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The original was posted on /r/boardgames by /u/RunnagateRampant on 2023-10-04 14:13:20.
First off, this is NOT an attack on you or what you like.
I watched, or listened to a review of a Lacerda game. Can’t remember which, or by whom, and it doesn’t matter. The reviewers did NOT like it, and they explained why by saying something like “It’s a constant struggle to do what I want. I want to do A, but for that I need to do B, which requires C or D, but for D to be at maximum efficiency I need to do A, WHICH IS WHAT I WANTED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE. Not a game for me!”
When I heard, or read, that I knew the game was for me. So maybe my take on Voidfall and why I’m in the “Not for me” camp will tell you why you should play it.
The positive is that Voidfall is chock full of that chain of “I want to do A but…” decisions and I love that. It’s also a gorgeous game with amazing components (mostly, more of that in a bit). But here’s why I’d rather play something else on game night.
Way, way, waaaaaayyyyy too long
We spent 6hrs on our second game of this. That is at least two full hours more than I think it’s worth. Especially since nothing new happens in age three. We could have called it quits after two ages (meta rounds or whatnot they are called). By that time you have seen all the game has to offer. The third age is only there because the last two actions you take are kind of pointless in the final round. You’re not building up towards anything in particular by then.
LARPing Excel
The extremely low luck game play makes me 100% certain that you could set up an Excel sheet for each House and scenario, that would beat any human player. I do not enjoy spending my round counting whether attacking an adjacent hex or staying put to clean up the one I’m in and plonk down a different type of fleet will net me the most points. But that is what you do in Voidfall, over and over again. The next point makes this point so much worse.
Asymmetric scoring
I really don’t like this mechanic. It distances me from the other players since I can’t keep track of all the little scoring tiles my three opponents have, PLUS what their houses give them, and what the age has. That means I can’t enjoy their clever plays. Why is player 2 depopulating his home world? Should I try and do something about it? So that silent spread sheet moment every player has, is a moment to themselves. No one else can realistically know what they’re comparing. Plus, you’re so busy doing your own spreadsheeting that you really don’t care. Sitting throught the scoring when player after player needs to consult the correct rulebook to see what points they are about to receive is torture for me.
IcOnOgRaPhY fRoM HeLl
I mean what happened here? WAs there no usability team involved? I love how Great Western Trail has this clear way of describing every tile and scoring opportunity with minimum effort to learn some icons. I guess that is what they aimed for with Voidfall, but when you have an entire leaflet of 100+ icons, that still doesn’t cover all the different icons so that you just look at the number on the card and then find the text description (that is really clear by the way) in another rulebook someone should have stepped in and said the obvious. This doesn’t do what it should.
Them plastic ships…
Gods I’d LOVE to play with the non fiddly looking tiles that came in the base version. The ships are a massive pain in the ass that makes the game harder to read. Not that it matters because you really don’t have to care about what the others are doing.
Multiplayer solitaire
I can’t help but compare this with Eclipse. Gods the laughs and excitement we’ve had playing Eclipse. In Voidfall by the second to last round my neighbor was finally able to invade me. And it was just as dull as all the other excel battles. Plus it didn’t mean much anyway, that sector didn’t contribute to my excel sheet anyway. I miss the messy player interactions of BUS, or Food Chain Magnate, or the weird donkey space mecha war of Scythe. Not to mention a well placed hate build in Age of Steam. Or even passivly aggressive getting ALL of the VIPs into your gallery in The Gallerist. In Voidfall everything you do happens in a vacuum. Keep your head down, run your spreadsheet, win.
In the third age I programmed all of my six moves on turn one, and not even being invaded made me change anything. I won much biggly. It was kind of interesting in a puzzly way. But it’s not for me.