YORKTON - There are games that cross The Meeple Guild table that prove quite frankly divisive in the sense not every game is seen the same way by all.
Obviously when you have gamed as a group for years generally our views sync up quite a bit – but not always.
With that preamble in place welcome to Faraway from designers Jahannes Goupy and Coretin Lebrat from Catch Up Games.
To start there is the art by Maxim Morin. I really like the art style – sort of a South American influenced one.
Trevor on the other hand was for example less-enamoured.
It was a sign of what was to come.
Credit the designers with some interesting mechanics here.
“Throughout a game of Faraway, you will play a row of eight cards in front of you, from left to right. These cards represent the regions you will come across while exploring the lands. Characters on these cards will grant you victory points if you later fulfill the conditions they demand. At the end of the game, you walk back the same way, scoring cards in the opposite order you played them. There lies the heart of the game play Throughout the game, the cards you play will serve both to set new objectives, and to meet the ones you played previously,” explains a description from the publisher posted at boardgamegeek.com
“Each turn, you play a card from a hand of three. Then you pick a new card from a face-up river. As play is simultaneous in Faraway, you must take into account a clever priority system in all of your choices – being last to pick a card leaves you with fewer options and often less profitable choices for the next turns.”
When it comes time to score expect to say zero for several cards among the eight.
Rare is a card that scores on its own, so the eighth card for example at best is an asset to score other cards, or a wasted card entirely.
Therein lies the neat aspect here. You need to set the table to score by thinking in reverse, while managing resources that allow other cards to score, while trying to play out cards in order to get bounce cards. There is a lot going on here for what at its heart is a rather quick playing, card drafting game.
In my case I appreciate the uniqueness created with everything going on but at the same time the game forgot one thing in my case – fun.
Wrapping my head around the varied things going on in game was more effort than I wanted to expend for a card game that plays in about 20 minutes. (It plays two-to-six which is a plus).
This one just was maybe a game too ‘bright’ for me. I’d just as soon grab cribbage, or play Canadian Salad or The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine or just about any other game in the game room to be honest.
But, to be fair to Faraway Adam suggested it’s the best card drafting game he has played – a heady comment when 7 Wonders sits on the game shelf only a few feet away.
Trevor sat somewhere in the middle, rather neutral to the game.
So if you see this one on the shelf you will be looking at a game that plays different from most – but whether you find that a great experience or an un-enjoyable one will depend on personal tastes.
