The River Board Game Review

A few months ago I was awarded a rare luxury in that after accomplishing plenty of responsibilities I realized there was still a clump of credit waiting at the friendly local game store. Not one to turn down the chance for some materialism I went looking for my reward. Problem was; what should I choose? There was so much available from the beautiful Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, the bizarre dexterity game Tokyo Highway, or the lovely and complex Coimbra. Yet out of all these titles the one that kept calling to me was a rather unassuming thing that has thus far garnered the cold shoulder from much of the gaming population. I speak of The River from Days of Wonder. Despite all I had heard about this being a lackluster release something told me there was more to this game than reviews were letting on.

Coming from two Swiss designers, Sébastien Pauchon who's given us game like Jaipur and newcomer Ismaël Perrin The River is a entry-level worker-placement game that proves how important little details are. What at first seems like a very basic title reveals more thought and attention to detail than so many of the flashy titles currently crowding the market.

Opening the box you'll encounter those two items that create the first impression of any game. The insert and instruction manual. The former is well laid out with a space for everything and actually a little room for more cards and maybe a few extra titles should a small expansion ever come to pass. Much like Quadropolis, another Days of Wonder title, the punch boards can be placed underneath the insert to make everything flush with the lid, brilliant. Instructions are nicely illustrated and plainly written. I never had any odd lingering questions about any aspect of gameplay and the final page explains every special tile available. Rulebooks like this are far too rare and the results speak for themselves as I made it through the first playthrough without any issues.

Presentation is not just well done but most importantly, charming. Everything is clean and simplistic with just enough little touches to make it shine. Take for instance how the player boats that store worker are each different right down to the number of barnacles underneath. Best of all are the colors with rich hues of green grass, blue water, and red sand. The look in person is above and beyond what comes through in photos. The purple hue of sunset on the box alone is breathtaking. The components while nothing earth shattering are uniformly high-quality. This doesn't suffer from some random piece that doesn't stand up under scrutiny like the rubbish tower from Stained Glass of Sintra or those floppy player boards from Quadropolis. Every piece is thick, sturdy, easy to recognize and understand.

Gameplay should be easy to understand for any long-term gamer but seeing as this is meant as an introductory game I will explain the basics for those who don't regularly spend time gaming at the table. The core concept of a worker-placement game is to take one worker from your limited personal supply and place them somewhere on the board to carry out the action listed there. This can be anything from gathering resources to constructing a building or discovering more land along the river itself. There are a couple of twists to the formula here such as spaces usually having spots for two-players with the first receiving a bonus of some kind. Another twist is that the amount of a given resource you gather is equal to how many of that symbol are on your player board. It's entirely possible that you may have discovered a combination of land tiles offering plenty of stone but no bricks which forces you to take the brick space before anyone else as the bonus will at least give you one to work with. Likewise the amount of resources you can store on your board is dependent on how many barns you've discovered. Players keep sending out and retrieving workers round after round until someone has either constructed five buildings or reached the end of the river.

I've seen may complaints that the theme is pasted on but I daresay that's far from accurate. With any good game the theme and gameplay should work together and that is very true here with only one possible exception. Remember that we are a group of people traveling downstream. As we go there are opportunities to pick up new people and lose others as they settle in the newly discovered lands. Each of us finds difference opportunities to benefit from the land along our own route downstream. The limited resources are a beautiful representation of this unity as our continuing journey down the rapids limits the time we have to obtain supplies. Even the seemingly oddball scoring bonus for having each column of land match by terrain is secretly smart. Think of the leftmost side of the board as Nevada and the rightmost as Iowa. Wouldn't it seem strange when looking back on your journey if the return to Nevada was greeted by green pastures? How about regaling folks with tails of the treacherous Iowa mountains? This leads to the strange gameplay option to reorganize two tiles on your board. Thematically it can only be written off as correcting your story so as to not mistakenly praise the lush forests of New Mexico. From a gaming standpoint this is a necessary evil to balance out the luck factor. Above all my favorite melding of form and function is that the display of tiles is wiped every round. You're traveling down river after all, that scenery isn't going to wait for you. Which is further augmented by only having the opportunity to grab two tiles max per round. If you see something you want you'd better get it, just remember that doing so may cost you that building or resource you're chasing as well.

This bring us to another topic. As a very amateur game-designer I love it when the care to balance the game is clearly visible. In a good share of games there are cards or tiles that seem like a possible loophole, a weakness to exploit and build upon to conquer your friends. Here that's never the case. Each piece is tweaked so as to never seem like that key to a perfect strategy. You have to live in the moment, battling for your life on the frontier. For some this can lead to the downside that many pieces don't feel very exciting. At the same time this allows for a friendly comfortable game where you're safe in the knowledge that another player won't simply luck into the perfect card and destroy your plans.

The player range is 2-4 with the game shining on the higher-end. Two-Players is by no means a poor choice but you end up losing elements like the first placement bonus. Not to mention there are countless better titles for one-on-one showdowns. So long as you have at least three people the game will prove to be tight and competitive. In fact most of my plays thus far have seen the winner pull ahead by a single point, even in the more relaxed two-player approach.

Another question we have to cover is does this have a place in your gaming library if you already have other worker-placement titles? That depends a little on which ones you have and why you enjoy them. I have Lords of Waterdeep and its expansion which offers one or two hours of fairly straightforward play. Then I have Yokohama which is at least ninety minutes of brain-melting puzzle. The River is much more relaxed than either of those and comes in at only half-an-hour. I can teach absolutely anyone how to play it and have it finished in no time. It comes in at the low end of complexity and playtime but occasionally that's what you need. If life allows me the freedom I'll bust out Yokohama, if I want something big but less complex then it's Waterdeep for sure, when just want a quick play it's gonna be The River.

If anything The River is a victim of the current state of gaming. In a time with app-assisted experiences, disposable escape room simulations, and overpriced deluxe Kickstarter editions, this title gives us exactly what drew us into gaming in the first place. It's a beautiful, elegantly designed experience that can be enjoyed by anyone quickly all in one box for a relatively low price. All those who complain that it's a bit to simplistic or has a boring theme should understand those reasons are why this has a safe and comfy spot in my collection. It fits any situation and offers a big yet friendly experience in a playtime that can fit into everyday life.