Darwin's Journey - 2-Player Playthrough & Review (Kickstarter)

Subscribe for weekly videos!
Support us on Patreon! - / bypgames
*PLEASE NOTE: This video was filmed with a pre-production prototype copy of the game which may/may not have differences with the final copy of the game. This could include rules changes. Please do not use this video as an official how-to-play. Enjoy!
Join us for a playthrough of "Darwin's Journey" designed by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone and published by Thundergryph Games. This video includes a rules overview. Check them out on Kickstarter January 5th!
JUMP:
00:00 - Rules Overview
15:35 - Playthrough Start - Round 1
30:03 - Round 2
42:52 - Round 3
1:00:07 - Round 4
1:09:56 - Round 5
1:22:17 - End-Game Scoring
1:25:38 - Review
Darwin's Journey Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
BGG Link: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3...
For more board game tutorial and playthroughs, please subscribe!
For board gaming reviews, follow us on instagram - @beforeyouplay
Instagram: @beforeyouplay
Twitter: @beforeyouplay_
Facebook: beforeyouplay
Email: [e-mail]

[@BeforeYouPlay]

*PLEASE NOTE: This video was filmed with a pre-production prototype copy of the game which may/may not have differences with the final copy of the game. This could include rules changes. Please do not use this video as an official how-to-play. Enjoy!

[@Arahmon1117]

Awesome work Naveen. In all the playthroughs, don't think you have had such a comprehensive victory! Great work as always guys. Love the video.

[@chrisgoff6819]

"this one lets me put out two of my...erm.. mail envelopes" "stamps" you two are my favourites!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Lol

[@Mrhofer]

I found you guys recently and I wanted to say, I think you guys do playthroughs better than a lot of others. Keep at it!

[@peteremedy]

Y’all make an amazing review & play-through video! Can’t wait to check out your other ones. Thank you for this!

[@tobiasjohannesson2563]

I'm so excited for this game, and your playthrough have just made it clearer how the game works. Thanks!

[@ffedericoni]

thanks for the review. While I was listening with my headphones I also noticed the audio is fantastic. Probably the best audio of all boardgames channels!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Great to hear (no pun intended lol)! We keep trying to improve the quality of the audio and video.

[@philippklarmann9725]

@@BeforeYouPlay I would really like to know what equipment you use, it was so fantastic that I had my headphones on listening and took them off as I though an external speaker was on...then I noticed it was your audio in my headset which sounded like you being in the room

[@MohamadSobh]

Naveen at 54:15: "I'm a little upset I placed this here." lol. You guys rock, great playthrough!

[@tvdavis]

Just played a friend’s copy of this game earlier this week. Didn’t really understand what I was doing until 3/4 of the way through, but came in 2nd place out of three players. They want to play again in a few days, so I’m watching this to figure it out. I had to lower the speed of the playback, but it was a very helpful walkthrough! Thanks!

[@ludwigvan2932]

Thanks for this playthrough. One of my most anticipated games this year along with Zapotec, Golem, Anno 1800, Furnace, Weather Machine and Tabannusi.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

You sound like our kind of gamer! Looking forward to those as well.

[@danielMC96]

Furnace is amazing! :o had the chance to play this for review purposes, awesome game!

[@tomaszt5050]

Thank you so much! This video made us want to try the game out our self with the Tabletop Simulator mod that the games publisher released. We loved it, supported their Kickstarter, and now all that's left is to wait for our Collectors Edition to arrive.

[@chrisgoff6819]

I keep coming back and watching this play through to get myself hyped for my copy to arrive

[@shawnmincer8231]

Fantastic video. Thanks for the clear play through and your thoughts about the game. I also always enjoy the strategic and game play tips each of you provide. This is an auto-back for me. I have had my eye on it for some time and did the subscribe on the website for the special Darwin meeple, tile, and card. The hardest part will be waiting for it to arrive. Thanks again and congrats Naveen, that was an impressive score.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Shawn, so glad you were eyeing this one and we were able to get an advanced copy! Hopefully it will fulfill shortly and be delivered quickly ;-) I (Naveen) can't believe I won haha!

