Review
Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium
The Hellas map gives Terraforming Mars a welcome change of scenery. For me, though, the tabletop version is still the better way to play because it keeps every opponent’s plans where you can see them.
Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium
- Published
- 2017
- Designer
- Jacob Fryxelius
- Publisher
- FryxGames, Arclight Games, Ghenos Games
- Players
- 1–5
- Playing time
- 120 min
Hellas was new to me, and that was enough to make Terraforming Mars feel fresh without asking it to become a different game. Three players, a different map, and the game settled into its proper rhythm: quiet decisions that stop being quiet when someone else has just rearranged your plans.
The heart of it is constant adjustment. You take your turn and build a strategy over successive rounds, but you are not playing in a vacuum: you watch what the others are doing, then decide whether to stay the course or steer somewhere else.
You take your turn and build a strategy over successive rounds, but you are not playing in a vacuum: you watch what the others are doing, then decide whether to stay the course or steer somewhere else.
TheCuttlefish
That interaction reads far more clearly across a real table. You can see where your opponents are heading, keep their choices in mind, and react in time; on Steam, that is much harder, and a meaningful part of the strategy goes missing. With no expansions there either, the balance tips even further towards the physical game.
Hellas is a fine reason to come back to Terraforming Mars, but the conclusion is simple: I would still choose the board game, because it makes you look your opponents in the eye — or at least at their boards.
Hellas is a fine reason to come back to Terraforming Mars, but the conclusion is simple: I would still choose the board game, because it makes you look your opponents in the eye — or at least at their boards.
TheCuttlefish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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