The Castles of Burgundy
- February 27, 2019
- DIGIDICED
- 6h median play time
Get on Steam"The Castles of Burgundy" is a strategy board game set in 15th century France, where players build and expand their estates through trading, farming, city building, and research. With two dice determining the actions and multiple paths to victory, players must carefully plan and make decisions to gain the most victory points and emerge victorious. The game offers a tutorial, cross-platform play, AI opponents, and a world ladder with GLICKO rating for ranked and casual games.
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Reviews
- Faithful adaptation of the board game with smooth gameplay and a decent AI.
- Great for solo play and offers a variety of strategies to explore, making it engaging and fun.
- The digital version saves time on setup and scoring, allowing for a more streamlined experience compared to the physical game.
- The user interface is clunky and takes time to get used to, with some players finding it confusing and poorly designed.
- There are issues with the random number generator for dice rolls, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences.
- The tutorial lacks clarity, leaving new players with unanswered questions about game mechanics.
- gameplay12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay is well-designed, effectively integrating the worker mechanic with dice to reduce luck and enhance strategy, making it skill-dependent and enjoyable once players acclimate to the mechanics. However, the interface suffers from space inefficiency, with excessive animations and unnecessary visual elements detracting from the overall experience. Despite these drawbacks, the core mechanics function smoothly, providing a solid foundation for engaging gameplay.
“The worker mechanic mitigates the dumb luck aspect of dice games, turning the dice into a resource rather than a bad feelings generator.”
“Although the interface and layout are a little space-inefficient, the gameplay is excellent.”
“The gameplay itself is easy to understand, but there is a huge amount of depth in what you can actually do, resulting in a game that is mostly skill dependent with very little luck.”
“For some reason, they just smash all the actual gameplay into a small box in the middle while putting massive boxes on either side that are completely, and I mean absolutely completely worthless.”
“In this game, there is a riot of silly colors and worse, all of the tiles are 3D, meaning that there is plenty of pointless animation, eating up processor space and software space that could have been put into the mechanics.”
“Weird steampunk mechanical theme is a waste of programming.”
- graphics4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game receive mixed reviews, with some users criticizing the overall design as weak and cluttered, particularly noting issues like disappearing game board graphics and poor visibility of game elements. While some aspects of the interface are praised as high quality, the artwork is generally considered subpar compared to its real-life counterparts, leading to a lack of clarity and detail in gameplay.
“The interface design and graphics are top notch.”
“The graphic design generally isn't strong and has some distractingly odd elements, such as that steampunk 'shield' that opens and closes over the game board.”
“In most of the games, the graphic of the game board paper disappears and shows a big black area in the middle, which makes it impossible to see the dice. This is the only problem I see so far.”
“At high resolution, or windowed per positive reviewers' recommendations (at 800 x 600 max), most of the information is displayed in tiny, barely discernible fashion. Opponents' boards are inscrutable, and the artwork is pretty lame compared to the real thing.”
- music3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and ability to enhance the ambiance, with some describing it as wonderful and fitting well with the animations. However, a few users find it to be nerve-racking, indicating a mix of emotional responses to the soundtrack. Overall, the music contributes significantly to the game's atmosphere and challenge.
“The music is wonderful, the animations are fascinating, and most importantly, the AI is pretty solid (gives a real challenge).”
“Nice animations and background music to add to the ambiance.”
“The music is nerve-racking.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits stability issues, frequently freezing, particularly after trade goods are acquired via ship. While it has some bugs and low production value, it remains a solid strategy tabletop experience, and it is compatible with the Steam Deck.
“The game often freezes.”
“The game often freezes after trade goods are taken via the ship.”
“A bit buggy and has a low production value, but it's a great strategy tabletop and works on the Steam Deck.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Reviewers express frustration with the monetization strategy, suggesting that it could have been improved with better consideration of the advertised features and their functionality.
“The monetization system feels exploitative, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
“It seems like the developers prioritize profit over player experience, which is disappointing.”
“The in-game purchases are overpriced and often feel necessary to progress, ruining the overall enjoyment.”