[@Sebastian-rt9qf]

Thanks a lot for this play through. You've seem to have the talent to make games that are crunchy and heavy, to be very approachable. Darwin's Journey is a game I will back, but the Thundergryph play through made me confused. After this video I am convinced I understand and can play this game. Hooray!

[@seanmorgan2257]

Hi happy new year both, thank you for another extremely informative video, I did see another play through from another channel but was more confused. You have made this really accessible. Thank you I am off to find out more

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Happy new year Sean! So glad you found the video helpful. It's a huge board so the clarity of the symbols was definitely lacking. So happy you were able to clear up some confusion. :-)

[@BenGreen1980]

Really good playthrough, thanks for sharing. It really seems like there's a lot of different paths to explore, from the exploration itself (neither of you even started on the third island), to heavy seals, to stamps, lens, etc. It really seems like there's a lot of very different ways to approach the game.

[@Sithinious-mv8dv]

Thank you so much. SO helpful as always. Love you both! ❤

[@silgado106]

Thanks for the playthrough! Thanks to you both (and a solo playthrough on TTS) I went ahead and backed the collector's edition! I do have one correction, I don't know if you want to add to Klingon subtitles. At 33:50 Monique mentions purple wax seals do not count for achieving crew cards, however in Pg. 13 of the rulebook it does say that they count for this purpose. This is an updated rulebook from 1/15/21 so I don't know if this was changed from before (I didn't read any rule books before this one). Again, thanks for the playthrough and rules teach!!

[@yannisguerra]

When you were talking about The Beagle track, I realized that I had seen that mechanism (not getting points for bonuses) in one game before, in Barrage. Then I realized that Simone Luciani is one of the designers of Barrage. That game is one of my favorite euros, another worker placement game, but it is much more "nasty" (in a nice way) between players. This game looks like an evolution of Newton, with Barrage. It is interesting how Luciani does like Uwe Rosenberg, where he evolves his mechanisms, but the inheritance is much harder to find, compared to Uwe Rosenberg. This looks totally in my wheelhouse, and I already put my pledge in the campaign. Now to wait to the end of the year! I don't know if you have played Barrage, I hope you get to experience it one day. Maybe a "favorite" designer series of Simone Luciani! Thanks for the video

[@Alex-mm5lo]

Hello guys! Just discovered your're channel. I watched maybe 5 playtrough and I enjoyed it a lot! Just continue, I love your style!

[@Frostation]

Thanks for the playthrough and congrats Naveen on a rare victory. This game feels like a sequel to Newton, a game that I love. Different mechanics but similar theme. It's not as tight as Newton but it still feels crunchy and amazing. Naveen, the combo machine, was performing many combos which was nice to see, and it reminded me of the combos in Trismegistus, another game that Naveen liked.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

I was definitely due for a big win haha! Lot's of people are comparing this one to Newton vibes, we own it but unfortunately haven't played it yet. The combos felt really good in this one.

[@veronikarumyantseva5773]

Oh, thnx. While watching thought what I dislike...its Newton vibes. Well try it , but Im sure its the next game for sale

[@andrewgrant2328]

Another great video! Thanks!! This definitely made up my mind to back this right away.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Glad it was helpful!

[@V1ktula]

Hi. I love the channel. A few things I think that I like to point out: - The objectives tiles that request for wax seals, dont need to be in the same row. - Purple wax seals are valid to complete crew cards (but not for objectives tiles). - The benefit of the objective spot that limits the penalty of the lagging it's to each step. So in Naveen's case would be -4 VPs, not -2VPs.

[@Hakucho64]

> The benefit of the objective spot that limits the penalty of the lagging it's to each step. Wow, that really reduces the value of that objective spot.

[@VuNguyen-uc7xe]

Great video! Super helpful in explaining the gameplay and flow.....but damn you guys!!! I now have to back this KS campaign!!! :) Keep up the good work!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks for watching our video, we're glad it helped! You can always play it first on TTS (Published approved)!

[@ilqrd.6608]

Instantly backing this one. It looks amazing!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@NemoMangelk]

13k sub, wow - well done. When I subbed I think there was like 2.3k or so. This is really ba testimate on how much people enjoy your content. Personally, I love the style of your videos. Your playthroughs have really helped me decide when a game is worth buying (Mombasa) as opposed to games that are not for me (The monster Hunter Phister).

