Everdell Farshore

Designer: James A. Wilson, Clarissa A. Wilson
Artist: Jacqui Davis
Published: 2023
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 40-80 Mins
BGG Rating: 7.9
BGG Ranking: 2167
Publisher: Starling Games
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Engine Builder, Chaining, End Game Bonuses, Contracts, Open Drafting, Worker Placement
Sleeves: TCG 63,5x88mm

Game Description:

The rugged coast north of Everdell Valley is a land brimming with adventure and mystery. Stalwart sailors search for bountiful islands and valuable treasures. Dutiful monks inhabit abbeys and scriptoriums, meticulously translating and illuminating. Hard-working folk gather resources and build their cities in unison with the ever-changing waves of the mighty ocean.

Quick play overview:

Players send workers around the coast to get resources for building/hiring cards into their tableau (a max of 15 cards). New buildings and critters will bring extra resources or end game points etc.

Once a player has exhausted all his workers/resources, he can enter a new season to get the workers back (free the spots for other workers) and some more and repeat it a few more times.

The game is played over 4 seasons and each player can enter the next season on his own time. So there is never the moment that you have to wait for opponents because your engine was not as good as theirs. Well.. except at the very end of the game of course 😊

Final thoughts:

The game starts with only 2 workers that bring you a bit of resources, but if played right, you start creating combos that bring you more resources, which let you play more cards, which in turn let you get more resources/cards etc.

This game has the chaining mechanism done right. At the end of the game you really have the feeling that your village has grown and it's full of life.

Differences between Everdell and Farshore:

Farshore adds a boat for each player that moves around when you play the requested cards each season. The boats will bring more points and some extra resources. So the game is pushing you toward a certain type of cards each season.. which sounds interesting but in reality gives more chance to lady luck to swing the game in one's direction.

Another big change is the connection between the critters and buildings. Here each critter can enter the game »for free« as long as you have an empty building AND one of the three ANCHOR TOKENS that you start the game with. This change is good as it lowers the luck factor,  but it also lowers the possibilities of going off with crazy chaining combos.

SCORE:

Gameplay & How often I want to play it: 9/10

Gameplay has a great mix of relaxed building of a beautiful village with deep comboing.

The two big changes left me feeling more limited with my choices and thus I have less interes of coming back to the game.

Art & Graphic Design: 10/10

As well as the base game, this game is stunning.

Graphic design is clean. Everything on the cards is visible at a glance.

Rules & Complexity: 10/10

There is plenty of rules in this game, but they are all well conected and make sense. Once you learn the ruleset, the game has a great gameflow.

The complexity comes from the hard choices which combos will you go for.

Theme & Mechanism fit: 8/10

Players are building their own animal villages on the coast. Lovely.

Sending your workers out collecting resources that will be used to build or attract new villagers, that can move into empty houses if they carry an anchor.. hmm...

Fun & Replayability: 10/10

If you find enjoyment in chaining actions that bring you more actions etc.. this is one of the best examples of this type of games.

The base game has a nice amount of replayability as there are some different starting setups as well as many more cards than are needed for each play. If the original game is any indication, there will be plenty expansions to add more options to this game.

FINAL SCORE: 9.4/10