The hype was real. At GenCon 2016 the game sold out before the doors even opened to the general public. Expectations were high and everyone was talking about SeaFall in hushed, reverent tones.

So here we are, almost a year after its initial release, and I have finally ripped open the shrink-wrap, punched the tokens, and sat down with Ben, John and Ruth to begin our journey through SeaFall.

SeaFall, released in the summer of 2016 and produced by Plaid Hat Games, is a legacy game in the style of Risk: Legacy and Pandemic: Legacy. But, unlike Risk and Pandemic, SeaFall is a new IP created from the ground up to utilize the legacy format.

We are only two games in but I want to share my first impressions, this is not a full review, just my thoughts on the experience so far. I will create a series of articles culminating in a final review and each article will answer one question: are we having fun?

After two games, yes. We are having fun. A lot of fun. SeaFall contains something that most games lack – the wonder and the promise of the unknown. When I am sitting down and playing SeaFall I am driven to explore, to sail into unclaimed waters and discover what lurks beyond the horizon. The true test will be – will that sense of discovery maintain through 14 more games? If it does – if SeaFall continues to call me to set sail and lay claim to new discoveries, then there will be no problem at all!

But, I could see how the game might devolve into dry, mechanical, boring resource management and optimization. I don’t want to play a game with the theme of discovery in the age of sail with nothing left to discover. So, after two games, we love it. But will it last? Only time will tell.

I’ll be back with more thoughts after our next couple of games. Stay tuned!

Ben, John and I played the Prologue. Ruth joined us for Game One.