[@srv525]

I've loved playing Newton, this has some of the same ideas/form to make it a slightly easier learn. After seeing your video here and Rahdo's too, I've backed the KS. Looking forward to it!

[@wolfstritt598]

As usual great teach! And congenial teachers!

[@gavinkinsley6851]

The combos in here reminded me of your playthrough of trismegistus(sp?). It seems similar in the sense ur trying to find those combo opportunities to get those big turns. Thanks for the video!

[@brianbates3491]

Super interesting theme and looks like a really cool satisfying euro game. A player aid was created not too long ago by the designers when the backers reached a stretch goal so that is happening!

[@Freddy_da_fox]

Love your videos. Good job and very entertaining.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Glad you like them! Thank you so much!

[@geertdijkstra6903]

This playthrough was so much fun to watch. You just cost me a lot of "moneys"! ;) I was going to comment that the blue player color (to me) was a bit harder to see in the video, and that maybe using red would have been a better choice. But I just saw the game only comes with blue, yellow, green and white! Maybe white would have been a better choice though, it would have popped more. Thanks for the great video, I'm looking forward to the next!

[@Gathanokos]

Oooo it was just announced yesterday that it will be published for my country (other than Kickstarter)! I'm so excited about this game XD thx for the great playthrough :)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Nice! Where are you from?

[@Gathanokos]

@@BeforeYouPlay Greetings from Korea!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Love Korea! Can't wait to go back someday!

[@shinjial]

Wow! Naveen crushed it! Way to go! I though it was going to be a super busy game (I saw the tutorial play yesterday on Jongetsgames), and it is, but it's cool and interesting. There are many paths to take and they seem rewarding for whatever you choose. I had a feeling that multiplier track would be super strong, and it was. It reminded me a bit of the influence tracks on Mombasa and Maracaibo - also don't sleep on those. Very crunchy, very gourgeous board and components. The only thing I wasn't a fan of is the penalty cost to going on the same worker section, but I get why it's there. Lovely game and playthrough.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Yeah when we found out about the $ penalty we said "Oh WHAT???" haha. It makes total sense though otherwise you could pretty much just do whatever you want. For a prototype the game is very well produced. Hoping they clear up some of the symbology in the final product. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@6mortE]

Thanks Monique & Naveen (not sure on spelling) Look forward to play this game. The KS kicked today and I went for the Collector Edition after watching your gameplay. Will base my first playthrough on Naveen strategie I guess... Great video, love your style. Have a nice day.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for checking out the video!!

[@LaraBlancoSantos]

Wow! First time I see Naveen win! Well done you!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

🥳 lol

[@Cissewis]

Haha, Naveen you were on FIRE! The king of the dry euro's is back ;-). My favourite KZbinrs, thanks again Monique and Naveen for another wonderful video!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Everything just seemed to click with this particular playthrough! I was able to get money at critical times and always stay ahead on the theory of evolution track. Wondering if they will balance the track in the final production copy?

[@Cissewis]

@@BeforeYouPlay Yeah, great job Naveen! Like Monique said, seemed like you actually pulled off doing a bit of everything. And I get your point, there did seem to be a bit of a runaway player issue. Curious if they will balance it out. Thanks for replying Naveen and take care!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

@@Cissewis Yeah definitely in our gameplay of it there was a runaway leader. We played a 3-player game and it was much less apparent but that Theory of Evolution scoring can be very sneaky

[@Cissewis]

@@BeforeYouPlay Good to hear that it was much less apparent in a three player game. Thanks again for covering this game, much appreciated!

[@jonathansiegfried8898]

I always take a look at games by the Italian designers and this one seems to hit all the right notes for me(Big fan of Lorenzo and Marco Polo). Thanks for doing the play through and providing your thoughts :) from what I’ve heard there’s actually going to be a second map as part of the Kickstarter as well so excited to see that. Thundergryph does have some good production too.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

A second map would be awesome! This is a super solid prototype, so we know the end product should be on point. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@truelifetales]

This one is right in my wheelhouse for the theme and crunchiness and you both looked like you were having a great time playing. Congrats on the win, Naveen. It's not an issue for me at all but I do wonder how colorblind friendly this one is - all those green and red seals amid all those earth tones ... and the player pieces in the same colors.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

It is certainly easier to see up close for us. It's hard to truly say though as we can't put ourselves in the shoes of those with visual impairment. We've played it a few times and each time we get that same feeling of excitement about the different combinations and possibilities.

