Forbidden Desert â?? The Cooperative Strategy Survival Desert Board Game

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Forbidden Desert â?? The Cooperative Strategy Survival Desert Board Game

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Description

Thirst for Survival
2 to 5 players
Playing time: 45 minutes
Playing instructions included
Ages 10 and up

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Customer Reviews

Challenging, Family Friendly Puzzle SolvingAnother fun cooperative family game by Ceaco. I wouldn't necessarily say Forbidden Desert is a huge improvement over Forbidden Island, because found the concept of Forbidden Island more exciting. Forbidden Island feels more like a puzzle than Forbidden Desert does, though my biggest complaint is that it's too easy, and after around ten games or so, Forbidden Island becomes seemingly impossible to lose, even if you're playing on elite. Though, that isn't the problem with Forbidden Desert. Forbidden Desert is tough, even on normal.Its toughness isn't a bad thing at all, though. I kind of appreciate. Though the way Forbidden Island was designed feels a lot more like a puzzle than Forbidden Desert. In Forbidden Desert, a large degree of your victory chances hinges on flipping over all of the correct tiles early on in the game, which isn't as exciting as figuring out how to get across sinking portions of the Island, knowing which Island cards have the strongest likelihood of ending up near the top.I'm also not too crazy about the fact that there are three characters in Forbidden Desert that seem far more useful than the rest: the navigator, the water carrier, and the explorer. The other characters are fine, and occasionally useful, but aforementioned three are the three that I am by far the most reliant on to achieve victory, whereas in Forbidden Island, I find all of the characters very useful (though the pilot I personally find to be the most useful).But, even though there are things I miss about Forbidden Island, overall, I still think Forbidden Desert is a better game. I just hope that one day, Ceaco can find a way to strike a neat balance between challenge, with a stronger emphasis on puzzle solving than luck. 4Fun sequel!OVERVIEWForbidden Island is the game that really got me into cooperative games and modern board games in general. Pandemic is my favorite game. Both of these are by Matt Leacock, so when his new title Forbidden Desert was announced, I could not wait to get my hands on it! I was a little worried it might be an unnecessary purchase for someone who already owns Forbidden Island, but I couldn't pass it up. Luckily, my fears were unfounded - although it scratches the same itch as Forbidden Island, it has quite different mechanics.GAMEPLAYIf you haven't played a co-op game before, the basic thing you need to know is that the players play together against the game instead of against each other - everyone wins, or everyone loses. This is my personal favorite type of game, as it allows overly competitive siblings or spouses to have a more relaxed game night together. :)The premise of this game is that your team's helicopter has crashed in the desert, and you need to excavate the ruins of an ancient city to find the parts to rebuild their legendary solar-powered flying machine. You do so by exploring on your turn, specifically by flipping over tiles - they make up the game board, so it is different each time - from "desert" side to "city" side and finding what is underneath them. The artwork on the city tiles is beautiful, as it was in Forbidden Island. There are lots of helpful things to find, including wells for your dwindling water supplies (each well can only be used once, and watch out for the mirage!), special equipment, and clues to the locations of the flying machine parts. Once you have two clues for a part, you have located where it is and just need to go grab it. If you can find all four and make it back to the launch pad with everyone, you win the game.The actions you can take on your turn include clearing pesky piles of sand, moving around the board, excavating the city (aka flipping over tiles), and picking up the parts for the ship (I should mention here that the toy factor on the ship and its parts is GREAT!) Unfortunately, at the end of each turn you have to draw from the storm deck (this would be similar to the flood deck in Forbidden Island) and the "eye" of the sand storm moves, shifting tiles around and adding sand, often to places you just managed to dig out. If there is too much sand, a tile becomes "blocked" and it's harder to move around the board, plus the things you need can become buried. Two other unpleasant types of cards include "Storm picks up" (making you draw more cards each turn) and "Sun beats down" (you have to drink water from your canteen - if you have none left when one of these happens, you die and everyone loses the game!)Luckily there are a few special item cards to help you along the way, and each player has a unique role with a special power that you will need to get through the game, such as being able to climb over blocked tiles, navigate other players, or carry extra water.DESERT VS ISLANDIf you are familiar with Forbidden Island, the main differences are there is no set collection of cards; you only have one deck of cards to draw from every turn; and you have your own personal water supply to juggle. Also, tiles can not be permanently lost (like to flooding in Forbidden Island), only more difficult to access. Another aspect I like is that virtually ALL of the tiles are important in this game, since you need to actually explore and locations move. (In Island you mostly just needed to worry about the treasure tiles, Fool's Landing, and whatever pathway you needed.)I think this game is probably more difficult than Forbidden Island if you're playing with the full range of players, but with only 2 people, this one seems easier to me. Next time we will have to up the difficulty level. The rules are also slightly more complex, but I think that kids who get one will get the other.TAKEAWAYIf you have and like Forbidden Island, this one is definitely worth a look too. If you don't have either, I slightly prefer this one, but it is also shiny and new, so it's hard to recommend one over the other! Both are great games from a great designer. This is a good game for families, couples, or game groups looking for something light and fun (no heavy-duty strategy, but there are still interesting decisions and challenges and a lot of fun). 