SeaFall Board Game - Legacy Game of Exploration and Adventure! Strategy Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 14+, 3-5 Players, 90-120 Min Playtime, Made by Plaid Hat Games

The basic plot of the game is that rival nations are exploring the seas and trying to create colonies and explore the ocean. Players engage in exploration, raiding, building, and trade (between the player and the game, not between players). The game has a "choose your own adventure" feel to it as you are given options when you succeed at exploration and some have better outcomes than others. The game balances the players between "games" by having whoever is ahead go last and those who are behind get boons based on how far behind they are. As the player who won four of five so far, I don't resent this admittedly artificial way of keeping play competitive.This game is one you really want to try to hit the player max of 5. I've been playing with 4 and it's excellent but fewer and I worry it wouldn't be worthwhile. This is my first exposure to the Legacy system and while overall something like this has one important flaw, I think the price on Amazon is worth it, considering how many hours you get out of it. After about 20 hours I *think* we're about a third of the way through. But after the first 4 hours of play I bought a couple of additional copies.The flaw is that you expend the game as you play it. I think you can mitigate some of the aspects of that flaw using card sleeves and tokens and so on, but really, the design decision to make this game expendable is probably the right one. To put the flaw in another way: If you want to play it again, you have to buy another copy.The game changes due to luck, player decisions, and what particular successes the players run into when. Different rules and events can get unlocked in different orders other copies of the game might experience. This has the effect of having graduated learning of the rules, making the game more accessible faster without feeling like you're playing a boring tutorial.The rules could use some clarification but otherwise, it's hard to talk in too much detail without spoiling some of the fun of discovering new rules and new features as you play. This might not be some peoples' cup of tea but I found it quite entertaining.If you can commit to keep playing the entire campaign, I think most people won't be disappointed with having expended the game in the process of playing it. After all, five people going to a 2 hour movie spend as much money for less than a 10th of the time in entertainment.

I almost didn't pick this game up based on YT reviews and I'm really glad I didn't listen to them. This game is so much fun! It's not a perfect game, but the complaints I have I feel like only drop it down 1 star, maybe even only a half, but Amazin doesn't let you 1/2 star something lol..The things I like...I live the Legacy aspect of the game. I love it when the choices the players make not only can change the order things in the game happen, but also if an event happens at all, and even changes the layout of the board as you "discover" new islands. Two different games if Seafall will have boards with Islands in different order and in different locations than the next.There are several ways to play the game and earn Glory, via the Merchants path (buying and selling goods), Exploration (both of the open ocean and on the islands themselves), and Raiding (spots on the islands, other player ships, and provinces).The overall object of the game is to amass the most glory and become Emperor/Empress, and each games glory is totalled with the previous games and add up as you go. So, if you have a rough game or two, it by no means puts you out of the game. A few good games by the last place player and a few bad games by the first place player can see a player going from last to first quickly.The story within the game that you experience as you read passages from the Captains book is really fun and these passages can be read by Exploring locations, raiding certain locations and triggering Milestones. The passages also act as a sort of "choose your own adventure" mechanic by having you make a choice and the. Read the corresponding passage to that choice, which I loved!The games also plays against you in a way by having NPC pirates or angry Idlanders interact with you.Things I didn't like...With the max number of players playing (5), it can take a while to get through 1 round, especially as you get deeper into the game. My group has had 1 full game take take 6 hours, we've also had 1 game take 45 minutes.While you have multiple ways to play, the game definitely puts more of an emphasis on exploration. You're smarter to play more balanced rather than go all in with one path, but if you do go all in, exploration is the way to go.This is related to the last point, but it's difficult to raid a lot in the game. You get heavily penalized for going after other players in the form of "enmity tokens" you have to give them which they can then use against you later in several ways. You also have to give these to islands, making future raids or merchant tasks more difficult.In my opinion, the game should come with more "goods". Later in the game goods become harden t

Leaving the rest of this stuff here, but I am changing my rating to 5 stars (considering a $20-25 purchase). There just aren't a lot of intriguing/satisfying board games that you can play 15-20 games and be excited to see what comes next. hours spent it is well worth your cash!! Don't be fooled by all the naysayers who overhyped the game in their own mind. This is a game that if you have any interest in Legacy style games you shouldn't miss out on!So, I'm giving this game a 4 star review since I was able to snag a copy for $23. If you can snag this game for $20-$25, do it!! If it's getting beyond that, what yourself.This game is an interesting exploration into the Legacy subgenre of Board Games: a moniker that can be added to any other. In Legacy games, there is a certain permanence to your actions. Things you do and choices you make will forever change the state of the game. Without going into too much detail, this game's system is rough. You have to go into it expecting that. BUT.......it offers you a quaint look at what legacy games can be and do.If nothing else, it's a good testing medium for ANY designer looking at pursuing this format of things to consider, and why not to make certain aspects so complex