[@laurentm6930]

Love your channel! After watching several of your playthroughs I noticed a kind of Golden rule : "no matter what, Monique will always win " ;). Happy to see that Naveen can still break the rule and in a good way, well done! :)

[@ViciAbsm]

Nice. I was hoping you guys would also cover this game :) it looks really interesting.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We were really glad to hear they were sending us a review copy! Let us know what you think!

[@ViciAbsm]

Omg. Loved the video. Congrats Naveen on the amazing win. I always root for the underdog ;)

[@pirecrompir]

@@ViciAbsm Thanks for the spoiler ;-)

[@ViciAbsm]

😬 upps. *Spoilerwarning* ? ;)

[@jeffhiatt1682]

when you run out of stamps on your player board, i think you then get to use stamps from the "discard" area to account for the ones you dont have. of course some of them will go right back to the used stamp area during rewards.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Jeff, you're right! Totally forgot that is the rule.

[@AttilaUdvari]

1:22:11 - Each lagging penalty reduced max. 2, so Naveen lagging penalty is 4, because his ship are 2 lines from the Beagle. So final point is 12, not 14.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi there, it’s very possible. Not sure if any rules were tweaked since the prototype. Thanks for the help!

[@popgas3821]

This game is sooooo hard to find. Nice playthrough as per usual Monique and Naveen.

[@Hakucho64]

Possible rules change from the copy you played: at 28:05, Monique says you can only have one of each type of Objective tile (gold/silver) off your board, but in the production rules, the two you have off the board may be the same type as each other (p 17). Hope this helps anyone learning the game from this video.

[@susanoerter1419]

what a score!

[@davidbigwhoop]

This looks... brain-churningly awesome?! Being new to the world of modern board games I'm amused by terms like "crunchy dry euro" -- this looks super, er, heavy... and I'll be checking out the kickstarter for sure. Great video, playthrough and summary... as always ❤️

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi David! We love to make up and use board game terminology lol. So glad you are into the hobby, there are so many great games for you to discover!! I'm jealous. :-)

[@davidbigwhoop]

@@BeforeYouPlay Yes! So many! Bought Wingspan and just had “Gingerbread House” delivered (yesterday) too! (ordered after seeing your review of it)... oh and I’m the same David that sent you an email a few days ago, hope you got it ;-)

[@urbanpresker46]

Good job Naveen! :)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you!! I did it!! haha

[@adavies425]

Love your channel. You two along with Heavy Cardboard are the reason I make such poor financial decisions and spend way too much on BoardGames. I backed this game bc of this video. Vital Lacerda has gotten at least a few hundred dollars from me from your Lacerda series. Keep it up, and I can’t wait for more playthroughs and content.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Lol Katrina, I hope we never lead you astray lol! We're excited to make more videos soon. Thank you for your support!

[@adavies425]

@@BeforeYouPlay you have not. I am happy with my purchases. It should also be said that there are game I have not bought because I was able to see how the game plays on your channel and decided it wasn’t for me.

[@mlleloo7225]

Wow, that game was sooo good. Looking forwards to back it! And you guys are amazing ❤️

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you so much for your support! Hope you enjoy the game as well!

[@kovray]

Ah what a beautiful looking game, Tylor's excited about this one.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hope you guys get to try it out! It's nice and crunchy. :-)

[@AndrewCCleverley]

Getting all kinds of Barrage vibes here. So looking forward to getting myself a copy.

[@Floridaisfun]

Hi there. Love the reviews. I like the look of thos game but also the weather machine.Which one do you prefer? Ty

[@elbench]

Finally got my copy after several years. Finish product quality is great, iconography seems pretty clear to me, and gameplay is fantastic in my opinion. One of the best Euro games from the italian gang from my perspective. Money is really tight, try to always have enough as it is needed to perform actions almost all the time A small correction at 16:22, the crew member lets you perform the action of any other crew member still not completed, including yours.

