Review
Phoenix New Horizon
A knotty worker-placement euro with engine building, a touch of area majority, and more player friction than the genre usually permits. Perfectly competent, though its turn-order system keeps it short of excellence.
- Published
- 2024
- Designer
- Jorge J. Barroso
- Publisher
- Perro Loko Games, Devir, DiceTree Games
- Players
- 1–4
- Playing time
- 120 min
Phoenix New Horizon feels like a euro that knows exactly which tools it wants on the table, without turning their presence into a revelation. I did not have a bad time; once it was packed away, though, I was not left feeling I had seen anything especially new.
At its centre is a knotty worker-placement euro, joining worker placement to engine building, along with a fair amount of counting and burning as you assemble your industrial machine. It is a familiar collection of mechanisms, put together capably, and it does not demand admiration merely for speaking a great deal of fluent euro.
I did not have a bad time; once it was packed away, though, I was not left feeling I had seen anything especially new.
TheTrainSpotter
This is not entirely solitary play: a touch of area majority, plus a rather odd rewards-and-bonus-actions track, creates more contact than the genre normally offers. The turn-order mechanism, however, left a small but persistent irritation, particularly with four players; there the construction did not seem as elegant as it wanted to be.
It is not a bad game, not remotely; it is simply a capable euro that does not quite become an excellent one.
It is not a bad game, not remotely; it is simply a capable euro that does not quite become an excellent one.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
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