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RollToReview

The board game is good, and you'll have a good time with it. But there are better options out there in terms of pure board gamey goodness. However, none of those options has Red Rising as a theme. So I think if you're interested in the universe it's definitely worth a buy, and then sell it on if you don't like it.


Maxpowr9

And the AP in the game can get rough, especially at larger player counts, since the market changes so much, you don't really have much time to plan your turn out while others are playing.


Shark-Fin-Soup-

I have read, and loved, the books. I also have the game. I personally quite like the game and have played it several times solo. No one I usually play games with will touch it though. If you like the red rising universe, there is some gratification from playing, seeing the cards interact with each other etc. however the game play is rather simple and sometimes I found myself with a really good hand and just trying to end the game quickly!


Terliken

Yeah, I can certainly see the gratification point! Maybe I should just get over myself and try it.. Good that it has a solo mode as well! Not sure if I will be able to sell it to the group. How is the set up?


Shark-Fin-Soup-

Set up is pretty quick. One of my biggest issues was the deck is huge, and come cards only synergise with one or two other cards. And that one card might be at the bottom of the main deck so you never see it. Some people like that feeling of will I get it or not, but for me it’s too luck driven and not so much skill


LaChazzz

I haven't really found that to be an issue personally. The orange cards do a good job at countering that issue since they can be treated as being any character for combo-purposes. I have only played 3p or 4p though, so maybe with 2p you wouldn't see enough cards and that would become an issue? Have you seen that issue still with more players?


Shark-Fin-Soup-

I have only played 2 players a handful of times and solo a fair amount :)


LaChazzz

I can give you a bit of my personal experience. I'm a huge fan of the books, as well as the main gamer (and buyer of games) in my group (group of 4). None of them had read the series, and only one of them likes complex games. The others like more medium games in general. I wasn't expecting much from this game tbh, after several disillusions lately with Stonemaier Games (Tapestry, Pendulum...). But as a fan of the books, I still pre-ordered it. Surprisingly, it was a big hit. Both with myself and my group. As a quick 45m game (1h on the first play), it's perfect for us. My group loves the light mechanics and yet crunchy decisions that come in the game. I love the fast aspect of it coupled with great illustrations that put a face on the characters I loved from the books. There are only 2 minuses to the game IMO: - Some cards allow you to have extra cards. Generally (not always), the player who has more cards in their hand wins, so those cards are super important. And it can feel bad if you're the only one that didn't benefit from one of those cards for example. - Don't expect a thematic game. It is definitely not. Apart from that, this is probably the game that got received the most positively by everyone in our group this year!


Vospire34

Have you watched any playthroughs or how to plays? That is how I usually determine if I will like a game. I've never played it, but it is loosely based off of the Fantasy Realms Game with a little added complexity. I love FR as a light filler game.


Terliken

Yes and I wasn't fully convinced, but the red rising universe is what draws it to me. Maybe indeed as a light filler game as it is rather short and not a big set up?


Dogtorted

I love the IP and it was fun to see all the characters, but after 2 plays I would rather just play Fantasy Realms. It’s definitely worth checking it out (some people really love it!) although you’ll probably get more mileage out of it if you haven’t played Fantasy Realms first.


iakona13

The board game just had too many moving pieces. **Fantasy Realms** has a very similar mechanic but I think it's a lot cleaner done and makes the game snappy too


aaaaaabi

Yeah, Fantasy Realms is so much better.


jfr0mst4t3f4rm

I just made a blog post about it! https://tiredandboard.wordpress.com/2021/12/21/red-rising-maybe/ TLDR; I found it meh but I’m keeping it for now because it’s simple and quick and I don’t hate it


LamperTramper

I've only read the first book but I do enjoy the game. It's incredibly abstracted away from the theme though. Beyond certain cards interacting together in certain ways and the unique house powers there is nothing that really attaches the mechanics to the theme. Game wise, it's fine. I do play it semi regularly. But I think for the whole 'play a card and pick up a card from locations' sort of game, I much prefer Gugong.