4Love this! Great for 2 players!Forbidden Desert is awesome because it's cooperative AND challenging. No two games are going to be the same, so it's fun every time, even with just 2 people playing. Got this so my husband and I have a 2-player game at the ready when we want to play something and don't feel like battling each other. A lot of 2-players either make it so you're constantly doing "mean things" to the other person if you want to win, or can't help it because that's how the cards come out, or it gets boring really quickly and relies on luck more than strategy. Like, you can technically play Smash Up with two people, but because there is no way to spread out the hits among additional players, the game ends quickly and often one person never really gets to play. Star Realms is kinda like that too - luck of the draw can put someone so far behind in just a turn or two that there is no way to recover and you know the game is already over before it barely starts. This has none of those issues and you never know what's going to happen next! 5Buy Island, then DesertTLDR: The 4-stars is for the comparison to Forbidden Island. Buy Island first. If you enjoy that and want more variety, then buy Desert.Forbidden Desert is the stand-alone spiritual successor to Forbidden Island.Desert is an action-based, ability-focused cooperative game. You move around the map (created by placing the desert squares), digging through sand, excavating tiles to discover directions to the treasure (or nothing at all!), and making sure you have enough water to survive the heat. Each player has a unique ability that defines their gameplay and makes each player focus on different aspects. After each player's turn, the sandstorm moves around the map, dumping sand and potentially sapping your strength and your water away. If you manage to discover all the pieces of the treasure and make it out alive and hydrated, you win!Desert is a great game. It forces you to work as a team, talk things out, and struggle to survive. You will lose; you will probably lose due to dehydration more than anything. Difficult cooperative games are great, though, as the challenge is always appreciated. That said, Island offers the same gameplay, just with more succinct rules, better art (subjectively, of course), quicker gameplay, and a touch less difficulty. Island also offers the opportunity for you to go outside the rules and make "hunt and seek" games for toddlers.I will happily play either, with a softer spot in my heart for Island.My wife prefers Desert. She disagrees on the art, and she enjoys the expanded mechanics of Desert.My kids, age 6 and 8, are on Island (with my help). The water mechanic in particular makes Desert difficult for them at the moment.So, if you are looking to travel to Forbidden lands, start with Island. If you enjoy it and want more variety and harder mechanics, know that Desert is a great game and you will be happy with the purchase of that as well.Happy exploring! 4Again but let's win this time!A fun cooperative game with a somewhat counter-intuitive moving storm mechanic.Forbidden Island is a simpler starter game.Pandemic is more complex and involved but rewards you with loads of theme.This game sits fairly in the middle. If you have mastered Forbidden Island the only new mechanic you'll need to review is the moving storm. It's not super-complex, but it does depend upon orientation/perspective so give it a good read (or watch a reliable playthrough) to get a good understanding about how it should work.Beyond that the game is fun and will often lead to multiple replays. Won't feel radically different from Forbidden Island, but sufficiently different enough to warrant owning both if you're a big enough fan of cooperative games. 4Really fun gameThis is a great family game. The rules and mechanics are a little hit and miss. They were very overwhelming at first and we had to play the game a few times in our "learning mode" before we really understood everything. After that it was a simple and easy game The only downside is your character can die. If you are playing with younger ones, they can get upset at that. My 7 year old has died a few times and pouts a little since she's out of the game. But usually the survivors just let her join in on the decision making when that happens though. And it doesn't happen very often. Usually we try very hard to keep each other alive. That being said, this is a fun game that our family likes to play because you are working together to solve the problem instead of against each other. I have a lot of fun when the game gets really intense and all the ideas the kids come up with to solve the problems and work together. The game does require a fairly large area to play in. We can do so on the floor or the dining room table, but it would be a tight squeeze on a card table. Game play for us has lasted anywhere from 15/20 minutes upwards of an hour depending on how the cards are drawn. I would recommend this game and highly encourage people to give it a fair shot once the rules are understood. If anything turns you off to the game fresh out of the gate, it can be the complexity of the rules. But once you understand them, it's a really fun game. Our "learning mode" is learn the rules as you play. It takes a really long time for the first play through when you do it this way, but it speeds up as things are better understood. 