Tortuga 2199

Tortuga 2199 is one of those games that has been “judged” before you can even weigh it up for yourself. On one side, there are influencers who have turned it into a whole issue; on the other, there are the wildly enthusiastic posts from friends of the designers, in a “best game ever” kind of tone. All that noise does it no favours, because the actual experience is more controversial—and more interesting—than the camps built around it suggest.

At its core, the game is aimed at people who enjoy deckbuilders. Its main appeal is the process of building and developing your deck, looking for combinations and for a more effective way to use what you acquire over the course of the game.

That said, I would not sell it as the genre’s definitive, pristine proposition, or as something that will automatically replace every deckbuilder you already own. Player interaction and the progression of the game serve that deckbuilding logic, but the key point is that it feels like an alternative approach for players who have already had their fill of the genre’s usual options.

It has quite a few good points and, if you are tired of the deckbuilders you already play, there is a reason to spend time with it. Just go in without being carried away by either the condemnation or the triumphant “best game ever” talk: Tortuga 2199 deserves to be judged at the table, with both its strengths and its flaws.