulebook and then refer to the rest if you need precisions or scenario setups. And I much prefer that over something like Feudum which has half the rulebook words for twice the complexity :D
As for the iconography, I think either it clicks or it doesn't, more than logical arguments. I found it intuitive quickly and I really don't need to check the rulebook to remember the various cycle phases.
Feudum goes too far in rules also. But not everything in Voidfall is intuitive, I'm always checking the glossary frequently and there's still a ton of rules to recall in general. Where do harbingers go? How many times can I contribute to a safe haven? What's the priority for targeting in skirmishes? Lots of little nitpick scenarios.
Play a game of Spirit with high level spirits or multiplayer and tell me it doesnt have heavy intracacies 😅
TTS is probably the only future for this game as at least I don't need an hour to set up and put away again. Or have to deal with the poor storage system.
Oof that setup time... same story with Trickerion, I timed that setup once, going as fast as I could, and it took 20 minutes. But I have high hopes that Voidfall will be worth it, seems like the sort of game I'll love (once it's set up...)
It's certainly got..... ONCE it's set up and committed to memory....
Great and candid review, thank you for that. I am too much in dad mode gaming to get this but if I had all day by myself I would be into this a lot. But I fear this is not for me., the time thing kills it.
It's not for the casual player, you have to commit to this otherwise it's not worth it.
I really appreciate the honesty going into this review, even if its painfull to hear.
Setup is an issue, but not for gamenight since it can be setup beforehand.
The biggest question for me really is: would I (would you) play this game over something else and if so which one ... this is really the question i would like to be answered in your reviews as well, just my two cents though :)
You say "set up before hand" but someone still had to spend an eternity setting it up - it's not like that time is granted for free. Would I play this over Hegemony solo? No. Would I play this over Spirit Island solo? Definitely not.
Thanks for the answer.
I have to say my comment was more targeted towards competitive play, so the setup is still an issue for solo.
I finished my first two solo games last night and have to say: initial setup was a pain. The second solo game, however, it was so much quicker. I now can set it up in under 15 min. So maybe it is also a matter of familiarity with the game (maybe you want to give it a few more chances?). Still definitely one of the lengthiest setup times.
I gotta say though: it plays reaaaally well solo, can't wait to try it Coop and competitive.
Shame to hear it's not for you but everyone has different tastes of course. Hegemony for examples falls flat for me solo because I am missing the player interaction way to much. But I also really would never compare the two as they aim for a totally different experience and game. Let's face it you gotta be in the right mood for either of those games.
As with Spirit Island or Through the Ages, it's a great game, which also happens to be a boardgame instead a videogame at start. I'd rather play it on computer to reduce the busy work.
It was tough but then it clicked…..it’s fantastic….but I could only play this solo as my own AP is through the roof with this
Multiplayer sounds like an AP nightmare?
I'm tempted by this. I like Anachrony from this designer. Not worried about setup time (I'm the one who sets these things up and my wife just sits down and plays). I think between playing Anachrony, On Mars, and Eclipse, I'd like to believe we could handle it. We don't even play such games usually in one sitting, just leave it on a table for next day. Those inconveniences are OK for me, if the game is generally fun.
If you can cope with the learning curve, table hog and insane play time/setup, then go for it!
This game is so good, and yes it’s a lot at first but Ian O’Toole really nailed the iconography and it makes it so much easier to learn.
It makes it "easier" to learn but then having a reference aid makes Quantum Physics easier to learn, it's still a hard slog though.
I haven't played my copy yet, and I'm concerned my table won't be into this one enough to play it more than a couple times. Hopefully the solo holds up for me, but I'm sitting on an organized copy and no time to even set it up for at least a week. So I definitely see the concerns about how daunting the game might be.
Bit of a tip for those faction boxes: Half the factions or so have special focus cards which serve to "label" the boxes. To make up for those that don't, I just put the Fallen House cards into the boxes face down. That way, I just look at the bottom of the box to see who's in it. But I agree that set of boxes does not seem conducive to quick and easy set up. Factions probably should have been organized differently.
Folded Space are likely to do an insert for the retail box of Voidfall, that could help a lot!
I wonder if mindclash woll create voidfall essential edition like they did with anachrony...lol
There is "normal" edition of this game in retail, was there ever a "normal" (retail) edition of mindclash?
Okay, probably too much for me. I think I'll bring Imperium:etc off the shelf-still plenty of solo play in those boxes.
