Robinson Crusoe is a cooperative adventure game in which players try to survive on a desert island while completing the goals of a chosen scenario. Every scenario is completely unique—with diverging goals, rules, and stories.

At the beginning of the game every player chooses a Character. Each Character has their own unique skills to use throughout the game. Their skills can be activated by spending Determination, which is dependent on the morale and health of the survivors in the Camp. Keeping Characters happy and healthy is important to survive on the pesky island. But the most important quality of all is balancing the need for transparent mechanics that allow for strategic decisions with a strong wind of chance to make sure the game doesn’t become a mere logic puzzle. Lean too far in the former direction and you might as well be solving co-operative Su-doku with your friends. Too far in the latter and you might as well co-operatively shoot craps. It’s a hard, hard proportion to get right and none of the co-ops I’ve played so far, even my favourites, have quite got it right. Until I played Robinson Crusoe. Mostly, I’m not a big fan of co-operative games. Games suffer terribly without the unpredictability and skill of human opposition, and the whole genre sometimes looks like a collection of semi-functional attempts to solve this big, blaring problem. Alex, Ronny; er (2016-04-01). "Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island Review". Co-op Board Games . Retrieved 2021-02-26.Living on a desert island is risky. Exploring new areas lures out many wild Beasts. You never know what kind of animal might hide around the corner. Players can hunt Beasts for food and valuable fur, but risk taking wounds if not well equipped for the fight. That’s why upgrading weapon level is vital for survival on the island. Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island — A Review". Your Turn, Dad. 2018-01-30 . Retrieved 2021-02-26. Fast forward to 2016 and publisher Portal Games smartly decides to update the game with a 2nd edition. Promising a clear rulebook and upgrade components to go along with its deep gameplay, many fans were eager to try out this second edition. In typical worker placement game fashion, there's way more to accomplish on the island than they have pawns to assign. You could build useful tools to help you, you can build up your camp to help survive against the elements, you can raise your weapon skill to help you hunt down animals for food and pelts, explore the island, and more. One of the most innovative designs in this game is the idea of safe vs. risky actions. If you place two pawns on a work space, that task automatically succeeds (symbolizing the time and people power it takes to complete that task), but if you only place one pawn on a work space, you have to roll dice to see if you succeed, if you go on an "adventure," and if you are injured in the task. This balance of risk and reward is perfectly tied to the limited action space available to each player, and fits the tone and theme of the game quite snugly. The explorer in Robinson Crusoe is ready to get out there and see what this land holds How Difficult Is Robinson Crusoe? But rushing the job means risking the failure. The outcome of such risky actions is resolved by rolling the Action dice, which determines success or failure, possible wounds and unexpected Adventures, which may bring consequences in the future rounds. No risk, no fun!

And once you do, Robinson Crusoe can give you with a really thematic experience. There are piles of cards with narrative elements to encounter that will really punch home the feeling that you are trying to survive on a deserted island. This, for me, is also a bit of a catch 22 with the adventure cards. I love drawing them because of their narrative elements and how they really deepen the story of the game. But they also will usually punch you in the gut somehow, so I also hate drawing them. Rounds will continue in this manner until the scenario goal is accomplished, or a player takes too many wounds and dies. As the game progresses, you’ll explore more parts of the island. Game Experience: Winning is hard, and requires practice and skill, but is far impossible. The difficulty level, again, feels just about pitch perfect. Every game feels like a fresh take at a puzzle, but one in which the parameters change subtly, demanding fresh insight, granting a new narrative and keeping things from getting dry and stale. Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is not for the faint of heart. The rules are fairly complex when you're first diving in, but there's a stellar rulebook and online video tutorials to help you get a handle on the game. And once you understand the overall flow of Robinson Crusoe, the game moves along rather snappily. And while, as mentioned above, it's quite difficult, that difficulty is what makes this game so enthralling. You wouldn't this game to play any easier, because that's where a lot of the narrative shines through. And this game is perfectly wedded to its narrative and theme, making you truly feel like you're slogging it out on a deserted island, trying to scrape together enough food to survive another month. Should I Buy Robinson Crusoe?

Review: Robinson Crusoe - Adventure on the Cursed Island - Shut Up & Sit Down". www.shutupandsitdown.com/ . Retrieved 2021-02-26. This brings me to something that you will either appreciate or hate about Robinson Crusoe. It’s a difficult game to win. Expect to lose, sometimes brutally in this game. While the loses never really feel cheap, occasionally bad dice rolls will sink you and that can be frustrating. The weather dice in particular can be particularly devastating. You might think you have your next round optimized and one bad roll and destroy all your well laid plans. I’m frankly torn between loving the challenge and hating to see my strategy thrown into the bin due to a bad roll. You will learn to hate the weather dice. Playing Inscryption, but the goddamn Angler boss (the second boss) has beaten me so many times, I'm losing interest. His bullshit tactics are decidedly unfun. Each player has a specific character with a raft of special abilities and two placement pawns which, each turn, can be assigned to activities like exploration, hunting or gathering resources. Some activities require only a single pawn, others can have one, two or sometimes more and this affects the success rate. Shove enough pawns into the activity and you’re guaranteed success. Fall short and you’ll end up dicing for it, possibly failing or triggering a linked – and usually undesirable – event. It's been many years since I read the Hyperion/Endymion books, so time for a re-read this winter. Simmons was doing a science-fiction Canterbury Tales, but brought lots of bold ideas to the table. I...