Age of Innovation vs Terra Mystica – Board Game Review & Comparison
We hope you are all having an amazing week so far.
Today, we are doing a review, and a comparison of Age of Innovation and Terra Mystica.
Since Age of Innovation is pretty close gameplay wise, this is going to be more a video talking about the changes and how we feel about them.
We also answer the big question: Do you need this if you have Gaia Project?
We hope you’ll enjoy the video, and that it helps you find out if this might be for you or not!
Thank you all for watching 😀
Check out the game on BGG here:
Join our Patreon here: patreon.com/boardgamingramblings
Join our Discord server here:
#boardgamegeek #boardgames #review
Timestamps:
Intro: 00:00
Overview: 00:21
Artwork & Components: 01:42
Rulebook & player Aids: 02:50
Playtime & Player Count: 05:00
The biggest change from Terra Mystica: 05:43
Books & Innovations: 08:45
Neutral Buildings, Science tracks & new map: 11:31
Two player variant: 13:50
Playing in passing order & Drafting round bonuses: 15:04
Feels a bit easier than Terra Mystica: 16:57
Weight & Who is it for: 18:06
Gaia Project or Age of Innovation?: 19:14
Final Thoughts: 20:50
The factions in TM are wildly imbalanced, especially when you pair with the round bonuses. I am hoping that the ability drafting in AoI will improve on that.
I'm a shallow gamer, if Age of Innovation had the looks of modern ameri-trash i would be tempted.
i love you guys
I have Terra Mystica with all expansions and love it, though I've yet to try the expansion content. I also acquired Gaia Project fairly recently. I too have "too many games" and would love to get Age of Innovation, but it's difficult to justify when I have so much very similar content to explore already.To me, this is a game for hard-core TM fans who want more or for heavier Euro gamers who don't have TM yet.Thanks for sharing your thoughts on AoI!
Got an opportunity to try this yesterday and really did enjoy, however a friend of mine who owns TM with all it's expansions says that TM with expansions is still different and better than this……I was very surprised! Personally haven't played the expansions, so wondering what your thoughts are….
Would you recommend this for players that never played TM or GP?
13:54 Yes, you are correct! Technically, there is no “two player variant” for Terra Mystica, because according to the rulebook (and on the box), it is a 2-5 player game – so a “variant” would not be needed.
However, most people do not find the 2-player experience to be that great – because there is just too much open space and it is just not tight enough.
Then Gaia Project came out – and added a modular board which scales with player count, so it tightens the board when only playing with 2 players.
15:28 That was actually added in the 1st expansion of Terra Mystica – Fire & Ice – and has been used in all future Terra Mystica systems (except I am not sure about Terra Nova), like Gaia Project and now Age of Innovation.
18:53 I thought about getting Terra Nova to try to teach and get “muggles” to play a game like Terra Mystica, which I can’t get them to play. However, I feel that Terra Nova would STILL be too heavy for them – and I would therefore be stuck with a game that everytime I look at it on my shelf, I would give it the stinky eye and think to myself that I would so much more just rather play Terra Mystica. So it would waste a spot on my shelf and I would never play it.
22:54 So if we already have Terra Mystica, is there a place for this one, also? Or are they both just too similar? And if we were to only keep one – either Age of Innovation or Terra Mystica, is there any reason NOT to keep Age of Innovation (for its more variable experience) and get rid of Terra Mystica [asking this way, since I know you guys are not keeping Terra Mystica of the two]?
Thanks.
My wife and I played Terra Mystica for the first time at Gen Con. We really liked it. Then we saw that Age of Innovation exists! It looks like we will like this even more!
How did you know? I've just discovered AoI and now I'm in trouble should I buy good ole' TM published in my home country language or should I wait until AoI will (perhaps) be published in my language (maybe in the unclear future)? Can you help?
So jealous. Can’t wait to get this. Haha
Hopefully you are covering the Gaia Project expansion soon! 🤞🏻
Great video, really looking forward to my pre-order for Age of Innovation arriving!
Looks cool 👍 maybe a 2 player playthrough? Pretty please 🙏😅
This is the best game I’ve played this year. Excellent changes and giving more customization and choice throughout the experience.
Is there an automa for this game already? I got the automa box for Terra Mystica and used it in a 2p game to simulate a 3rd player. It worked pretty well and provided a really nice experience.
Just got rid of Gaia project AND Terra mystica big box 😊
…and I really loved them!
Cant wait for Age of innovation!
I'm the guy that like GWT argentina, but hate normal GWT (the change of the end of the path did for me a lot). I've always prefered terra mystica because of the tight space and more interaction, but I have instead gaia project because I bought it very cheap. I'm tempted to get this because I don't have to get a lot of expansions and bring new strategies to play terra mystica as the divine token have changed.
But it's difficult for me to justify having the two in my humble collection. 😩
Great video, so excited about this. Is it already available in Norway? I can't seem to find it anywhere 🙂
Why is the new box so much bigger than the old?
I've got it pre-ordered just waiting patiently
I bought the Terra Mystica Big Box last year so there is no way that I can get this one as well!
Brilliant! Have it in pre order, can't wait to try it out!
I am very excited for this, a must buy for me ! I wonder if AoI given enough time is going to surpass Terra Mystica (like Brass Birmingham did with the og/Lancashire game) or if Terra Mystica will remain on top. Thank you for the great video !
This is a 10 for me too. The draft is just so good. If it weren't for 1822PNW coming out later this year, I think think AoI would be my game of the year (Hegemony is right there too – really a great year so far). I do love Terra Mystica, but this has just killed it… Now the question is, will I be able to get rid of all of my Terra Mystica stuff??
is there a reason you uncritically report playtime the publisher says , i've never felt that publisher reported playtimes were accurate
Looks like a better game with possibly the most uninspiring and boring theme. Terra Mystica was fantasy, Gaia was space but what in the hell is even this?
Thanks for the review it really helped. I own TM and GP (prefer TM), and I think this will replace them both for me.
So is this a mix between OG Terra Mystica and Gaia Project?
Would you recommend it at mostly 2 player count? Is there an autonoma? Great content as always!