Arcs – Board Game Review – Game Of The Year? Is it Really?
Many are going to have their keyboards on standby in the comments I’m sure………….
Arcs is a sharp sci-fi strategy game for 2–4 players, set in a dark yet silly universe. Ready yourself for dramatic twists and turns as you launch into this galactic struggle.
Seize the initiative:
Take actions with multi-use cards. Copy the leader, pivot to new tactics, or take the initiative for next round. Timing is everything.
Declare ambitions:
In each game, you define the objectives that everyone competes over to win.
Crush your foes:
Amass your navy for battle, plan your strategy with three kinds of dice, then roll them all at once to resolve the battle in a flash.
Each game contains a hundred wooden ships and agents, 18 custom engraved dice, a beautiful six-panel board, and tons of cards with over 60 pieces of unique art.
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Who Am I?
One single batchelor from the UK talking about his passion for board games and the people who play them! I support small content creators, board game cafes and go against the status quo when it comes to the board game industry. I give my honest opinions without bias towards any publishers or designers and will not hold back if I don’t like a game.
The Broken Meeple is a variety channel that hosts all kinds of board game content from reviews to Top 10 lists to playthroughs to live stream collaborations with special guests (predominantly small channels who deserve more exposure).
I look forward to engaging with you, the community on my live streams or in the comments on my videos!
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Timestamps:
00:00 – Background
04:29 – Basic Overview
07:54 – The Good Things
13:52 – The Bad Stuff
32:20 – Summary, Verdict & Player Scaling
#brokenmeeple #arcs #shutupandsitdown #gameoftheyear #boardgames #boardgame #lukehector #supportsmallcreators #tabletop #tabletopgames #bgg #boardgamer #boardgamereview
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Full credit to BoardGameGeek and its members for any images used that aren’t my own or part of the publisher press kit.
This game certainly has gotten many verbal bj's.
Nice review. I don't agree with the majority of your critiques, but glad to hear you had some fun with it.
One point I do agree on is the board art. The planet designs on the boxes and cards are so interesting, it's sad to see the board not reflect those planet designs and instead go for a very flat, singularly colored approach. I think the design of the map works great mechanically, the art however doesn't really draw me in when I'm looking at the map.
9-9.5/10 otherwise for me. Love the high interaction and making plans on the fly. The system feels so innovative versus your standard table builder or area control game.
I really like your reviews because you're passionate, articulate and honest. It seems like it's a flawed overlong luckfest. Far from a masterpiece that the hypebros keep talking about. Thenks for the review!
It is quite interesting seeing the mixed responses to this game. I'm finding it fascinating to try out on TTS, but I really can't tell if I "like" it.
I've been gaming for as long as Paul Grogan. Shut Up and Sit Down is not a game review channel. They are a comedy channel that uses board games to deliver their whatever-it-is. No actual information is delivered. Yeah, it's funny and entertaining, but they are in no way actually reviewing games. They are doing skits, wearing costumes and passing along their politics. I doubt they are as influential as Luke thinks.
ARCS is the absolute worst game I ve played in the past 20 years. You have almost NO agency, its SUPER Random and guild cards are totally UNBALACED (and I won the game I played)
Hoping there’s a solo mode developed in the future.
RE: time issue, i have played with slow players and it's such a bizarre clash to see it happen. Yes I understand every group I've seen essentially learns to walk in the 1st two chapters, yes I understand people are faced with two major hurdles #1 getting over not being able to do what you wanted/hope to do #2 wrestling with the card play is genuinely mind bendy, tactical and hard to parse in a way that feels efficient.
But at the same time, so many turns will be single actions, and quick actions at that. And so much of the game presents you with uncertainty, it feels to me like that speeds up how it's best played. I have a fork of decisions, I don't know what's gonna be better. Let's just send it and see what happens. And if it blows up in my face, we'll slash an hour off the game and might even be able to table it again.
I'm aware this comes off a bit selfish of how others engage with a game, but I also can't help but feel as if it contributes in creating a self-imposed pain point when approaching it this way. This isn't even just with Arcs, but with a lot of 1st time plays on a new game. Although player conflict games with luck involved probably suffer even more from this. Sloppy but pacy plays are so much fun.
I like the game but I see ALL of your points. You're my guy for reviews, my good lad, my strong bou, trusted confidant.
I am on the fence with this game. I love area control and heavy conflict games. Dune: Imperium and Cthulhu Wars are 2 of my favorites. What interest me in a game is the tension, the decision space and the interaction between the players. What I don't want in a game is too much uncontrollable and unforeseeable randomness, having player at the table been completely out of the game before the end and low player agency. This game first looked like it might be right my alley but I was hesistant since Cole Wherle fan's are always exhalted in front of all his design and I don't like Root. I felt it was a game all over the place and didn't found much of what I like in games.
Thanks to your review, I feel I would probably be in the middle and don't like everything about it. Especially the fact that some players may be out and have nothing to recover this round or just feel they lack control over what they can do even when many elements seems to align for them. Solving the puzzle of what you can do best with your hand seems the best part of the game and when to destroy or raid somone and who and for what cards. But if I am to not like all the parts of the game or look too divisive, I am going to pass and try it if the opportunity present itself.
Would you consider reviewing the Uwe Rosenberg two player game Oranienburger Kanal?
You've activated the Cole Werhle fanboi club, beware.
The "random" in this game is not random, it is chaotic and that player win who can control and dominate the chaos. I think, there is a third type of the fan of this game, the "chaos seeker".
