Coming into this week I had my eyes on one crowdfunding campaign: Galactic Renaissance. Yet, on its release, it didn’t speak to me. At least not like Let’s Go! To Japan by Josh Wood and Wild Gardens by Isaac Vega.
If Isaac Vega doesn’t sound familiar, it should. As Isaac has previously designed the breakthrough game of Dead of Winter, and its crossover Flick ‘Em Up: Dead of Winter, the fantastic pirate-themed narrative game Forgotten Waters, as well as my favourite guilty pleasure board game Bioshock: The Siege of Columbia.
However, Wild Gardens trades in zombies, pirates, and multiversal travel for something more down to earth. Instead of battling for your life, or trying to take over a warzone, you’re instead going for walk in the garden foraging food and cooking up amazing recipes for your guests.
The gameplay revolves around a fascinating action selection mechanism. Starting each turn, you determine how far your character walks along the path by selecting an action token. These might be numbered one to four for example. Once used though, that token won’t be available next round.
After you’ve picked how far you’re going to walk, you then select one of three different actions:
- Forage from the nearby bushes for resources
- Cook recipes using these found ingredients, or serve up previously cooked meals
- Go to the library to learn how you can upgrade these actions
The guests, recipes, and everything else within Wild Gardens all looks amazing thanks to the artwork from Alyssa Menold, who captured the same family friendliness as Flamecraft and Bargain Quest.
Although unlike those titles, Wild Gardens leans a lot closer to being medium-weight. Between the available skills, guests (who once served, give you an ability), locations to walk, and the action selection. That’s a lot to think about.
What goodies come with Wild Gardens?
Unlike most crowdfunded games these days, there are no stretch goals for this campaign. However, there is the “Gamer’s Bundle” which comes with two boxes of wooden tokens, three small expansions, and an insert… Because what self-respecting hobbyist plays a board game without wooden tokens?
Although this bundle sounds great, it increases the price of the game from 50 USD to 125 USD. So depending on how deep your wallet is, you might want to think twice before going all in. Between you and me, I don’t think it’s worth the additional cost as the base components are already exceptionally good.
Otherwise, Wild Gardens looks great, and I love that like Let’s Go! To Japan, it was also borne out of the pandemic. In the latest update, Isaac Vega mentioned he had trouble dealing with the seclusion forced upon us all. But found inspiration, and friends through the internet to go foraging and explore the nature around him.
Something is fascinating about how everyone went through the same pandemic with such differing experiences. Moreso, these experiences are now being expressed through the lens of our hobby.
Anyway, you can find out more about Wild Gardens by visiting the Backerkit page. Otherwise, let me know what you think about the game, or the last time you hand-picked your own food in the comments below.
Loading ...