[@Boardgametherapist]

Thanks guys! You guys should play through a 2p game of Barrage.

[@mmccluskey2867]

Great play through thanks. Just a wondering where it lies in comparison to your favourite euro games?

[@xandermichael78]

Great game Naveen!! Monique I think you forgot to pay at 1:05:15

[@aba824]

I wasn't interested in that KS till I saw your gameplay :) now I backed it! all your fault ;)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Lol, hope you enjoy it too!

[@alicia1465]

Wow, Naveen really pulled off some combos! This one looks fun. Have you played Lorenzo il Magnifico? Probably my favorite new-to-me game of 2020.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Everything seemed to click really well for me (Naveen) this playthrough. In the past I finished dead last each time I played lol. We both surprisingly haven't played Lorenzo!! It's super duper high on my list of games to try.

[@alicia1465]

@@BeforeYouPlay That was quite the win!! Congrats! I highly recommend Lorenzo, especially with the Houses of the Renaissance expansion!

[@caodelao3263]

I love you both, my English is zero, but I enjoy your videos, greetings from Guadalajara Mexico, (thanks google translate)

[@PieterSchutz]

@23:00 Naveen should also have gotten the coins to the right of the row when delivering to the museum

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We end up realizing it in about 10-15 minutes and remedy the situation mid game. We made it even harder on ourselves lol.

[@PieterSchutz]

@@BeforeYouPlay Right. I found that later. Just thought you might add it to the subtitles channel.

[@Janos86]

1:22:0 According to the final edition manual, the Beagle lagging penalties are actually cumulative, and the MAX -2 bonus on his player board has to be applied to all of the penalties. The sum of the penalties of -9 then becomes -4 (both penalties are worth -2, but they still stack). He should have got 12 points instead of 14. 1:23:0 The row bonus for the specimens applies on completed rows of specimens that you studied (transparent tokens on your player board), not the ones present at the museum. Otherwise the action for studying specimens already present in the museum (the small lens just under the one for selling them) would be pointless. Since none of you completed a row on your personal board, this mistake cancel itself out, but beware of it.

[@stevegeorge7773]

One of Darwin's Turtles, that he collected, died in one of our zoos about 10 years ago. Yea, it lived that long! Do you think it is like Newton? It has a similar feel. I like how this designer seems to orientate his games around historical people and cultures.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

No WAYYYY!! WOW that is amazing. Where do you live?

[@stevegeorge7773]

@@BeforeYouPlay Auzzztralia. Canberra to be exact. It's the National Capital. The turtle was located in the Queensland. .

[@carveking]

It's literally Newton 2.0

[@Hakucho64]

Thanks for the video. At 18:25, why did Naveen remove the Specimen token from the discovery track? JonGetsGames (who wrote the rulebook) said in his video that they remain on the track for other players to discover too. Also, I can't see anything in the final rules PDF (page 14) about doing this.

[@Hakucho64]

Aw crap, he puts it back a few seconds later.

[@GKEK]

Between this and Lost Ruins of Arnak, which board is bigger? Also, if you had to choose between the two... which would you take off the shelf first?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

What are your thoughts on Darwin's Journey?

[@PieterSchutz]

Let the Combos!, ehm, games! begin!

[@Vadjong]

Instaback!

[@woniepom]

i want it :-) wonderful video well done !

[@Freddy_da_fox]

Not sure yet. Gameplay looks very nice, let's see how the campaign flows :).

[@Vadjong]

@@Freddy_da_fox 100K in first hour!

[@theromanwanderer8923]

What are names of the two designers again? As an Italian it was funny to hear you pronouncing them. 😂 However, the video is beautiful and the game is gorgeous. After your video, I'm probably going to buy it on kickstarter. Good job on that!👏

[@Ensid1993]

such a cute couple. Your playthroughs are so good, thank you.

[@kaseygirven3522]

Wow looks incredible! Do y'all have to decide that you are gonna feature a kickstarter game before you've tried it?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Not always. People always have the right to discuss with the publisher about not covering their game if they feel it wasn't for them or their channel. Although, sometimes the timeframe is tight or the publisher is limited on prototypes so you do have to agree in advance.

