Catan: New Energies with all pieces and boards laid out Catan GmbH
As with Catan games in general, the game’s competition for land and resources is balanced by the presence of other players, whose actions, appetite for trading, and even collaboration can affect outcomes.
“Very often at the end of the game, you see everybody completely freaking out, like, ‘Oh man, we’ve got to save the world!’” Benjamin Teuber told Fast Company. “But the pollution is already here, like what did you expect? And then maybe people start working together, and that’s a really nice effect that makes you think ‘if we do all work together and all did our share, then it can work, and all it cost is that we grow a little bit slower.’”
If you haven’t played a Catan game in a while or missed most of the variants and alternate settings, New Energies might provide a distinctly fresh experience. The artwork, by Ian O’Toole (On Mars, Rococo, Fit to Print), is distinct from the original. And the new systems look like they’ll provide some new layers of strategy for those who might feel too familiar with the core Catan concepts.
At a minimum, you can test your friends’ patience and sense of humor by playing as a game-ending cheap coal villain. Global footprint marker? Environmental inspector? Not your problem.
This post was updated at 3:30 p.m. Eastern to note the game’s overall hopeful nature, which might not have been apparent at first glance.