Navegador

Navegador was one of the Gerdts titles I had somehow missed, and its relation to Hamburgum was apparent very quickly: much the same design logic, much the same austere German temperament, in different overalls. It is clever and multi-track, but dry as ship’s biscuit; the sort of euro that has no intention of charming you on the surface.

The game presents several routes towards victory and asks where you intend to place your attention. Broad progress is not rewarded evenly; the point is to identify the line that serves you best, then pursue it with some discipline.

That also frames the interaction at the table. Players are not merely doing a bit of everything, but measuring the efficiency of their choices across those available lines. The interesting decision is whether to preserve flexibility or accept that a properly focused strategy will probably carry you further.

I did not have a bad time; I simply was not moved by it. I prefer Hamburgum, although I suspect the order in which one encounters the two games can colour that preference considerably. Navegador is capable and carefully constructed, but the easier success of focused strategies makes it less interesting to me than its range of possible paths initially suggests.