I decided to learn the game solo “two handed” competitively first. All the additional solo rules were a little daunting.
I'm carefully optimistic about this one, but all these nuances are fully expected. Looks like an epic boutique lifestyle solo experience, but I already have a few games competing for this super-heavy slot. You'll forget everything if you don't play once a month at least. Dunno how a hardcore game of these proportions gonna become popular.
I've tried beta version from KS times and AP from focus cards was brutal for me, couldn't even complete a solo game. Now I have to reread rules from scratch and try again on TTS to decide if it's worth it, and that task looks dauting as hell...
Very daunting, this is a game you need to play regularly and not put away. I fear that unless I can play multiplayer that Id be better off playing this on TTS.
@@TheBrokenMeeple My thoughts as well...
“Whaddya want? A biscuit?” 😂
As English as you can get!
Didn't Don Rickles use to say "What do ya want, a cookie?"
I’m sure some folks like the video clip interruptions, but I found them distracting. Not expecting any changes on my account, but figured the feedback may be helpful. I just played this competitively tonight, it’s really good, but I don’t think I could justify owning it. Except. I haven’t tried it coop yet. And if it manages to be amazing there, it may be worth it to me, as I really do love a good coop.
Majority do like the clips and I still like using them but thanks anyway. Changes it up from just "switch camera on and talk two second edit" styles out there.
For me personally, this is a lot better than "Spirit Island" as a solo game. Running a single spirit in "Spirit Island" means the island is tiny and the "programming" of the invader actions become almost robotic. I know that's working as intended and you can just run two-handed (which I do), but I think pure solo is a bit of a downer. "Voidfall" is - like "Anachrony" - quite demanding to acquaint yourself with, but once you do I get a much greater enjoyment out of it. Solo works great, and if you want, you can also play "Voidfall" two-handed, which is also a hell of a good time (those Joint Focus cards are such a cool idea).
I still think "Mage Knight" is my favourite but "Voidfall" has become my #2 solo game, knocking "Scythe" with 4 Automas down to the #3 spot.
Solo Voidfall is enough table space and complexity to not want to play two handed. It's a rules slog to learn every play also unless I play it every week. TTS has killed the physical product for me.
Spirit Island solo isn't auto pilot though, you don't know where the invaders will go and you have events and fear cards to change things up. I played eight spirit island games over a weekend, probably same time as two Voidfall games tops.
Good review as ever. Having said that, you sort of cheated, as you can't really go wrong when you open with a clip from the best tv show ever!
I am in the fortunate position of being a very early retiree so time is a lot less of an issue, and I suspect I will like the gameplay a lot (especially following your comments on that front), so I remain hopeful about this beast 🙂
If you have all the time in the world then great 😁 and it's not cheating, it's paying homage 🤪And easier than trying to act out a pitch meeting 😅
Thank you for your review Luke.
To be honest, if you explained to me Spirit Island setup like you did with Voidfall, I wouldn’t understand more than half of it 🤣
Point is: you can’t really demonstrate the setup is complex if you present it that quickly to an audience who mostly doesn’t even know the game 😅
I think that we need to consider that many publishers / developers create games thinking that people will only play them for months.
Is it realistic? Probably not. But I’ve read the rulebook 3-4 times at most (and I mean the actual rules, not ALL the rulebooks from start to finish) and played like 5-6 games on TTS and the iconography became natural after the first 2 games.
Also you are not supposed to read every single page on the glossary. That’s for reference only. Once you get the logic behind the icons, 95% of the cards are self explanatory.
You’ll just look at the glossary for maybe 2-3 cards that may still be a bit unclear or for special sectors that come out only in specific scenarios that you are still unfamiliar with.
I do wish the tray system for factions was a bit more user-friendly, sure. If you store cards in a way the Fallen house card can be seen through the tray though, you can easily see which tray holds the tech cards you need for a specific sector, so you don’t need to actually open every single faction tray.
I’m also curious about the app, because sorting combat results out can be pretty helpful, but if that means inputting the fleet types and techs involved every single time, it would become a chore to use
It's the fact that I'm always having to reference the glossary every game, and every time I'm checking rules or glossary I'm taken out of the game and wasting time. I feel that if they simply just made enough storage slots to hold the tech cards and factions cards in general that would have worked fine, there's a lot of wasted space taken up by plastic.
@@TheBrokenMeeple There really should be no need to. The iconography and text on cards should be self explanatory after a couple of games 🤔
What are you constantly referencing? Agenda scoring? Civ tracks bonus icons? Heroic focus cards actions?
