Aquatica - Board Game Review

Type of Game: Deck/Pool Building, Hand Management, Card Game

Number of Players: 1-4

Age: 12+

Designer: Ivan Tuzovsky

Artists: Irina Kuzmina, Andrew Modestov, Oleg Proshin, Artur Varenyev, Marat Zakirov

Publisher: Arcane Wonders

Arcane Wonders was gracious enough to provide Comic Book Yeti with Aquatica to review.

Many themes span across the board game universe, such as civilization, space, nature, whether it be animals or plants, and many more. We could go on and on with that list, but one theme that Aquatica targets and does quite well with is the Ocean. Aquatica is a unique family engine builder where you are looking to grow your underwater kingdom. With a lot of deck/engine building games, the game feels like you are just getting started to build what you are trying to work towards, and this is no different! Aquatica gives you that itch to lean towards one way to win, but you have to make that decision to either end the game or allow others to get back into the game, potentially. Does this spark your interest? It certainly did for fellow Comic Book Yeti Dan Nixon and me.

CONCEPT AND GAMEPLAY

Aquatica is played over a series of rounds, working to achieve four main goals that are either chosen through the base board or randomly chosen from the assorted tiles that allow you to mix up each gameplay. Within your main action, there are 3 things that you will work to complete in the following order:

1. During your turn, you must play 1 of the character cards from your hand and perform the effects shown on the card.

2. If you can perform all the card's effects, you must do so. If you can't do what the card says fully, you may still play that card and use only those effects that you can perform.

3. After you played a Character card, put it into your personal discard pile face up.

That is a simple turn that you take, and will go around the table until one of three things has happened: one player has accomplished all 4 goals, the location deck runs out, or the ocean character deck runs out. The unique part of the game is that you have two additional actions you can use to maximize your turn by either flipping one of your ready Mantas and/or exploiting locations' depths that you have previously conquered or purchased. The additional actions allow you to gain a series of benefits based on the action that you take. You can gain any of the following from the locations' depths or Mantas:

• Slide the depth card up one to the next tier if it hasn't already reached the sea level

• Gain coins to recruit characters or buy locations

• Gain battle power in specific locations or any location in general

These mantas can be a huge advantage to you throughout the game, but you also have to remember that when you want to claim that you have completed a goal, you have to turn them in to indicate that they are completed for you. The mantas give you points, but also take away an advantage that you may have had throughout the game. Oh, and don't forget, you can earn mantas by surfacing specific depths that will give you bonus mantas to make up for ones that you may have had to turn in for claiming objectives!

You may think the game is a lengthy process, but the game passes more quickly than you think. As you progress through a game, you can likely finish a 4-player game in just over an hour or possibly even quicker!

COMPONENTS

Let's talk about the different components that come with the game between the cards and mantas. The overall pieces not only appear to be accessibility friendly, but are made of good quality. The unique mantas have different designs for each player's color to help differentiate whose pieces are whose, which is a plus for someone who has gained a new perspective after getting to know Brian Chandler of Color Blind Games more closely.

The pieces are set to last for an extended period of time, and I haven't noticed any wear and tear after 5 plays of the game so far. This is a good sign of a lasting game, no matter if you are rough with cards or not. Overall, the quality of the game gets an A- for me, with the only flaw being that there was some slight warping that has happened over time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have played this game at all player counts, and I can't say there is one that has me screaming to not play it at. Whether it was solo or at 4 players, the game never overstayed its welcome. This is a sign of a really good game that brings in multiple different mechanics.

Though this does play great at all player counts, the solo mode isn't one that really gets my attention over many others in my collection. Granted, solo games can be tough to hit my table due to current favorites, Aquatica doesn't rank higher than my favorites in my collection currently.

Let's hear from fellow Comic Book Yeti writer, Dan Nixon, as he has played Aquatica quite a bit as well!

"Aquatica came out in 2019, but we wanted to cover this game because not everything we cover here at Comic Book Yeti needs to be the new hotness.

COMBOS, COMBOS, COMBOS! It is so satisfying when you pull off that one move that lets you buy a card, then recruit a character, raise a land, gain a stingray and score another. You feel so accomplished. I don't know if I'm looking more for that than I am to actually work on the conditions for winning the game!

I've heard of a few of the expansions as well and welcome more to this experience, but the base game has enough to hold interest for a while."

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