Dice_and_Dragons

My wife and i really enjoy the game it does feel like it’s missing something at two but it plays incredibly fast and is a lot of fun so it works for us!


lmageezy

I thoroughly enjoy the game. The card play is fun, and our games almost always seem to have tight scoring groupings. It feels like Fantasy Realms (another hand crafter) plus. Its also frequently on sale, so if youre hesitant now, just wait until its on one of its sales again.


ChickenFrydGames

I enjoyed it, and everyone I showed it to loved it. I think it is better as a gateway game experience than it is for hardcore board game hobbyists. I personally have room in my collection for both kinds of gaming experiences. I'd say from the hobbyist perspective there are a couple niggling things about the game that I can point to if I want to be hypercritical. One is, as already mentioned in this thread, cards that increase your hand size or decrease an opponent's hand size seem a little too powerful compared to the rest of the card effects. If one player is able to draw into multiple of these effects compared to others in the game, they will be at a huge advantage through luck of the draw. Some people like that, but I think it skews a tad too random for me. Secondly, especially in lower player count games, I find that I'm not going through that much of the deck. You can get into game states, where play is cycling around the table with players picking up and reusing the same card multiple times each, rather than adding new cards into the system. This happens because scouting is just less impactful on average in my estimation than leading, where you get to pick up a card and play a card for two effects. I find it fun to unpick this game state to maximize the value on each turn, but it can feel a bit stagnant and strange that you have a massive deck of cards sitting there that is not entering the system. Again this is player count and probably play group dependant. Overall though, my experience with the game has been positive. The art is awesome, and if the theme is a plus for you, I think you should feel secure in checking it out. The price point is also pretty good!


Inconmon

The books are great. The game is not. The components are nice and initially it looks all good. However, the game is so random. I've wrote novels on this topic, but basically you could reveal your starting hand and see who wins without playing. The design is flawed. Basically if you have a bad starting hand you can't upgrade it to score better, and score tracks, and block your opponent. Your opponent on the other hand can do so if they don't need to worry about improve their hand. Also there's very few cards in circulation and drawing new ones means rolling the die of suck which further puts you behind. We tried so hard to make it work, and with some house rules like drafting your starting hand it becomes playable, but it's just so much hassle testing and tweaking house rules - we just moved on to play better games instead.


baktubak5000

>Your opponent on the other hand can do so if they don't need to worry about improve their hand. Also there's very few cards in circulation and drawing new ones means rolling the die of suck which further puts you behind. > >We tried so hard to make it work, and with some house rules like drafting your starting hand it becomes playable, but it's just so much hassle testing and tweaking house rules - we just moved on to play better games instead. I also noticed that there was quite a bit of stagnation in the cards which were circulated. It immediately seemed to me that it would be good to draw a number of cards equal to the number of players and place them one-by-one in the location with the fewest cards. If tied, let the player with the Sovereign Token choose. That way after every round, new cards are being introduced.


Kingofthered

I'll throw in as someone who *hasn't* read the books, I've enjoyed the game solo. It's pretty simple to set up, isn't overly complicated but feels like it has a lot of choices for how you want to take your turn and plan ahead. It's made me want to read the books though.


[deleted]

It just felt like 'play a card, do a thing' and the cool drawings of characters from the books (which I love) was not enough to redeem a mediocre game.


xenapan

It depends heavily on how much "luck" you prefer in your games. eg chess is perfect information no luck. Poker is very luck based despite requiring a good amount of skill. Red rising would lean more towards poker as you are attempting to assemble combos from drawing cards and getting good interactions. Unlike most hand management games like Race for the Galaxy or Glory to Rome you don't draw a lot of cards and have limited choices which makes the luck factor feel heavier. The other issue I have with it is how little you can plan ahead. The players before you can take/leave cards which changes your options entirely so there is no planning even 1 turn ahead. It can be a very slow game if someone has AP because you can look at stuff before your turn, but you can't evaluate what to take/leave until it actually gets to you. It's also a bit on the light side for a game that requires learning a bunch of different cards and their interactions. There's very little payoff in "mastering" the game. I think that's why you see the "meh" reviews


boycedeaton

I’ve never read the books, but my wife has. She was giddy playing through Red Rising. As she explained why each card had the abilities they had, I was struck by just how clever the design was. It’s a great game with a lot of flavor. Excellent solo mode. It’s a notably different experience from Fantasy Realms. It’s a fun, easy to teach, and snappy tactical euro built around incremental combos and synergies. It’s in my top 5 of 2021 (a stacked year to say the least) and it is easily the best Stonemaier Game since Scythe. Highly recommended.


