Blackout: Hong Kong

Blackout: Hong Kong is a dry, German-school sandbox euro, the kind I associate with the master. So dry, in fact, that I have the impression the rulebook does not even bother to explain what is happening thematically: straight into the stew.

At its core, it is set up as a sandbox euro, with the emphasis falling on its mechanisms rather than on taking you by the hand with a story or a rich thematic frame. The first impression is that it throws you directly into the game and expects you to find your own path through its system.

That means its flow and choices seem to ask players to engage first and foremost with the euro puzzle itself. It is not a game that, at least from its presentation, invests in dressing up its moves and interaction with lots of explanation; it puts you down to play and work it out in practice.

Because I am a big softie, I will not answer yet how good it is. I will leave that for the proper review I am going to write; for now, if you cannot stand the wait, just look at the rating I have given it. Still, we had this little gem on the menu too.