The Lost Expedition: A Game of Survival in the Amazon

I love that this is a solo game. My 6 and 4 year old love to help me. It’s really hard to win and there is alot going on and a lot of stratagy in such a simple game. If you need a game to play by yourself this is THE GAME TO PLAY! it can also be played as 2 player, I’ve only done that a couole of times. My boys love the graphics on the cards. They have a snake and a jungle cat that can give you meat or injure you. They have natives that can be bad, good or indifferent depending on how you play the game. Each game is never the same so you’ve never get bored of it. I have one kid in carge of injuring the people, eating or gaining food and the bullets. The other is in charge of pulling the cards and we decide together how we want to play the cards. We all enjoy it.

The Tintin-inspired art and lettering font used in the box image of this game are what drew me to this game initially, and curiosity took over from there. Indeed, the art on the inside of the box (on all the game materials) is just as spectacular. This is the game that takes place after English explorer Percy Fawcett (recall last year's movie "Lost City of Z") vanishes in the Brazilian jungle at the turn of the century. It is a collaborative game, in which players interactively "control" (to the extent possible) three explorers who are making their way through the jungle to the Lost City of Z, aka El Dorado. Explorers face interesting challenges and must balance food supplies, ammunition, and health. Occasionally an explorer succumbs and dies along the way. If at least one explorer survives all the way to El Dorado, then all the players win. If all the explorers die before reaching El Dorado, then all the players lose. The game mechanics are ingenious, combining random elements with a good amount of player agency, so that players really do feel that they are active contributors to the outcome, not just ruled by chance. There are strategies in this game that become apparent only after a few plays, so the game promises to become even more engaging over time. I have a 9-year-old daughter and from the product description thought this game might be too complicated, but after watching a "watch it played" video on YouTube decided to go with it. The same video was very helpful in explaining the rules to my daughter, and now she's a pro!

This game is really difficult, but you can always give yourself additional advantages by increasing the amount of health your characters have at the start, or by limiting the number of movements needed to reach the end goal. I have played the game about five times, and I have only won a single time (no deviation from suggested solo rules). The game is a fairly quick play, and the strategy needed to progress is both diverse and engaging. Do not buy this game, however, if you do not like a challenge or if you believe that there should always be a way to overcome misfortune.I have found myself hopelessly lost, without any reasonable means of salvation and on the brink of disaster over and over again playing this game. Very little happens in the jungle that doesn't kill you, apparently. This really adds a sense of urgency and excitement to this game, even when playing alone. You will lose. . . a lot. The one victory I have had with this game was satisfying as a result of the dire odds.The game is not too rules heavy and the set-up is simple and quick. Gameplay is engaging and offers a lot of different challenges around the management of your few resources. There is even an element of luck that comes with the shuffling of the deck of cards, but the strategy elements do a nice job of giving you some way to balance the random nature of the card draws. In short, this game is a pretty good time without requiring hours of rule study and execution.

Enjoyable solo and coop gaming experience. Game presents itself as a tactical puzzle - where you're faced with difficult decisions. You are a team that is trying to reach the lost city of city, facing many obstacles a long the way. The game structure is straightforward - each round has a morning and evening stage that dictate the order in which cards will be played to the communal tableau. Afterwards the cards are resolved.Each card typically presents some combination of action that you are forced to take, several choices from which you have to pick one, and optional actions. You are juggling between gathering resources, spending resources and moving your team to the finish line.Fun game that can be played in 30min, great vehicle for story telling (e.g. today the explorers went on a morning hike and encountered a jaguar. Unfortunately we had ran out of bullets so the long and strenuous detour caused Yves exhaustion, -1 health... Etc)There is a little random element due to luck of the draw with the deck, but the game isn't long enough to feel like that's a horrible punishment...Overall, easy to teach and fun to play experience.

I grew up reading Tintin and American superhero comics. As an adult, board, card and miniatures games became a hobby.Within that interest, I grew to appreciate and love solitaire games. The Lost Expedition hits a lot of sweet spots for me in the aforementioned interests and so, this review is from a solo player's viewThe game plays puzzle-y, tense and challenging, the artwork is superb in the European clean line style and the presentation is gorgeous!The card size is that of Tarot, I believe. The box is a single piece with the box lid as a hinge.The replay value is there as the deck is not only shuffled, but the cards from it and the player's hand are sorted and managed first in numerical order during Morning hikes and, however the player sees fit, in the Evening excursion.A truly entertaining game with exceptional presentation. Nice work to designer Peer Sylvester , artist Garen Ewing and of course, Osprey Games.