Overview:
If you’ve ever wanted to be Indiana Jones then Silver River could be the game for you. Your archaeologists move to locations to gain resources and dig for treasure, but watch out for the guardians, who you have to defeat or suffer end of turn consequences. You can research to also find new resources, and get help from new assistants.
Rules & Setup:
The rules are excellently put together, with plenty of pictures and examples of play on every page, showing initial table set up from solo to 4 players. Player board set-up is easy and quick with very little initially to do.
The main game board has a fair bit of initial set up, but the end result is a very colourful, and exceptionally thought out board with very nice components, both card and coloured plastic.
There are also some FAQ’s and explanations of cards and symbols on the last few pages which are very helpful, and there are 4 small player aid cards which also help players with each game turn and in game situations.
Each round lasts until each ‘physical’ player has passed, or if playing solo you wait until the AI has played all 10 cards, and then you retrieve your two archaeologists and perform any end of turn moves required, and then reset for the next turn, of which there are 5 in total.
Theme and Mechanics:
As stated before, the theme is one that drew me in to Silver River, and the mechanics will I’m sure lend itself to exciting game play with higher player counts, but I can see that at maybe 2 players it could get a bit ‘samey’ as actions will come around quickly, and the lack of other players doing things to thwart your plans may be a negative, but only a small one. I personally like having plans and then having to adapt them due to other players actions before I get to carry out that plan.
The game mechanics themselves seem sound, but until I play with a group I only have the videos and play throughs to gauge this on.
Gameplay:
Again, gameplay is something I can’t comment on too much, and can only say how the solo mode went, which for me wasn’t great. There are 2 solo modes in the rules, and I have played both, and didn’t really enjoy either, and probably will only play once or twice more, just before playing in a group just to remind myself of the game play and the round actions etc.
The standard set up and game for me wasn’t balanced, and I’m not a fan of solo modes that just say ‘score a set amount of VP’s by the game end to win which this does, or defeat a level 5 monster.
The second solo mode is to defeat a monster of each level from 1 to 5, and if you ever lose a battle against any of these you lose the game.
Again, not a fan of this mode, and I found it to be ‘lazy’ in it’s objective, and not much thought had gone into it.
For me, I like solo modes where the AI player is controlled by cards, like those from Garphil Games, i.e. Raiders of the North Sea or Architects of the West Kingdom, or a board like Anachrony, the best solo mode of it’s type I have played.
Both solo modes in this, for me, showed a lack of effort in giving the player an all round experience when playing against others wasn’t an option, and I sincerely hope the designers revisit the game and add a better set of solo options asap.
Artwork and Components:
The artwork is good, both in the rulebook, and on the cards and boards, but for me the components are a big let down as the upgrade on ships went from cardboard tokens to plastic discs that you have to put numbered stickers on to show which fleet it is.
The cubes etc., are pretty generic, and I have bought my own ships to use instead of the plastic discs.
The Good:
The overall game is ok for the cost, but I would not have wanted to pay any more for it, based on the above. It remains to be seen if I keep it in the long term, and this will be determined after the first couple of plays with my group of gaming friends. I have since bought Eclipse 2nd Dawn, and the differences are vast in quality etc., but this is also reflected in the higher cost of Eclipse.
The Other:
If the components and solo mode had been a bit better, then this game would be excellent, but currently I can only give it 2.5 / 5 based on playing solo, and the component quality for the ships etc.
Final Thoughts:
Is Silver River worth getting,… for solo mode alone, no, for playing in a group, I hope it will be, but until I get it to the table with 4 or 5 players I can’t really say yes or no.
I would say, watch the online video game plays, and make your decision based on what you see and get a feel for. It might not be for everyone, but it’s definitely a game I would suggest you play in a group, if you get the chance.
