Recall

I had already regretted passing on Revive, so I was not about to repeat that mistake with its thematic successor. Recall is a handsome dudes-on-the-map eurociv: it has the same broad appeal and sense of purpose as a big civilisation game, but feels much lighter on its feet than the excellent Civolution. Less brain burn; the same fixed stare at the board.

The heart of it is your presence on the map, with each player pursuing a route to victory rather than being funnelled into one approved answer. As the game develops, you choose a direction and adjust it; it does not ask you to solve the entire evening with a calculator before the first move.

The other players are not scenery, either. Our three-player game became a proper scrap and stayed close to the end because everyone’s choices kept changing the ground beneath everyone else. Luck does not appear to take the wheel, and the range of victory paths means an imperfect calculation does not exile you from the contest. Someone will spoil your plan. What do you do then?

Recall is not trying to beat Civolution at density; it would rather offer a similar satisfaction without leaving you staring at a wall afterwards. Its strong reviews look entirely earned: competitive, fair, and quietly excellent in the way that matters.