5Great game and great mechanicsGreat game! I love when game mechanics work to create a running game that makes you feel the pressure while working with a team.The way the sand blows by direction tiles and the sun beating down and storm levels rising is great at moving the game to its conclusion. The team really has to work well together and coordinate.You really do feel the pressure to hurry up and yet you have to dig nearly everywhere it seems. I can't stress enough that if you want to beat this game, you must coordinate and discuss with your team on what each of you will do. I don't think I have ever seen team work in a board game like this one.I am not the biggest fan of the characters that each person takes on because they don't seem necessarily powerful or in the case of the meteorologist , very powerful but his sole action becomes doing nothing because you need his power so badly (you'll see when you play the game). But, I understand you can't make them too powerful and within the confines of the game, they really are useful (not always the waterboy) and absolutely necessary.Anyway, I always give some negative but this is still a great game. I highly recommend for a group wanting some coop fun. 5Good full-scale cooperative game.This is one of the better cooperative games around. We have a number of games at our home (maybe 40) and play them frequently. The game we have that I will compare this to is pandemic as they are the same general category of game.Compared to pandemic, this game is less stressful, quicker, and easier. It has a really interesting mechanic with the constantly changing board and the mechanic for hiding the various pieces you have to find. We enjoy it plenty well, though for some reason it's not quite as engaging as pandemic. I guess it just feels a little lighter, though I can't exactly say why. Maybe the idea of diseases spreading around the world is just a bit scarier than running out of water or being buried in the desert.Of the two I also think this game works better with a smaller number of players. I get the feeling Pandemic shines a bit more with more players and this one plays quite well with two.We have several small cooperative games (like card games and stuff) but this is a full-sized full-length game. It's just relatively light and for a full-size, full-length game, but much more involved than the simple cooperative games we have (like Onirim and Hanabi, for example).Having enjoyed this game very well, we also bought its slightly older cousin: Forbidden Island. Will review that after it arrives and we get some experience with it. 5IMHO - Better Than PandemicI actually like this game by Matt Leacock better than his other, more famous, game Pandemic. For some reason, the threat of dying of thirst is more fun to play than the threat of Earth population being wiped out by super diseases. I like both, but I like the way this one plays out a lot more. They are very similar in how the threat escalates. They both have a learning curve in being able to beat it and a way to increase the difficulty once you get the hang of beating it. However, in Pandemic, you spread all the players out to cover more area and get them back together when you need to exchange cards or something. In Forbidden Desert, you need to stick together, and if you decide to split up, it has to be for a good reason. In Forbidden Desert, you see the sand piling up on top of the item you need, and you think, "How will we ever get out of this alive", and often you will die, but sometimes, sometimes, sometimes you will start digging, and the wind will blow in your favor, and you will get the pieces to your airship, and once in a blue moon, you will get everyone's character to the ship and fly away to safety, and you will say to the game, "Today game, you did not beat me. Today, we survived....until next time game. Until next time."So yeah. I like this one. 5This game is fantastic. It is the closest thing to a perfect ...This game is fantastic. It is the closest thing to a perfect game I've seen/played. It's very easy to understand and teach. The instructions are extremely well written. The character cards also each have well written rules for what you do on your turn. Despite being really easy to pick up/understand, it's still a challenging game. I've played it with 2 and 5 players and it was great with both numbers. Great game for 2-5 players that is quick, co-op, and still a good challenge yet something you could still play with children probably years and up.In addition to the rules being well done, the game also has great items, there are no bad ones. Every time someone got an item, no matter what item, someone would say, "oh, that's a good one". The characters are also all unique and solid. Each character feels useful to the party and you can strategize well depending on what items and characters you have, plus the board is always moving/changing so it has a ton of replay-ability. This is a must have for any board gamer, and again, so easy to understand and get started that it's a good game for anyone.The only thing that is somewhat unnecessary is the model of the flying ship. You don't really need that, but it's not really a negative that it's included. It might not be my favorite board game of all time as I increase my collection, but I think it'll be hard for something else to be a better game. It's just so well designed. Kudos to the designers! 5

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Forbidden Desert â?? The Cooperative Strategy Survival Desert Board Game

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Forbidden Desert â?? The Cooperative Strategy Survival Desert Board Game

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Forbidden Desert â?? The Cooperative Strategy Survival Desert Board Game

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Forbidden Desert â?? The Cooperative Strategy Survival Desert Board Game

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