Darwin's Journey Review

[@stefanstenke4594]

This video shows why you're the best board game channel. Redoing and reshooting a whole review surely takes quite some work and time!

[@funnymanfish]

For those confused, they have previously reviewed this but made some serious rules errors so they deleted the old video, replayed with the correct rules and now this is their thoughts.

[@bryanwinston8820]

Thanks for that, I was confused lol

[@mrwhalen1]

After threatening the game's creator they'd leave it up unless they paid them $7k! /s

[@vincentlievaux2841]

What were the errors they made in the original review ?

[@funnymanfish]

@@vincentlievaux2841 I don’t know lol

[@justacynic]

⁠@@vincentlievaux2841 *Based solely on what Tom said*, it sounds like when workers were used to unlock an action, they were not taking the action. That would be a HUGE disincentive to unlocking locations because of the money cost and loss of a worker doing something productive. As Tom mentions, being able to unlock a location, and then use a worker you already qualified with the correct combination of seals to go there on your next turn (or in the same round-no rush if no one else is ready to do it) can be a very powerful strategy.

[@pedrolembke7628]

What a difference it can turn out to be if you understand a rule wrong and play it right the second time. Nice to see how different the opinions were on this review. Thanks.

[@thedicetower]

Usually mistaken rules don't change my opinion of a game, actually. But this was a pretty major rule that changed the whole tenor of the game.

[@saltpastillen]

I really appreciate that you spent the time and effort to make a second review. From the way you guys expressed what you disliked, it was pretty clear that once you got those rules right you would like the game way more. And to be fair you really do need to read some of the rules quite thoroughly not to miss a little detail. It took my group 5 games to realize that the "place one specimen" bonus you have on the playerboard that you can get when you finish a silver objective, only applies to specimens on islands where you have an explorer. You can't just pick anyone you like. If you just look at the iconography there is a high chance you miss the little guy in the corner indicating the rule is as it is.

[@AdamJorgensen]

The player aids thing is super annoying. Thankfully some games get it right. A game that arrived for me recently, Hybris Disordered Cosmos does an excellent job with the player aids. Not only does each player get a player aid booklet that covers all the symbols plus the hex tiles, each unique player character gets a neat little strategy card with useful advice. Hoping DT review this game in the future and hoping it gets good marks because I really dig it:-)

[@venomousprime1468]

This video brought up a great idea for a future Top 10. Top 10 Games with GREAT iconography. That would be interesting to watch.

[@greymatter77]

Deja Vu! This review really evolved. I still say I'm getting Maracaibo vibes with a little bit of Newton and Terra Mystica. The player aid thing is unfortunate. I really like the production, but "In The Footsteps Of Darwin" handled the theme better. I guess that's to be expected with a Euro design. I do worry a little bit about how much time I would want to spend on turns and how much that would effect people wanting to play with me.

[@ClockworkWyrm]

This game mechanisms seem very interesting and look like a lot of fun to play! Too bad I can't say the same for the graphic design. That's not to say the art is bad, it isn't at all (the map looks like a map, envelopes look like envelopes, magnifying glasses have great detail, the art technique is really good for what it is), but for a game about Darwin's travels and discoveries one might expect bursts of lush colour, prominent illustrations of flora and fauna, weathered journal pages, and maybe some tropical foliage around the edges to imply the board is sitting in a tropical locale. The box cover is vibrant without being gaudy and features white background around a central image which harkens back to old scientific illustrations of flora and fauna so I can't understand why the game boards are bland, cluttered, and devoid of most colour or quaint charm imho. The boards look like a hoarder tried to jam as much stuff as possible onto a single board without consideration for aesthetic at all which is a real shame imho. The main board here is the drab, mechanical counterpart to the over saturated, super busy but mostly empty board from Rajas of the Ganges.

[@EllieAmos-h3q]

Congrats on the Vegas win, Chris! Great review as well.

[@beehiveboardgames6107]

The theme really draws me to this one

[@JimmySquiky]

In french we have 2 player aids, 1 in french and 1 in english but since we speak both languages it's nice.

[@hanseathl]

Same here with my German copy. Learn more languages - get more player aids😊

[@mkitten13]

Love seeing how much of a difference getting that one rule right made for your overall impression of the whole game. From disliking an action to absolutely loving it, lol.

[@LawrenceMiles1972]

In game about a naturalist, "collecting seals of different colours" suggests something very different.

[@harryofgo]

I love it. Feels like we are competing protégé riding Darwin's coattails for fame.

[@dandurkin9735]

Ha 😂

[@MrDunpet]

I have won many parties and maxed out 2 of those people educations... Strong statement on that one...

[@RaduStanculescu]

In my one game so far I maxed all three people, and won (not by much) despite scoring significantly lower in the museum than the second and third place.

[@ericcossette3999]

That Tom ending 10/10 🤣🤣

[@sarumon17]

It belongs in a museum!

[@StoneTempleGlyph]

Obligatory like for Indy quote.

[@hansharleman590]

That is Excavation Earth!

[@lalabham]

Slightly unrelated question: Does anyone know what the two games on the top shelf are?

[@nicolasdecicilia9195]

19 minutes of Final Thoughts, it ensures an excellente game

[@rasmuslernevall6938]

I maxed out all 3 workers and won by a landslide.

[@JasperHayward]

Thanks for the re-review! Fascinating to here the differences in opinions to the first

[@antonieschwartz]

That box colour though...

