Should You Play Dune: Imperium? - Board Game Review

Right, I know nothing about the lore or the books or the movies. I am going into this Dune universe completely blind. Is that going to impede my enjoyment of one of the hottest games from 2020? Will this be able to stand up against other light deck builders, hybrid or otherwise?

00:00 - Introduction & Overview
03:45 - Duration
05:03 - Ease of Play
06:04 - Tactics & Strategy
11:00 - Aesthetics
13:05 - Immersion
14:10 - Longevity
15:37 - Summary & Final Verdict

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[UKDagnar]

Personally think that boardgaming is being destroyed by the clamour for minis in everything. KS projects are being judged just on the number of minis included these days. I like wooden meeples, a fancy expensive miniature delivers nothing more other than increased cost. The fact Direwolf had to do an upgrade pack with minis proves my point, thank god they made it an optional extra rather than doubling the cost of the base game so they could include the unnecesary miniatures.

[lystic]

It's interesting because for me Dune feels like it has more depth than Arnak but I think that's because of the level of the interaction and the more complex resource puzzle in Arnak, which causes me to focus more (too much probably) on my own tableau/puzzle. In Dune I am more busy with things like: I want to get the Swordmaster and it takes 8 solari, but I will be last in round. Nobody has 8 solari yet, and to get that solari they'll want spice. I can get myself to hoard the spice, then I won't have any trouble getting the Swordmaster.
So I feel in a weird way more strategic with Dune because it is lighter in its resource interactions.

[brotherhorus]

Great review, love the graphic and presentation, but as an owner of Dune Imperium and Ruins of Arnak, we all prefer Dune, much more interactive and tense.
Yes the board is boring, but the game is no worse for it, although looking forward to the upgrade to snazz it up😉🤣🤣

[mikolajwitkowski]

Hmmm you're not the first reviewer complaining about aesthetics, so I am sure there is something there, but I don't see it. The game is beautiful, clean board, thematic look, beautiful illustrations. I like the wooden pieces more than the minis.

[mikolajwitkowski]

Knowing the theme is a must, for one the books are one of the most important ones ever written, you really should at least listen to the audio book. Also each and every card makes thematic sense, even those that seem generic like a gun copter actually evoke a specific scene from the book.

[dougsundseth]

My take:

Aesthetics: The board is very functional and easy to use, and adding more stuff to make it prettier would make the gameplay worse. The card art varies between decent and excellent, the cards are very easy to understand and explain, and the balance between play and pass utility is fascinating. The pieces are functional but not particularly interesting, which also means that they're excellent as game pieces, since they're very easy to understand and distinguish. I don't have any problem with the aesthetics here and the graphic design is extremely effective. For me, at least, the user interface of a game is far more important than the art, and this game excels there and doesn't have major negatives on the art side.

Theme: Absolutely excellent. All of the stuff that didn't engage you absolutely makes sense if you know the world.

Game play: Very good, bordering on excellent. The decisions are difficult and vary significantly from game to game. The balance between worker placement and the innovative card deck works perfectly for me. If there were more detail, the cost would be more complexity, probably more length, and almost certainly more cost. I think the balance works well.

Overall, each time I have played the game I have liked it more than the previous time. We'll see how long that continues.

[fan-i-am]

I really like Dune Imperium. My only problem with the game is with the Market, Turn order, and the Intrigue deck as a whole: randomness that negates all ur hard choices for combat, influence track or endgame just because someone plays a card.

Every advantage should be earned as proven by ur foresight/choices not because of luck! Which is why I propose 3 changes:

1) Have the Market be 8 cards instead of 5 OR flip/refresh all unpurchased cards at the end of the round OR both!

