Explorers of Navoria Review - It's A Whole New World...Of Cards

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Channels I Recommend (Not a comprehensive list by any means)
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In the magical land of Navoria, new and strange continents have emerged from the sea. The council of Navoria has decreed that the new continents must be explored, and you and a handful of other intrepid adventurers have answered the call... the stage is set for the adventure of a lifetime in Explorers of Navoria!

In Explorers of Navoria, you'll take action tokens from the bag and use them to draft Adventure cards into your tableau.

Adventure cards help you explore Navoria, build settlements in the newly emerged continents, craft supplies and items, and collaborate with the different races of Navoria.

Some of the Adventure cards give instant benefits, boosting your powers; some give ongoing abilities, engine-building in your tableau; and all of them increase your reputation with different races of Navoria, unlocking end-game bonuses through set-collection.

After drafting Adventure cards, you'll use the same tokens you drafted from the bag to visit locations on the mainland of Navoria in a worker placement phase. Worker placement locations reduce in power after each token is placed so you'll want to visit each location first to get the best benefits!

TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - Overview
0:09:25 - Ease of Play
0:10:08 - What I Like
0:12:53 - What I Don't Like
0:14:25 - What I Can See Others Not Liking
0:15:02 - Final Thoughts
0:16:50 - Recommendations

5.0 - My absolutely favorite games. You can pry them out of my cold dead hands.
4.5 - Love this game! At the same time missing something that would make it a 5. Could be hard to table, lacking variability, a little light, etc.
4.0 - Really great game, almost always keeping, although has meaningful complaints as to what takes away from the experience.
3.5 - Really enjoyed, don't love it, may lose out to better games but the idea of never playing again is a bit sad.
3.0 - A good game, would play and suggest with the right people, if I never played it again wouldn't lose any sleep.
2.5 - A game I'd play again , but will never suggest it myself
2.0 - A game I don't want to play again
1.5 - A game I can't find any reason to recommend
1.0 - A game that is just bad.

My Game Table (Non Referral)

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[nicolasdavila]

Thanks for the video, Alex. Have you gotten a chance to try it with the expansion? Apparently, it makes the game way less vanilla.. still unsure if I wanna pull the trigger on this

[Raphaelus]

I think the variability issue comes down to the depth provided: the cards and placement spaces seem to just give resources in varying amounts, and so it's hard for them to feel different.
Wish there was more space for interactions and combos.

[francopdx]

Thanks for the review. This one is on my radar. It looks like an interesting mix of mechanisms. The location resetting of the worker reminds me of The Guild of Merchant Explorers, which I enjoy. It's good to know about the potential same-y-ness too.

[What_Up_Rob]

I got a bit more about the game from your review, so thank you for explaining the game a bit clearer and more succinctly.

[morgaknightgames]

I think this is going to be a wait until retail for me. I'm a bit concerned about longevity and without reviews covering the expansion, I can't justify the purchase at this time.

[ategrijpstra]

Well done, Alex! A great review of a great game.

[srebme]

I’ve been really interested in this game. I see it advertised A LOT. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[aarontaylor]

I'm really interested in this one. I know my wife will love the art which will help me get it tabled. You kind of confirmed my fear that it might feel like the same game, but I imagine we will only get it out once a month so shouldn't be that big of a deal. I'm hoping the a symmetric expansion solves that for me though.

[GilMiddleBro]

Do you think the game is predictable? Does it have a lot of downtime?

[Flipide]

Did they send you the expansion? There is asymmetric powers apparently.

Edit: Just seen you mention you don't have them.

[JJ_TheGreat]

15:21 So basically - It's a 3.75 out of 5 for you! 😉

[marccote]

Really like Pioneer rails, might give this one a try, rather than spend another 200$ on a cmon pledge 🤷🏻

[JJ_TheGreat]

12:38 But can you let that other player run away with the game because they got all the green points and you chose not to compete on it?! 😉

[Uthe]

Not sold on it. It seems too simple for me.

[cobrax]

Honestly, this sounds really boring. The nice art will not make the game any better 😂