That's a big layout
Corruption tokens are the same in the standard version, not cardboard.
That's cool!
Not sure I'd class spirit island or Ark Nova as particularly heavy.
I must admit though, your review has probably turned this into a definite buy for me!
They are definitely not medium weight games! Remember gamers are inherently biased on weight ratings of games.
Great review Luke! You seem to gloss over the co-op scenarios. Can those just be played as solo scenarios. Thx!
They are intended for 2-4 players. There's about 8 scenarios I think for all 3 types of mode.
It looks like there are 7 scenarios for a 2-player co-op mode alone. 🤷
@@CarlosRodriguez-ez3ls the coop scenarios are separate from the solo ones
I think these monstrosities really appeal to people that look at boardgames as mental challenges to overcome. I see this mountain and I’m going to climb it. I admit I looked at this, and I thought it would be a challenge to learn, and could I actually learn it? Similar to how I used to approach complex Avalon Hill Games. You test your limits. How else would this get an 8.7 rating on bgg? Masochists all. Maybe the company purposely sets out to torture you. “Let’s see how much we can get away with.”
It's a niche audience that loves it so much to death that they come on BGG and rate it a 10 or GOTY. Most people won't even touch this game. And some will be like me "decent but a fath". But the fanboys will be loud and direct.
I just imagine someone that play a heavy game for the first time and play Avoidfall. 🤣😂😅
This game is ridiculous but good!
That setup and table space needed is a hard pass for me.
I can handle complex games like mage knight or spirit island but this seems too much. I dont think it would be a relaxing experience and i usually want to relax when i play a board game.
Oh this isn't relaxing at all!
which one do you think is more fun, voidfall or eclipse second dawn?
Voidfall for sure.
@@TheBrokenMeeple I disagree wholeheartedly. For my and my playgroup taste, Eclipse is the best board game of all time. I bought voidfall mainly for solo gameplay. The fact you need an app to solve/predict the outcome of battles in this game alone puts this tier below Eclipse in multiplayer setting, for solo it's fine.
I never needed to use the app personally. To be honest we're comparing a game I think is too fiddly and complicated for its own good and a game I cannot stand and find dull and tedious in every way 😂 Either way I'm not getting a good deal here!
Can say enough nice things about having a recessed game table. once i made one myself, my board game collection soared from about 10 to over 250. If you don't have the time to set up Voidfall, you shouldn't even be looking at 4x games. period.
There are other 4x games that don't take as long to set up. And even then, Voidfall is not a 4X game. Where exactly is the exploration aspect?
@@TheBrokenMeeplenorthgard!😊
How would you compare this to Gaia project?
They're nothing alike at all really.
The Rulebook is 40 Pages… With lots of pictures in it. Come on ;) . I set this game up for solo in about 15 minutes. Cool review, but i dont get what you are doing there 😂
Fifteen minutes no way and 40 pages of much writing and absorption 🤣
@@TheBrokenMeeple Hehe, it is true. My Solo Setups dont take longer than 15mins (with the galactic Box insert I should say). The Rulebook is full of pictures and 40 pages are pretty normal nowadays. I know, it is a matter of taste, but I like the game :)
You gave it a 1 on bgg?!
??? I'll have to investigate that.
10:29 you highlighted exactly what I have been thinking, not 4x, exploration is not there although someone could argue it´s there, it´s just that is not a blind exploration. Funny, all the things you dislike are the ones I like the most. I don´t agree with you regarding the 8 stars, you are giving it an 8 based on the amount of time for the setup, complexity and doesn´t seem you are doing it based on gameplay.
Those factors are important in the experience of a game which many fans ignore too easily. The game play is good but not amazing. You still have a lot of admin to juggle around with the solo board and no exploration plus the annoying system of how you get fleet cubes.
But you can't ignore setup and smoothness with a game experience. I don't care if a game is so amazing it's the best ever, IF it takes two hours to setup and take down and requires you to learn five rulebooks with clunky mechanics.
If your verdict is only gameplay alone like some channels are, you are ignoring a ton of other factors.
Ian O'Toole... does it every time. i get sucked in by his art.
He does decent stuff but it doesn't make the game great by itself.
Honestly, I regularly play High Frontier 4 All with all the modules... and this game feels too much for me. I get it is a bit lighter on the rules than HF4 but the sheer amount of visual stimulus looks very tiring to be honest.