2) Fix the Intrigue deck somehow, like drafting display 3 to choose from, so others know what u got, (if they remember), but don't know WHEN you'll play it!
OR take out the Endgame VP cards & Plot pay for VP cards (there's only 4)

3) Have a mechanic that allows players to affect turn order! Such as: Have the CHOAM Secure Contract space also have a 1st Player icon meaning u get to give the 1st player coin to ANY player and they immediately become 1st player OR will be 1st player next round.
OR each round Player lowest on the VP track goes first then 2nd lowest goes 2nd etc. ties broken per normal endgame rules

[bratsche]

When I see another deck builder/worker placement game come out of last year I immediately want to compare to Arnak

[nicholasfeliciano]

I've watched a lot of reviews, really like this guys tenure. Easy to watch and listen to and gets to the point and realistic

[npckse]

I have this and Arnak and this will be a game I keep long after arnak goes away. Both are great, but this one at least FEELS more interactive. I realize it is just the combat, but at least there is some type of interaction. In Arnak, the most interaction I had was a player ganking a guardian because I uncovered him after I had no more workers and he snagged him on the next turn. It will be interesting to see if either feels too samey over time. If Dune Imperium wasn't in the Dune setting, perhaps I wouldn't love it. Then again I loved Tyrants of the Underdark and it was not all that thematic. Although Tyrants of the Underdark was far more of a Deck Builder than either Arnak or Dune Imperium. I will say that being able to play Imperium in person, it feels and plays far better. Hopefully you get the chance to play with others in person soon!

[whatsabandicoot]

Great video, thanks for sharing!

100% agree on the aesthetics. While I don't mind the meeples and cubes, there's no excuse for the prototype vibe of Dune Imperium. Especially given how beautiful (IMO) the graphic design of the Gale Force Nine edition of the original Dune game is.

That said, I personally prefer the game over Arnak. It creates a really interesting tension between players as you jostle for influence or power in the conflict. Arnak felt quite like MP solitaire to me by comparison.

I was a little disappointed by the solo mode in DI. The app is brilliant, but the bots are very swingy in the conflict. Instead, it's very easy to win on intrigue and influence VPs as the bots don't react to your advancement like other players would. Still, a good filler and I'm glad they included it.

Either way, both really fun games! Really enjoy their takes on the deck builder worker placement hybrid.

[JB-zidr]

Enjoyed the review. I wouldn't say the theme is super strong but I do think they've done a good job with the houses, factions and many of the cards as they do make sense if you know the universe. The aesthetics don't bother me at all really - the muted and clean look sorta works for me. Not really fussed about the minis either. I'm quite surprised that you are classing it as a light game - definitely pretty thinky and at least on par with Arnak in terms of decisions in my view. Glad you liked it overall though.

[CK-misd]

I know nothing about Dune universe, I think this game has more victory path than architect of the west kingdom... I love this game because of different factions which allow much replayability and strategies.

[SenseiJae]

Spice is an analogy for oil. The story is thinly veiled treatment of the global wars over oil production.

[daninanestean]

Thanks for the review. Although I agree it's not oozing with theme, it does help with the immersion if you know a little bit about the lore. At least some of the asymmetrical powers make more sense.

[revimfadli]

I think the immersion suffers from the lack of visuals on the main board. In games with original IPs they sometimes convey the characters with illustrations, in ways that tell you what those characters do

[KabukiKid]

Boy... I thought the card art was quite good, actually. It may help that I adore the Dune universe, granted. It is DEFINITELY worth the read... sort of like Game of Thrones in space... but better. ;-)

[gs-xor]

Awesome review Luke! And thanks for bringing the difference out with Lost Ruins of Arnak. When you have the chance could you compare it also with Endless Winter?

[TheTheshadow]

A long rant for a game I really like to play solo. A good Bot too. And I am a wargamer, so this game is not even in my range of interest BUT it is quite a great challenge to play it for me. 9/10.

[constChg]

You rate lost ruin of Arnak 10/10 over this. I’m comparing these two and think Lost ruin of Arnak is easier to enjoy, sometime is does feel like a trap to pick up a more “strategic” game which also means harder to play with the wider group. Your take?