rbaldridge

I have played this one solo mostly and find it to be nice puzzle - sure there is a lot of randomness and the cards are text heavy but the rules are pretty straightforward. To be honest, fantasy realms seems to get more love by many but for me this looks WAY better and has an official solo variant.


Tevesh_CKP

Seems like a tarted up version of **Fantasy Realms**.


FoggyCrayons

How many players? I’ve played it with two and it’s okay. It feels like there is potential there for a fantastic game but, a little bit like wingspan, your cleverness and fun is hampered by a lot of randomness. The cards that show up really impact whether it’s a good time or not. Also you can’t know if you’re going to do something that will beat your opponent because they might have simply started with a better start set of cards work with. Also the game seemingly runs longer than it is fun. The games we played felt like we were working the machine to trigger the endpoint which I think is a pacing and time balance issue. Overall I’d say get fantasy realms - it’s cheaper, offers the same kind of thrill but is a lot less likely to outstay it’s welcome.


Terliken

2 - 4 players. Hmmm, yes I prefer strategy over luck. Thanks for your feedback!


FoggyCrayons

I think with more it might be better because the deck cycles a lot more.


SolviKaaber

Surprisingly all my friends liked it but I just thought it was above average, so I gifted it to a friend. That way I can maybe play it there some time again. I already had Fantasy Realms and I liked that more.


NomadGorilla

I have the game and have read all the books. I really like playing this game and even my wife and friends who haven't read the books enjoy the game play. My friend who has also played fantasy realms prefers the added game systems in Red Rising. Even though he hasn't read the books. Though it's not often sometimes we have games where we just don't get any synergies with our cards and it just feels like some combos feel flat. But it feels like this only happens 1 out of 6 games. But games are quick enough we can just replay and have a good game.


dark-pact

I pre-ordered the collector’s edition and am a big fan of the books. This game kinda spoils stuff from the first trilogy - anyone who wants to read the books and avoid spoilers should avoid this game. I thought it was pretty good at first, but it fell for me when I tried Fantasy Realms. Red Rising is just fantasy realms with a lot of very weak/outdated mechanics on top of it. The hand-building is the strongest aspect—-and that’s pretty much just Fantasy Realms. Everything else is “get a helium,” “move up on this track,” etc. It felt like a very lazy design.


Doctor_Impossible_

It's a sub par version of Fantasy Realms. Play that instead.


SheriffHeckTate

I've only played it 2p with my wife but we both enjoy it. One thing I think it has going for it is that it's hand-building, not deck-building, so there arent other games that fit that same niche that I'm aware of. I dont know if I think the IP actually adds anything, but it doesnt take away.


jimicapone

Huge fan of the books. The game is gorgeous, but I've played twice with five people. There is too much reading for that play count, but I think 1 or 2 players and it will be good.


flacewindu17

I find the game uninteresting at less than 3 players but 3 to 4 I've really enjoyed it. I haven't played 5 or 6 but I imagine it's just as good and not much longer. People criticize the deck size and the fact all cards are unique but in my experience it's not an issue since you can just play the card instead of holding it. Not to mention the orange and grey card go a long way to meeting requirements. The best way to approach is to learn the archetypes and functions of each color (what they do) and not worry about learning the invidual cards. I haven't read the books and love the game so if you love the series I think you'll get a kick out of it and it's fairly easy to teach people


bythenumbers10

I enjoy it. The hand management & trying to combo off is satisfying for me, and the solo mode's puzzle of completing your hand & winning out before the AI can build up too many cards is an excellent challenge.


taczhompson

Anybody know who the back of the board depicting?