Project L Review – A “Severance” Style Wellness Session for Your Brain

After being let down by several different polynomial tile-laying games including Bärenpark, and NMBR 9 I’ve finally found a shape-laying game I enjoy: Project L. I can’t believe it’s finally. Given the popularity of those previous games, I felt more out of touch than a nun in a strip club.

Nevertheless, the design team of Michal Mikeš, Jan Soukal, and Adam Spanel have created something special. Project L is a brilliant combination of the spatial awareness, and methodical engine building you’d expect from games like Dominion or Imperium Classics.

In each game, you start by holding a level 1 and level 2 shape, but nowhere to put them. You’ll then spend three actions each turn picking up grid-like puzzles from a central market and then using these shapes to fill in them.

Completing these puzzles gives you points and pieces. The more pieces you get, the more puzzles you can complete. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. And then must perform their best rendition of the Tetris theme on a kazoo.*

* Kazoo not included.

Completing Puzzles Makes Me Feel Fuzzy

Project L starts slow but quickly grows its legs when level 3 and 4 shapes are introduced. These shapes fill up more space than the level 1 and 2 shapes but are harder to fit into puzzles due to their weird configuration.

From this point, it becomes tricky to figure out the most efficient place to put your pieces. However, this thinking isn’t going to stretch you, as there is rarely a bad spot. It is enough to keep your brain ticking over and to give you a little buzz each time you place a piece.

It’s a comforting process, largely because of the chunky plastic pieces and deluxe dual-layered cardboard puzzles. By the time you’ve finished a game of Project, you’ll feel like you just came out of a wellness session from Severance. Where the game has been constantly giving you affirmation that you’re a smart cookie.

However, what takes Project L from good to great is the Master Action. An action so powerful you can only perform it once per turn. It allows you to put one shape on each puzzle you own.

You see, you’re not just looking after a single puzzle, you’re looking after a whole stable of them. Complicating the decision of where to place your pieces. A shape tile could go great in one puzzle – but it would be orgasmic in another. This is another fun decision that you’ll constantly butt your head against throughout the game.

Mastering Your Efficiency

If you haven’t been keeping up, the subtext in Project L is efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.

It’s not immediately obvious, as it’s easy to get distracted by the bright colours and the beautiful production. But underneath its minimalistic ruleset and design beats the heart of a Eurogame.

One example is the block sizes, where using a level 2 block is twice as efficient, since it covers more space than a level 1 block. Likewise, a level 4 block doubles the efficiency again. Then with the Master Action, you’ll be wanting to tackle multiple puzzles at once.

If you have the maximum (four) number of puzzles you’re essentially getting four moves for the price of one. Sounds amazing, but you’ll rarely find yourself with the pieces to pull off such a maneuver.

This is the larger strategy of Project L. Asking yourself, how do I get the pieces to pull off the best move possible? It largely comes down to puzzle selection and forethought, as to how you’re going to use your already collected pieces.

But still, it’s an interesting game of tug-of-war, where on one side you need more pieces, and on the other side, you need to use as many pieces as possible to maximise your efficiency.

The Next Great Gateway Game

The beauty of this board game is while there’s a lot of interesting thought that goes into playing the game, it’s not deep thought. You’re unlikely to spend ten minutes thinking about your next move. Meaning turns in Project L move quickly, and you’ll spend a lot more time playing this game than watching others play… I’m looking at you Oath: Chronicles of Empire & Exile.

In a similar vein, the game doesn’t overstay its welcome and usually lasts around 20-30 minutes. Even with the maximum of four players, it felt a little slower but not by much.

If there’s one constant criticism of the other games of this genre, it’s the non-existent player interaction. Project L isn’t a leader in this regard, but its public market for puzzles constantly had me praying for the other players to avoid taking the piece I had eyes on. This indirect interaction was enough to feel like I was competing against someone, and how they played affected the decisions I’d make.

Project L might be one of the best gateway games to come out recently. Its minimalistic ruleset, quick playtime, and interesting decisions make it a perfect game for all board gamers. From my mum who struggles to use Netflix, to my board game group who has had fun playing Cerebria: The Inside World.