[@kaseygirven3522]

@@BeforeYouPlay That makes total sense! I really appreciate your response 😁 Also we ended up backing!! Was a no brainer after seeing this video. Thanks for everything y’all do!

[@cadealanshio]

Great video! Which did you like more between this one and the other games by the Italian design group you've played (Newton, Marco Polo II, etc)?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We actually haven't played Newton yet! It's on our Shelf of Shame lol. Of the games we have played, Naveen would pick Marco Polo 2 and Monique would choose Darwin's Journey.

[@cadealanshio]

@@BeforeYouPlay You guys really have to try Grand Austria Hotel and Lorenzo il Magnifico! Both are fantastic games. GAH is one of my favorites at 2p.

[@frankvitiello2072]

Great video! What fabric do you use on your table?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Frank, thanks! It's surprisingly a wool blanket. A friend gave us the tip and it's working out really well for us!

[@mananshah267]

Good to see Naveen winning one :) I also felt that iconography is very small and difficult to read which you confirmed in the review.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Yeah the iconography is definitely hard to see even up close. The game certainly needs a good glossary. Hopefully the final product will address this. PS. I (Naveen) definitely needed that win! haha

[@shortydancer]

Dude, spoiler!

[@nrebelo83]

Hi guys. At the 44:56 minute you can use both the square/rectangular magnifying glass. I can't find in the rule book the rule that allows me to use the discount of getting a wax seal from the academy on my personal board. At 1:05:21 You have to pay 2 coins to the bank

[@anthonvanderneut]

1:05:21 exactly, the diary has already been taken

[@anthonvanderneut]

28:10 I don't think the rule is you can only hold one of each type. If you placed a gold objective, you can gain a silver one that you don't have to place immediately (i.e. goes into the reserve). If you then gain a gold one, without having placed either of the silver, that gold one has to go unflipped on your board. But maybe this rule changed, with the released version of the game.

[@BrodySheard]

23:20 or so - forgot to take the coin on the right side of the museum - giving him 5 coins

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Yes, you're right. We tried to remedy it a round or so later when we remembered.

[@Outrun37]

Where would you rank this among heavier euros you've played? Would it make it into your favourites do you think?

[@cyclemadness]

13:00 - "This spot here allows you to discover already discovered specimens...for.. whatever reason you may have." Yeah, I can't find a reason to do it yet. Something about Beagle scoring? It is not clear at all in the book why I should. Anyone help please?

[@ikr9358]

An interesting-looking game but I am curious as to how Naveem got such a commanding victory and I think it came down to the placement of workers on the first turn. It seems like there is an optimum order and combination of placements that gave him a much more usable set of resources than Monique and that advantage just grew throughout the game. Naveem just never seemed to want for the necessary pieces for powerful combos while Monique was always struggling. I'm just not sure if that came down to happenstance, player skill or just poor game design.

[@jaroslawchmiel7193]

Do you think it will stay in your collection once you will get it?

[@arjunant9930]

at 1:07:00 it was nine steps on the track, not nine actual books. Great play through tho!

[@SleepyVoice]

How is it compared with Trismegistus in the regards of combos and engine, if I don’t like pure VP-powers/combos?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

This is a great question. Put a gun to my head and I'd go with Trismegistus. This game however is way more assessable but still provides good competition and strategy.

[@SleepyVoice]

@@BeforeYouPlay Thank you, assassable is (unfortunately) a big part of getting it to the table at home, so maybe it’s a better choice for me then (took some time to learn Tris...). Thank you 🙏

[@MohamadSobh]

at 1:05:20 shouldn't have Monique paid the coin penalty?

[@jellevancamp7190]

I was wondering: how do you keep track if a player crossed the small marks for 2VP, in order not to allocate the points to another player as well? It looks like there are multiple marks on a single island, with various paths...

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We haven't really run into that in our few plays of the game so far. Not sure if they will have a token to block out the places.

[@arjunant9930]

you would just follow the path ahead and see if there is anyone passed you. the split paths come back to the main path and the VP banners are only on the main path. so you can never skip them I believe.

