Humble Bundle has done it again. They have launched the Asmodee Digital Play With Friends Bundle that includes a wealth of digital boardgames:
- $1 Tier:
- Small World
- Carcassonne
- Patchwork
- King & Assassins
- Love Letter
- Potion Explosion
- Pay over the Average Tier (currently $10.22)
- Splendor
- Mysterium
- Twilight Struggle
- Small Word Expansions
- Carcassonne Expansions
- $12 Tier:
- Scythe
- The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
- Small Word Expansions
- Carcassonne Expansions
- Mysterium Expansion
Needless to say, this is an insane deal for anyone looking to grab up some digital boardgames. But let’s dive further, are the games any good?
Patchwork
After hearing great things about the tabletop version, I was excited to give this a try. Patchwork is essentially two-player competitive Tetris. My buddy Evan and I played two games (first was a learning a game) and I’m impressed. We didn’t have any issues getting connected for a game, it runs smoothly and has an intuitive interface. The animations for the tiles getting stitched onto your quilt are a nice addition. A solid two player game.
Small World
I’ve played Small Word a couple of times on the table but it’s been a few years. We dove in with a five player game and it was a great time. But, our experience was not without issues. I cannot understate how much of a pain it was to get the game set up. Although all the players are Steam Friends, we needed to create separate Days of Wonder accounts and link them to our Steam Accounts. Once that was complete, we had to add each other as Days of Wonder Buddy List to send game invites. It was a hassle but once we were all in the same lobby we should have been good to go right? WRONG!
Once the game had started only the first player could see the board. The four other players were stuck looking at the lobby screen. Turns out, players were only allowed into the game once it’s their turn. As the fourth player, I sat, in the lobby, unable to see the board or the moves the first three players were making until it was my turn and then I entered the game. Why? Why was it designed this way? Luckily, once all five of us were actually in the game we had a great time! My only gripes from a gameplay perspective are that there is no undo button to help with any miss-clicks and the Victory Points are hidden. Game is good, but there is a lot of setup required.
Love Letter
One of my all time favorite ‘micro’ games, Love Letter works great as a digital game. Nothing fancy here, the game supports up to four players (we played with three) and plays exactly like the physical version. My only complaint is this strange breathing animation that was placed onto the card art. It’s that classic animatic effect and it’s waaaay overdone on these cards. But other than that, fantastic.
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
This is the game I was most excited to play. I had a copy of the physical version years ago but never dove in. I’ve played through the tutorial (it’s long, broken up into four missions) and started the first quest. There is a lot of game left to discover and I am really enjoying the journey. It’s great as a single-player game and supports two-player online coop. Sadly, Fantasy Flight Interactive is shut down so there will not be any future content, but the current offering is a excellent and robust narrative card game.
Carcassonne
Another absolute classic. I’ve always loved Carcassonne and this digital version is top tier. The game presentation is wonderful, the interface is slick and intuitive and the game set-up options are great! For example, you can toggle ‘dead tiles’ on / off. I hate when the big red X shows up on the table – indicating there is tile remaining that can fill the spot – I think it aids the players too much. Very happy the developers included the option to remove that. Same for being able to view the remaining tiles in the stack, on / off. You can also turn on a wonderful view to see all the Farms, who controls them and where the borders are. This is the best digital game in the bunch.
But wait, there’s more! Although I’ve put some solid hours in on these games there are still several more I haven’t had a chance to play. Even though the quality varies from title to tile, the overall package is solid.
Chicago Dice 