[Wondrous Creatures] A cozy creature-collecting combo-filled wonder

After a binge across 2 consecutive nights, victory was finally mine against the Easy Tingent solo bot opponent. Now that I have a few more games of this under my belt, I thought I’d share my views on this cozy creature-collecting combo-filled wonder!

First off: the mechanics - perhaps it can be said that this game doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but rather adds nice-looking rims to it. The worker placement portion of this game comes meshed with an evolving spatial puzzle, as the map gradually grows with new terrain tiles added (bringing with them new bonus action icons). I enjoyed mulling over the decision space between deploying my crew to gather more resources, or just picking a new creature associated with the habitats connected to the placement spots.

Secondly, the cards or creatures, oh so wondrous indeed! The heart of this game is in finding ways to eke out as many creatures as you can into your tableau (or ‘Reserve’). You can only ever play up to 2 cards at a time, but with the right moves, you can tweak this tempo, with creatures that let you play another creature or snap up available ones from the offer row (or ‘Wilderness’) - or alternatively, with the use of Nets that let you supercharge your move with extra actions (if you’re in the right spot on the map).

And time is of the essence here, as you want to get your critters out ASAP to fit the variable set collection goals and scoop up Achievement trophies before the bot does. With regard to the bot, it is an ‘automa’ that ticks the usual boxes, with a deck to dictate its steps and a progression track that lets it ramp up towards big scoring opportunities. It gets in your way adequately and ‘cheats’ its way to claiming trophies, but you can gauge this and plot out your pacing accordingly, and adjust the bot’s tenacity with your pick of difficulty level.

Perhaps my only ‘complaint’ would be that the sheer variation of creatures blends them all in a multicoloured mush, as you just scramble to find the right icons and ability text to suit your goals. It’s exciting trying to find the ✨ combo wombo ✨ synergies between instant, recurring, and end-game card effects - yet in this early stage of familiarisation, these creatures’ forms (and quirky names) take a back seat to their cards’ functions. Not a serious flaw by any means, and nothing a few more repeated plays can’t fix.

Overall, I’d recommend this game to anyone looking for a cozy (and sometimes crunchy) tableau-building game to try. With a neat visual style to accompany tried-and-true mechanics, and a hearty dose of asymmetrical abilities mixed in, this title will have you wondering what other creature combos await your discovery!