Aqua (2024) - Game of the Year Contender?

 

Aqua (2024)

 

Short on the heels of Airecon, I made my first trip to the excellent Travelling Man store in Newcastle last week  and was delighted to find a copy of the much hyped ‘Aqua’ for sale. The box itself is work of art, and when opening up the visuals will blow you away….but how does it play? Suffice to say, we have a Game of the Year Contender on our hands here.

 

The comparisons being made between ‘Aqua’ and the likes of Calico, Cascadia and Akropolis, are all fair but probably only the latter of the three really reminded me of those vibes. Yes, the game is Tile Placement, but the scoring, mechanics and general tone of the game ensure that at no point does ‘Aqua’ feel like a clone of anything else. Instead, you are left with what feels like a fresh and deep experience.

 

The basic premise of the game is building habitats using tiles you will draw from the market, attempting to make hexagonal patterns to attract small animals and then using those animals to attract larger ones. Lining up habitats around these animals will create Reefs which can score points, and all the while you are adhering to the global scoring objectives based on tile colours.

 

There is a lot to think about with ‘Aqua’ and with only 17 turns a game, meaning you only have 17 tiles to draw, you don’t have many turns to put your plan into place. Therefore you must make a plan early and hope it pays off. The nice addition of the sea-snail, which you can grab to take the last turn in the round but the first turn in the next round, is a novel touch as are the rules relating to when you can play larger animals and where.

 

Overall, the game moves at a decent pace and before you blink the game ends. I have found 30 minutes on average with 4 players is usually at the longer end of things.

 

Where the game shines is in the added depth you can once you have mastered the tile laying aspects. The global scoring requirements can be changed and mixed to make sure the gameplay takes different twists and turns and the combinations you can rack up for scoring options re vast.

 

Indeed, the solo mode has also been given some thought, and whilst at first it is a simple score chase, the added achievements, challenges, variations and scoring modules in the rule book will really make sure you have plenty of value out of this even as a solo player.

 

‘Aqua’ therefore certainly lives up to the hype it was received and provides a fun, fresh and deep experience, which will have gamers coming back to the table time and time again. This game will appear on End of Year Lists and Awards nominations and will rise up the BGG rankings with doubt.

Highly recommended for all!

9/10

The video from 'Watch it Played' below gives a great overview!