Gaia Project Review — Think, Don't Talk

Shelfside reviews THE big ticket Euro tabletop board game (and also Gloomhaven creator Isaac Childres' favorite)! Gaia project is like what happens if you take Twilight Imperium 4 and turn the area control into a euro instead; colonize the galaxy peacefully instead of battling with all the numerous factions. Players are still racing to get victory points, there's technology that you can research, as well as tons of miniature buildings and space pieces to plop everywhere on a hexagonal grid map. That's where the similarities end, because gameplay-wise the mechanics and how you use your tokens are totally different. There's six rounds before the game ends, certain actions are tied to a power token system that cycles through three phases, and there's absolutely no random dice rolling that can mess your strategies up through rng. Actually, the strategies are insanely diverse in Gaia Project with tons of upgrade paths and ways to score vp. Of course, with this much complexity, there's going to be a ton of rules, and it's pretty easy to mess up a rulebook...

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Table of Contents:
Intro - (0:00)
Overview - (0:51)
How to Play - (1:22)
Pros - (3:53)
Cons - (29:16)
Recommender Score - (40:37)
Ashton's Personal Score - (48:36)

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Stuff Used:
Epic Horror Synth Trailer Music - Something Wicked (Ross Bugden)
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Sorry - Lofi Hip Hop Beat (Prod. Riddiman)
Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod

#boardgames #tabletop #review

[TheSludgeMan]

This is the DEFINITIVE review of GP. Outstanding attention to detail.

[DanClapp]

The production quality of your reviews is amazing! Not to mention how in-depth they are, as well as humorous!

[Wealtharch]

This is off the charts a very thorough review. Thanks so much.

[SwedishWookie]

Lovely indepth review, and I know I'm a year late buuuut... You don't just spend 0-3 vp's to power charge, it depends on what type of building you had within the neighbouring range when an opponent builds/upgrades. (the purple icons under the buildings dictate how much you charge. And how many vp's it costs -1)
Also you can easily tell how many terraforming steps an opponent has to take by looking at their player colour and the 'wheel' of planets around the turn tracker/vp sideboard.

Also we did our first playthrough last week, altough at 3 players in about 3h and we talk and goof around quite a bit and I think we still did pretty well. The recommended setup helps. And I watched like 3 how to play videos before the game.
I superduper agree on finding the Lost planet in the rulebook was the most 'lost' thing about it, actually glad you pointed it out and probably saved a lot of people some headache xD

[Chris-ropu]

One of my favorite games. Thanks for pointing out the high quality components. I love how squishy the trading posts are.

[gamehaus]

Incredibly thorough and well considered review. Thanks for your hard work on these videos. This is one of my favorite games of all time, and I do prefer it solo and at 2 player. If you’re up for it, you can even print out a second set of the Automa cards and play a 3 player game solo (search Gaia Project + “Automa (solo mode) rulebook and decision cards for Gaia Project” to find the pdf posting on BGG. You definitely do not want to try this until you have the single Automa deck solo game well in hand, but I do enjoy it as a change up from time from time.

[NATOnova]

Fantastic review! I love the distinction you make between recommender and personal score. This games been on my radar for a while, with the expectation to play mostly solo, despite me never playing a solo game, and it being intimidating. The perfect information and huge depth of strategy with seemingly little luck, make me curios to try it. Just waiting for a sale for it or digital version

[rafhalimaxd]

My favourite Euro Game, it's interesting how much I couldn't like Terra Mystica but love this game. Theme is a big thing for me.

[vincentlepine]

This is the best review of gaia project by far! Just bought it this week-end, cant wait to try it after i see this review! Keep up posting great video like this guys!

[AhJong]

Great discussion, many different perspectives and points well covered!

[kecajo]

Great review. Honestly one of the best board reviews I have ever watched.

[evandercaldwell]

44:23 made me laugh out loud, hahaha 😂😂😂 Wow, what a great review, You just gained a committed subscriber! Your nuanced opinion and multiple angles of critiquing a game will make me come back to this channel FOR SURE!! I just spent several days studying the rulebook to really internalize it and be able to teach it flawlessly, so we'll be able to enjoy it fully this weekend, when we sit down as 3 and have no unnecessary downtime and confusion with studying the rulebook!! (The rulebook is good I must say) I think having one player being fully competent with the rules helps a lot, especially with a heavy game like this! When you're well prepared to teach it, then there is no time lost, so everyone can fully focus on the game!!

[Jmansmassathon]

Great review! Ver informative, and funny without trying too hard to be funny like some reviewers these days. Thanks.

[shortydancer]

Great video. Love the analysis. Saw this on sale for 60. Im a sucker for sales, so I bought it.

[rolfvansoelen]

i am considering buying this game and buy the way you explained a lot of stuff helped me getting convinced by the beauty of this game. Tx alot !

[rochedl]

The creators of GaIa Project were EVE online fans, Steep Learning curve, and if dont do a tutorial, or in this case watch a playthru, you WILL BE LOST!!!.
I normally do not have any problem with rulebooks, but this one was different, I HAD to watch a tutorial playthru on Youtube to understand WTF that "Z" icon was. And I am a person that does not swear :).

I picked up this game because I am a solo player. And once I have the energy to play this game again I have a feeling that I will really enjoy it.
Great video!!

[johnjfairfull]

Great Video! Thank you. Just bought the game and looking forward to playing solo!

[JonoNZBoardGamer]

I haven't played this, but I think the down time would be a big struggle for me. In other games I usually enjoy coming up with the plan for my next turn immediately after finishing my current turn, spending 5 mins thinking it over (depending on complexity of the game) then waiting for my turn to come back around. But if the down time is too much I end up forgetting part or all of the plan I had and have to frustratingly work through it again. Great review, this is one I was interested in but probably will give it a miss now.

[curry]

Thanks for the thorough review! I'm still on the fence about introducing my group to this game but the video definitely helped.

[paxgamer]

GREAT review, subbed. Some of your cons are pros for heavy gamers. Personally I love games that take several plays to open up. I don't want to be able to solve a game on the first play, because what would bring me back? I want there to be a journey of discovery, and a big skill gap between experienced and inexperienced players. I get it that those can be cons for some people - but as I said before, they are pros for others. I also don't think there is much downtime thanks to there being 1 action per turn. Compare this to e.g. Oath, where you can have like 20 minutes between turns...