Just played this for the first time this week (two-handed solo) and am really intrigued by the system. Looking forward to see how it fares with actual players around the table. This one didn't feel as much work to me as some other games, but that could change if there were other people at the table agonizing over every decision. Great review!
Thanks for the review since this game was definitely on my radar as I love a good heavy euro and it has a great designer pedigree. However, about halfway through watching your review, I thought “there is just way too much going on with those boards.” You summed it up perfectly when you said a game could feel like work. Maybe it’s because I just had a game of Concordia earlier, which has so much strategy but is relatively simple to pick up, but Golem feels like a pass for me.
I really like this game. The marble tower could be better, and I wish they would have just used dice instead. But the combo nature of the game is great. Graphic design and art could be better but it is ok. The resources are so small! It's my biggest gripe with the game. I find that to play well, you really need to take advantage of the character cards. One should plan their game around them, especially if they give you gold, as you can get your income going by completing artifacts. So people tend to fight for the marbles the card specifies. Managing your golems in order to get the action spots that works best for you is so fun. Rulebook is good, and you will need to cross reference it in your first few games, but that's almost all games. I do think they could have done a better job at the timing of the bonuses, especially the artifacts bonus for first book, new golems, and taking a marble of a certain color. Other than that, the game is great. I've played Grand Austria Hotel once, but want to play it more now so I can compare the two.
Love your reviews of heavy euros
Thanks Gary!
Just played this for the first time this week (two-handed solo) and am really intrigued by the system. Looking forward to see how it fares with actual players around the table. This one didn't feel as much work to me as some other games, but that could change if there were other people at the table agonizing over every decision. Great review!
I would love for you to do an in depth review of your top 5 or 10 rank of the italian designer games. Looking forward to your review of Tiletum.
Thanks for the review since this game was definitely on my radar as I love a good heavy euro and it has a great designer pedigree. However, about halfway through watching your review, I thought “there is just way too much going on with those boards.” You summed it up perfectly when you said a game could feel like work. Maybe it’s because I just had a game of Concordia earlier, which has so much strategy but is relatively simple to pick up, but Golem feels like a pass for me.
I really like this game. The marble tower could be better, and I wish they would have just used dice instead. But the combo nature of the game is great. Graphic design and art could be better but it is ok. The resources are so small! It's my biggest gripe with the game.
I find that to play well, you really need to take advantage of the character cards. One should plan their game around them, especially if they give you gold, as you can get your income going by completing artifacts. So people tend to fight for the marbles the card specifies. Managing your golems in order to get the action spots that works best for you is so fun.
Rulebook is good, and you will need to cross reference it in your first few games, but that's almost all games. I do think they could have done a better job at the timing of the bonuses, especially the artifacts bonus for first book, new golems, and taking a marble of a certain color.
Other than that, the game is great. I've played Grand Austria Hotel once, but want to play it more now so I can compare the two.
Not open my yet.
Resource conversion games? I dislike these games a lot.
It’s not really resource conversion per se. It’s more get resources to play for upgrades.
@Father Paolo, O.Pa. Only low conflict snowflakes play these games.