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Lead the Netherlands into the Industrial Age in the latest version of the cooperative classic! It is the dawn of the Industrial Age in the Netherlands. For centuries, the country has relied upon a series of dikes and wind-powered pumps to keep it safe from the constant threat of flooding from the North Sea. But this system is no longer enough.
cbazler
After playing some 50+ games of base Pandemic (plus expansions), 30-some games between Pandemic Legacy Seasons 1 and 2, and at least 10 plays of The Cure and Cthulhu, I am pretty much sick of the Pandemic system. Nevertheless, this is STILL very good. The way water floods regions really changes the core mechanics and feels different than the other iterations of this game. I actually wish this had been renamed / rebranded as [i]anything[/i] else, because I just can't bear to own another Pandemic in my life.
-xXx-
Like it but the game has some design issues which keep me from loving it. Everything about this production is beautiful, except they filled a map with tiny regions that are not very user friendly. Gameplay is either a walk in the park or ridiculously hard. There's no middle way, and this my main complaint about this game: it doesn't have a steady build up of tension. Rather, there's no tension at all and then all of a sudden you lose. Just like that. The reason for this: - Basic goals are very easy. - Extra goals are extremely hard, especially if you draw more than one. - Water cubes run out very rapidly. I've had games where we lost on turn 1 because too many cubes had to be placed during setup! - You rarely run out of cards, hence, no tension. - The balance between cube management and card management is distorted. Still, I very much like all the 7 roles, all of the events, the water flow, the pumps etc. If you can finetune the difficulty, look past the map and don't mind losing on turn 1 once in while, this game is very solid. Otherwise it's either boredom (too easy) or frustration (too hard). Despite its shortcomings, I find it more interesting than Pandemic but less pleasant than Fall of Rome.
ajewo
Another alternate version of Pandemic where players build dikes or water pumps to prevent the Netherlands from being flooded. + Theme (Dutch, historic, flooding water, dikes, pumping water) + Components + Variable goals each game, including some goals that you cannot complete early on or have to hold during the whole game (replayability, variability) + Population cubes (the more population an area holds, the sooner water in that area becomes a problem) + Rising water level after each storm does not only increase the amount of cards to flip each turn, but also increases the permanent sea level, which increases the general pressure on the players + Building pumping stations that help every turn + Completing a goal grants a instant bonus: timing when completing a certain goal can be relevant + Challenging difficulty / different difficulty levels + More challenging and more variable than regular Pandemic + Modest sized game box # No hidden information # Alpha leaders may be a problem # Luck of the draw (from player and event deck) - Thematic map, however, the way the map is drawn makes it hard to keep a good overview of all the breaches - Each area appearing more than once in the deck (stupid memory element) - Dutch names are hard to pronounce Notes: The most challenging Pandemic title so far, with loads of variety because of goal variety. Can be harsh (I have litterally lost on my first turn). how often does pandemic start with most of the cubes on the board... Never. Rising tide however does. In addition every card is doubled so you can be hit twice in a row before being able to recover. Similar games: * Pandemic: Fall of Rome (dice roll, every card is doubled, moving cubes in direction to Rome, legion management / pick-up-and-delivery) * Pandemic: Iberia (cure diseases in Spain, historic theme, building railroads) * Commissioned (religious theme, reversed: players add cubes instead of removing cubes from the board) * The Captain Is Dead (cooperative, Sci-Fi game, similar gameplay, thematic, all about planning ahead and activating stations for certain effects)