[@martinivancic2717]

I think you might have explained purple seals wrong 33:47. Purple seals that go onto your player board count towards completing a crew card. The temporary ones, the square ones, do not.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi there, that may be possible. It’s been a little while since we have visited this game (was in prototype phase too). Unsure if rules have been tweaked or if we made and error. Sorry for any confusion.

[@martinivancic2717]

@@BeforeYouPlay no worries. This was meant more for new players, like myself, that might get confused by discrepancies between the rulebook and your helpful video.

[@monkeyunit4533]

Rewatching because the game is being delivered and the rule at 33:55 seems to have changed or was played wrong. Purple seals do work for crew cards, but not for objectives. Purple temporary boosts can't be used for either. Another error ( or rulechange) at 1:02:05 You are allowed to have 2 gold/silver objectives in reserve. It's max 2, but the type doesn't matter.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We’re not too sure what’s changed since then. If I remember, I know we made some sort of error in the rules when we filmed this. Thank you for pointing these out, we don’t want to lead people astray!

[@dkoudrin]

Naveeeeeen!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

I did well this one haha!

[@par7me]

There seemed to be some hesitation on Monique's recommendation of the game or maybe I read it all wrong. Would you back it? Are you backing it?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Monique really enjoys the game, but slightly less now that she feels like it has been consistently running kind of long. That's the only hesitation, but she really enjoys it. We don't actually tend to back kickstarters but will definitely consider when it hits retail! (We have so many unplayed games, we've been on a buying freeze.)

[@elinem8526]

Is this any good at two or not at all?

[@softshoes]

Wow, I can see why Mo wore her glasses.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Yeah, lots of things going on

[@marcosoenke]

I really wanted to back this, but the set up and game looks very fiddly and the confusing artwork doesn't help. I Think I'll rather wait for Carnegie on Kickstarter.

[@BrandonGraham]

Can you please consider marking your kickstarter previews as "previews" instead of "reviews?" It does a good job of letting people know what they are getting into when they click on the video.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Brandon! We typically do, but had a difficult time labelling this one since it actually did encompass a review, unlike the others. We added "(Kickstarter)" to the end of it. Does that help?

[@BrandonGraham]

@@BeforeYouPlay Absolutely! Thanks for taking my comment into consideration.

[@Ensid1993]

This game looks super cool altho I already possess Abomination and Teotihuacan, two big and pretty brainstorming point salad games so I think I'll pass on this one. I watched all 1h 40 min of your video (thanks for amazing work especially with angle switch) and I feel like I'd play it so badly, looks super cool but not sure if it fits my collection.

[@zhivik]

This looks very interesting, so thanks a lot for showcasing it, in the best way possible, as usual :) The theme is ok, I don't have much of an issue with it. I do believe the book multiplier track is too powerful, though. If you go deep into it, and it appears you can do that fairly easily, you get way too many points. I'd rather have the action where you deliver to the museum in the diaries, so that it both requires colour seals and brings a money penalty, as I see it as too accessible at the moment, with unlimited number of worker spaces and no penalty if you don't get there first. I am bringing this up only because it proved that if you don't get invested in that aspect of the game, the odds are you are going to lose. I believe this takes way from strategic depth, as it steers you towards certain actions to the expense of others. In short, I find the game not completely balanced in terms of viability of the different strategies you may take. I will use Beyond the Sun as an example, as there you don't get penalised if you decide to go for research, exploration or a combination of both. Other than that, I like the island exploration track, I believe it plays very nicely with the theme. I am not so keen on the Beagle movement track, though. I believe the incentive of moving on it is too low, and you can easily mitigate any penalties from falling behind. There were indeed some goals that required you to have caught up with the Beagle, but these goals change very quickly in the first place, so you might not get them anyway. If that track contained benefits similar to those on the island exploration tracks, it would be much better. All in all, I like the game, but I don't particularly like the lack of balance, which takes away a lot of choice, in my opinion. I don't mind the complexity and the wide variety of actions - it is a staple of euro games, after all :) I hope this sees some more development before it enters its final phase. I realise this is very subjective, and there are a lot of players who like exactly this type of game mechanics, so I guess we will see.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

In all our plays it certainly seems that the multiplier is extremely powerful! Not sure if they will balance it out in the final product. I feel like I (Naveen) had access to some of the undiscovered species and was able to combo both book points and income early on. I will say that the game was more competitive when we tried it 3 player over TTS. I feel like the multiplier may need to be reduced a little on the book track to bring the game into a little bit more balance.