[@DTWendy]

Love it! 😂

[@GoorooGaming]

There are so many "Darwin" games, how do you all feel about doing a comparison video of the bunch? What would be the #1 of all of them?

[@pawnstorminreno]

The game is very good.

[@ScytheNoire]

The only thing I hate more than a publisher who doesn't provide enough player aids are the people who apologize and try to justify why that's okay. -1 rating point per missing player aid.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Correct rules or not, the game was fine, but felt like yet another Euro, mechanics with no theme to back them up. The ship track was definitely a weak link but ive not tried the expansion yet. Can definitely get why Chris loves it though, it's definitely up his street.

[@RaduStanculescu]

Yeah, both designers are mechaisms-first people. Which is fine for those of us who are interested in mechanisms, but if you're looking for a bit of theme... The only recent game from Luciani that I feel is thematic (and much more than most euros as well) is Barrage. I haven't played Tiletum, but nobody lauds it for the theme, for sure. But none of his other highly rated games can really be called thematic. Tzolk'in, GAH, Marco Polo have some theme in them if you squint, but I would never call them thematic euros. Darwin's Journey has quite a few mechanims that feel just added for the cleverness, and I still like the game, but it feels a bit kitchen-sink-like compared to something more elegant like Barrage. Kind of like Golem compared to the more streamlined GAH.

[@KissellMissile]

I don't mind mechanism first Euro games, but this one is not great. It's a fun puzzle, so there will always Euro fans that will like any fun puzzle, but it's not great like many of their other ones.

[@RaduStanculescu]

@@KissellMissile I actually like it more than I thought I would (haven't even ordered it based on previews), but not sure where it will end up in the long term.

[@KissellMissile]

@@RaduStanculescu Mechanically it's perfectly fine, it's just not super cohesive, and no part is extremely interesting (and some of the mini games are a bit dull). It's at-to-below average for this group, although it is par for the course for their recent releases (except Barrage). Still, average game for these designers is still better than a lot of Euros. It's a 6 (3/5 stars) for me.

[@rcbrice]

The Firelands expansion adds a little theme if that’s what’s your looking for (albiet some output randomness) but is also much more punishing if you’re not good as managing resources. Though if you’re going into a Euro game looking for theme over mechanisms, you’re walking down the wrong street. The expansion won’t fix anything for you.

[@xCriticalStrikex]

I don't see the appeal to these sorts of game, looks and sounds void of any enjoyment or excitment for me and so full of frustration! Thanks for showing it to us, I'll definately avoid anything like this as it ain't for me haha.

[@eyeati]

Wait... I remember a less forgiving video from you guys.

[@eppst001]

Ok, so I'm not remembering wrong? I thought the same thing.

[@MultiPitah]

I was looking for it too.. I remember them talking about how strict money can be and how unlocking actions is not worth it

[@eppst001]

I really wish they would have mentioned that during the review. I was super confused as to what was going on, since I seemed to remember another review.

[@fruehlingsobst8123]

They misunderstood the rules about unlocking actions, which changed the game a lot. They thought the unlock-action gives the lens only, but it also gives the action beneath it.

[@thomasdaning5317]

Umm...wasn't there another less-favorable review, with Wendy giving the game a rating of 5? I see others posting about a misunderstood rule. Was that the source of the lower ratings in the first video? If so, it would have been nice to hear about that in this new video.

[@JonReid01]

Why does it matter?

[@eppst001]

​@JonReid01 I thing understand why their opinion change or what rule was wrong the first time. Maybe others are playing it wrong too?

[@JimmySquiky]

I was looking for it and couldn't find it out, thinking I had hallucinated seeing the old review.

[@KissellMissile]

There was a rule wrong that had to do with specializing the workers (I think it had to do with taking the action when you take a seal). The took the video down the same day and posted a statement that they were re-reviewing it.

[@RaduStanculescu]

They missed that adding a lens lets you perform the action, and Wendy and Chris potentially messed up some scoring as well since Wendy said she score over 250 while also not unlocking more powerful lenses (which seems highly unlikely).

[@surnis9043]

How selfish can you be when you are bothered about sharing a player aid, lol. it's not like four players always need to look the icons at the same time...

[@RaduStanculescu]

I can see their point though. In games with one player aid what happens is that you always ask the other players where the player aid is. 😁I would much rather have one player aid per player.

[@KissellMissile]

Calling it selfish is ridiculous. It's an annoyance for sure, and one which could easily be avoided.

[@thedicetower]

You could apply this to anything! How selfish that a married couple each want their own cup at the dinner table! How selfish that these two people can't share the same book at the same time! Maybe the game company is being selfish by not putting more player aids in the game? :)

[@surnis9043]

@@thedicetower Let me get this straight. You buy the same books twice so two people in your household can read it at the same time? You sure got money to burn! And drinking together happens a lot more than the need to check an icon at the same time! I don't think it's necessary to ask for more clutter in boxes and higher prices overall for such a niche need. If it's that important to you, you can just scan the one and print as many as you like!

[@Mcbarkles]

@@surnis9043 more player aids allow multiple ppl to look at their own sheet andplan their turns while someone else is playing …. Instead of waiting their turn to look at the player aid… just one reason to have more than one. And i am with most…. Publishers should just print enough aids… but i also don’t let my husband read books over my shoulder so i guess I’m selfish too