For example, HF4 has 100+ pages of rules (when all the modules are included) but once you get through them, the game is OK, you are not constantly bombarded by tons of icons, actions and special cases. It HAS them, but they are for you to know, not showed on the components. In Voidfall, it all looks like a vomit of colors and shapes.
Maybe I am completely wrong, but from a simple visual representation, I would stay away from this game, even though I enjoy heavy games (as I said, I regularly play HF4, Frostpunk...). I think about buying it for the theme, but I am really on the fence due to how the entire thing looks.
High frontier is one me and a mate want to play for giggles but it looks like a complete mammoth task!
yeah good luck with those. They won't get to the table so why have them in the first place.
Honestly you're not wrong there!
Is not as complex not long to setup as most reviewers claim it to be, really...
I've seen games take 6-8 hours from unboxing to put away - that's long. And not as complex - this is Buckle and Turczi combined with Mindclash, that's heavy central.
@@TheBrokenMeeple Hey there! Thanks for all the reviews. The game may be very long, depending on player count, game mode and scenario. But I'm referring to the setup time, is not as long as it's being claimed to be. It is a heavy game for sure, but I find it less than Trickerion for example, if we are talking Mindclash. I just meant that euro gamers shouldn't feel scared.
Do they make a profit of this game? Tablehog. Heavy heavy ruleset. Long rules to learn. Setup is long. Are people going to buy this and not play this, fomo? What are those people who buy this. It must be a lot to gain money as a publisher. There must be a market for this.. in space. 😂 oke im just talking for myself. Not for me this one but good they make games for people who like heavy games
Well enough people bid on the Kickstarter!
I might then buy it at a discounted price once Mindclash starts to lower the price for the leftover games which don’t find any buyer…
Best game of the year. Number one hotness on BGG. Plays smooth. Masterpiece. Played four times in a week and friend immediately wanted to play again the next week for a third game.
@@nkorppi Four times in a week is only going to be doable for a very very very niche group of people. I played it a ton over a weekend to get it reviewed by that's not a normal schedule for me. Competitive play will barely see this game played more than at most once every couple months if lucky and that's with the same people who played it before as I ain't teaching this behemoth all the time and that's IF all of them even like the game to begin with. And solo means having to learn 50% more rules, pilot 25% more game, endure am that setup by myself and find some way to play it at least once a month so I don't forget the rules.
Hotness on BGG doesn't mean jack, it's a solid game but depending unless essen is a failure for games it's going to have to fight for top ten.
Competitive mode plays fast... and it will be a weekly played game. Actually it is the likely to become the most often played game of the year. Solo mode not so much. Extremely far from niche. I predict that it will reach top 5 in strategy games on bgg, and maybe eventually top 5 in all board games. It's just that playable.:)
Voidfall to me seems like a failure in board gaming.
I wouldn't call it a failure by any means, just "too much bloat"
@TheBrokenMeeple I want to learn this game but every time I watch a video I get more turned off by how much overhead there is.
@@coyotemoon722 There's a TON!!! This is not a casual Euro - you either love it to bits or won't even play it. I sadly had to go in the middle by suffering the overheads to find out it was OK.
Space, as theme, is beyond boring. It's got horrifically boring colors. It has no background, no history and nothing worth defending or caring about. Generic Fantasy is by far more palatable, more... non-nerdy. Space, as a theme, is a lazy, dull theme. Every single time.
I fully agree ! I remember Luke taking apart Darwin’s Journey for its theme… (and the fact that recently three games came up with that theme). He should really have a proper go at all those dull generic space games !! So non-imaginative ! Recent offenders include Federation, Planet B, Revive, Planet Unknown, Stationfall, Skymines, Fractal, Council of Shadows, Beyond the Sun… Generic space themes should lead to an immediate rating penalty of 1-2 ratings.
Not saying space themes are all great, I mean the theme isn't that strong here anyway. Something like Xia or Empires of the Void does it better honestly.
But yeah Darwins journey or history as a regurgitated theme?? At least in space I can battle aliens or conquer planets and stuff.....
Not sure what is really driving the space theme. Unimaginative game designers or just dull customer demand ? We need more out of the box themes like “Come Together”, “Rococo” or “Kanban EV” !
I see the comments is full of people trying desperately to avoid feeling buyers remorse. You brought up very fair points.
Thank you! I don't think people are being too desperate though but heavy games are very forgiving.