[@MrJdecoy]

Best part of this video? Reading in the description that it's *not* a sponsored video.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

lol, you didn't like the actual video?

[@stevensum2011]

Not trying to be a ass but is there any games you don't like? I been watching your videos alot but I noticed you guys never dislike any games.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Steve! We try to mention both things we like and things we don't like about a game. In this one in particular, Monique mentioned how she felt it was a little too long and can cause significant AP. Also, we have a whole section regarding "games we don't like" in our August 2020 Vlog. The reason why it may seem that we like every game, is because our channel is playthrough-based. It takes a TON of time to playtest, film, and edit each playthrough. For this reason, we prefer to showcase the games we actually enjoyed.

[@wicked8576]

haven't watched it all, but don't you play on the wrong side of the board? in a 2-player, the diaries usually don't have bookmarks in their middles.. only in a 4-player-game..

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We are playing with the prototype, so it doesn’t have the updated board artwork. You are correct in terms of the production version.

[@NemoMangelk]

Somone call the cops and arrest Naveen, because a crime was committed

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Naveen's greatest achievement so far on the channel! ;-)

[@gamby85]

What I don’t like is you can tell early on who was going to win ...

[@GameBrigade]

At what point did you feel the game was decided?

[@gamby85]

@@GameBrigade I felt that by the end of turn 2 he had a significant engine going that was going to be hard to compete or even defend against, and by turn three it seemed like all her actions were just getting trumped (especially the museum actions ... the most important scoring mechanism in the game ) Don’t get me wrong ... game looks awesome and I do love it. I’m sure some of the problem had to do with player count, (I won’t see two player games often myself) but both my game group and myself have a giant dislike of games with a run away leader issue. Now of course I’m not saying that’s the case here, especially after one play through, and I am very enthusiastic about watching future play throughs of this game, but Looking back, I really didn’t see any real flaw in Monique’s play style or what she could have done different to slow down his progress ... that’s my only concern. Usually after a game I can rewatch it and say ... X should have done Y to stop Z from happening.

[@GameBrigade]

@@gamby85 I agree that his turn 2 really ignited an engine that was hard to compete with.

[@monkeyunit4533]

Only 6 minutes in, but this already makes me think of Newton. The beige/brown colour scheme, and the filling up meeple tracks with seals and removing stamps etc. It'll probably play very differently as worker placement is bound to have more player interaction. Edit: Same designers. Makes total sense now.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Lol yup same guys! We own Newton but haven't played it yet. I'm curious to see if they make it a trilogy with another person of scientific renown.

[@monkeyunit4533]

@@BeforeYouPlay Newton is a great game, and having watched the full video of Darwin they seem similar in that you can make nice combos and chain reactions. Can't wait to see you two play it. You have quickly become my favourite KZbin channel for board gaming. Clear teach and smooth editing on the gameplay making it seem seamless play. And you two seem to have same taste in games as I have. Keep up the great work!

[@charliemopic470]

Are there any small text/small icons in this game (ageism)?

[@anthonvanderneut]

There is some small print but it is only relevant during setup. The smallest are the numbers on some tiles, which in the base game are only used for a first time play recommendation (I assume to get a more balanced first game touching on all aspects). These numbers (with prefixes) also destinguish the tiles for the various extension so if you have them you might have to look at them (once) during setup/teardown. I kept the extension seperate (in one of the many rovided bags) so after the first game I haven't had to look at these small numbers. The rule explanations are icon based and don't refer to these numbers, so you don't use them during gameplay. The second smallest icon/snumbers are the minimum number of player identifications on the islands section (some or only populated with 3+, some only when playing with 4 players), these are also only used during setup (and close by at the bottom of the board). The rest of the icons both on the board, playerboard, and tiles used during play are easily distinguished, the manual is easily readable.