A look at what you get inside the box for Underwater Cities from Rio Grande Games.
This is an engine building, worker placement, card driven game that a lot of people like to compare to Terraforming Mars. While I can’t answer to that comparison, yet, I can show you what you get in the box!
Disclosure: Nothing to see here, this one was a gift.
Underwater Cities Unboxing
Underwater Cities is a game for 1-4 players and takes about 30-45 minutes per player. The players represent the most powerful brains in the world, brains nominated due to the overpopulation of Earth to establish the best and most livable underwater areas possible.
As overcrowded metropolises spread across the earth, humanity has realized it is time to establish a new home on the ocean floor. Kelp farms can provide food. Desalination plants can provide water. And laboratories can provide the technology needed to build a network of underwater cities.
Players direct the founding of their own underwater nations. They collect resources to build cities, a transportation network, and the facilities necessary to support life under the sea. Everything is accomplished by playing cards to choose various actions. If the card matches the action, the player also gains a benefit from the card. At times, the action may be so important that the player will choose it even with a non-matching card. At other times, the benefit of the card may be so good that any action is acceptable as long as the card matches it. Balancing these choices is the key to building an underwater habitat in which humanity can thrive.
Winner of the 2019 Diamant d’Or – top expert strategy game!
Since originally publishing this video on YouTube I’ve played Underwater Cities a couple of times. While this is not enough plays for a full review, I will say that for me this is not a Terraforming Mars killer. While there are some similarities to how the card tableaus work in both games, the rest of the gameplay is distinct enough that I don’t even think they are in the same field.
That said I have been enjoying Underwater Cities so far and look forward to exploring it more. What about you folks? Have you tried this one yet? What are your thoughts?
