Man I hate hype with the power of 1000 burning sun's. I can't stand it when people gush over anything, games, women, men, cars, shows, movies...whatever. it's an instant turn off and I tune out.
I might of missed out on "things" or "events" or what have you..but all that noise makes for so much background noise, I find it's worth it.
Back in 2018 a game called Root came out.
I was just 1 year into the hobby and I was still learning about what kind of gamer I wpuld turn out to be. Frankly im still in this process. There are different kind of game mechanics, a plethora of them actually, but two very distinct camps in which these mechanics can fall under.
Ameritrash games (yes this is correct spelling), these are games that are heavy in theme, favor dice rolling and luck and can contain an element of meanness or "take that!" mechanics. Basically monopoly.
In monopoly the theme is all players take the roles of real estate moguls trying to bankrupt every other player (eliminate them as it where. Very definition of mean mechanics and take that). And it's played in what we call "roll and move." You roll the dice and move your player piece that many spaces and then interact with the space.
Then there is the Euro variant. Where theme takes a back seat to tight gameplay and strategy. Luck in these kinds of games is minimal, player agency is higher and victory is usually measured by your victory point accumulation rather than player elimination. However, these games tend to be dryer than their Ameritrash cousins.
So where as in a game like Death May Die, you play investigators trying to stop and Old One (chutulu) from entering our dimension and killing all of humanity. In Viticulture you are a farmer and trade goods and grow vegetables your way to victory points and a win.
Which do you prefer?
Root is a euro game through and through. Victory points will grant you the win. However what makes Root such a good game is that each faction you play with plays differently than the other making this game truly asymmetric.
You all have the same goals, but will have to play differently in order to achieve this.
The designer of Root is no stranger to these kinds of games. The fist encounter with hisngame designs I had was Vast. In Vast you play different factions in a cave all trying to reach your own personal goals. But how you played was different depending on your faction.
Same here.
This game reminded me. At its core, like Planets Under Attack, the video game.
You send your troops from clearing to clearing have battle and try to take over the woods as the clear overloards of the forest.
I'm glad I was able to visit this game after the noise died and see the game and not the hype. It's problematic when you try to see something for what it is and not the hype surrounding it.
If you have any questions about Root please leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer.