The game is based around various pieces of artwork by Jakub Rozalski, and set in in kind of 1920s dieselpunk universe. His art is spectacular - you can see some HERE. Its key elements seem to be 1920 Eastern European rural scenes combined with giant mechs on their way to, or engaged in, combat. Needless to say, the game features mechs.
My problem is that everything was so abstracted that I didn't feel I was playing a game in the world depicted in the art. At its core Scythe is a resource management game, with workers mining, producing or trading things, and the mechs almost felt subordinate to everything else. They're the hook to draw you in to what is essentially another gigantic farms and villages Eurogame.
Obviously my opinion is based on a single play where it took nearly an hour to explain the game and another hour before I even understood what I was supposed to be trying to achieve. Once we got going it actually rattled along very nicely, but I never felt truly engaged by it, and I certainly never felt sucked into the theme of the game in the same way, for example, that something like Junta quickly has you thinking like a ruthless Banana Republic ruling family.
Would I play again? Probably. Would I buy it? Almost certainly not.
Have to admit: the thing looks spectacular! Sounds like there might actually be a game buried in there in which the 'farms and villages' thing serves as the logistic element in a game of conquest. The existence of oil reserves might tend to add a certain 20th Century relevance to it all...
ReplyDeleteIt didn't *feel* like a game of conquest and, despite us playing with a full complement of factions (six players) we have very little combat or conflict.
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