I didn't care for Oath, and I am mostly meh of Root. I haven't played the others. I do like this game, but it had to grow on me. I do agree that card drafting would be helpful, but it might make the game longer. 3 player games tend to go 1.5 hours – 2 hours. It is highly tactical, I think that's why I like it. Also I dont have to know the ins and outs of all other factions to win the game.
I think that this game feels so lucky for those who didnt dive into the game deep enough, but I understand not everyone would be willing to. The only actual luck element that seems irritating are the raid dice, but thats how the dice should work in the first place. This game is very brutal and it is CERTAINLY not for those who dont enjoy that aspect in their games. But this game is made very swingy and you certainly can comeback without a construction, this game feels like a roller coaster and I think it was designed like that. Good review, but I disagree with many points.
Great video with some spot on points both good and bad.
@23:15 I'm not too sure why the confusion of that rule exists. Rulebook page 16,
Ransack the Court. Secure any card that has any number of the defender’s agents. Take all Rival agents on the card as Trophies, not Captives.
The court is the display of Guild/Vox cards that you place agents on. So secure any card in the court that has 1 or more agents on it from the court 🙂 Hope that helps clear that one up 🙂
this guy sees intentional line art done for a minimalist sketch look and immediately think it's cheap really screams contrarian for the sake of contrarian (and online attention), this being your first point in the "bad stuff" should be enough to see the intentions of this video.
I'm yet to play the game, but 1. Huge Wehrle fan 2. Love brutal punishing game. So, perfect for me!
Let him cook 😂
Great review as always. I've really cooled down on SUSD, since I feel they are more about entertainment than reviewing. I rarely feel I get a comprehensive look and review of the game, more of a performance. I really appreciate you and Jeff Knapp for being entertaining and great reviewers.
Didn't back it because I didn't like the Kickstarter look and now am relegated to TTS. How could I not trust the genius of Cole after Oath. These are not merely Games, these are cultural marvels without comparison. Like Shakespeare or Mozart. Too bad he's a communist. But respect for your enemy and his achievements is the bedrock of society
I think many of your points are valid, but those elements you dislike are intentional. I really enjoyed this game and your dislikes are not an issue for me. The length is not an issue for me, it is no longer than 90% of the games i play. (GWT, Ark Nova, Underwater Cities, Nucleum, Hegemony…)
I wonder if your review has a touch of wanting to go against the crowd?
Surety you can see why people like the game, even if it's not your cup of tea.
I think the big difference between you and SUSD regarding taste, I just looked at your top 10 games 2021,23,24. You had a lot low interactive games and non of the interactive game were. I just went over your whole top 100 and even CE, a game you did talk about in the past isn’t there(maybe I missed it).
But you obviously not a fan of conflict heavy game like Hansa, El Grande, Some dudes on a map I won’t mention.
So if I’m looking for a high interaction game, you are probably not the best reviewer for it.
SUSD on the other hand did have reviews and have many recommendations for high interaction conflict games.
This really helps to offer a balanced overall review in conjunction with others.
Thanks, I was sitting on the hype train for the game, but your big negative is a huge no-no for me, I never like it in games. So it is one more game I don't have to spend my money on :D.
I tried hard to watch both SUSD's videos, but failed to watch any further than 10 minutes… I just can't help but think this game is over-hyped… I also tried to understand other games such as Roots, Pax, Oath… I just can't… 😵💫
Tried it. Won't ever play it again. Hated it with a burning passion.
Enjoyed your review, but I won't hear a bad word against John company! Shocking! 😂
I've had a genuinely great time following all the ARCS coverage on YouTube. There are just too many games releasing that are iterations / refinements on games that are already out there. That's fine, no issue with those games existing and continuing to inch the hobby forward, but too often the "final thoughts" on a game are one of two things: "this is good/great, but if you already have XYZ game, do you really need this also?" or, "this is good/great, and I can't see myself wanting to play XYZ game anymore because I now have this".
ARCS has not followed that mold. Clearly a love it or hate it, but either way, it's been a lot of fun listening to people's play experience with this game. I also think most of the coverage on this game has been honest (at least within the list of content creators I've chosen over the years to continue following; which does include SU&SD). Maybe SU&SD went a little crazy using the term game of the year in what… June/July – but the actual content of their video felt honest and did a good job of also highlighting what could turn people off of this game. There just needs to be a level of responsibility on the buyer of understanding what a game is about; what games they enjoy; and then making an educated purchasing decision.
Either way – thanks for making the investment in picking up this game, and getting more honest thoughts out there to help in educating all of us.
Not a big fan of this review. First calling out the art on the cards as if they didn't have sufficient money to finish them is pretty braindead, it's just a more simplistic approach they took for the drawings.
Second, giving the example of having fuel+material for 2 TYCOON and not drawing a 2 card as being GG is just not understanding that it's an adaptation game. You can't just put all your eggs in one basket, and if you don't get the 2 you can shift by using all that fuel+material in your Prelude to push for another objective.
Comparing the game to skateboards and custard. Ha! Well done.
This was a useful review. This game is NOT for me.
I don’t think I’d ever heard you talk about Root before. I know that you love Hegemony and I’m surprised you don’t like Root because it has that same “4 factions, each compeltely different” thing that COIN games have.
I figured I wasn’t a Cole fan even before opening root. I then sold it and a 4 expansions sealed after staring at them for 8 months deciding if it was worth even attempting at two players. It was not. Very rare for me to sell a sealed game but in this case, I was happy to get rid of them. Thanks for making me avoid ARCS as well.
I have seen a few reviewers praising a game, giving it 5 out of 5, 10 out of 10 & that game never appears in their top 10, top 20, top 100
This game seems like it has everything I don't like mechanic wise. Super mean, runaway leader, trick taking (though trick taking adjacent), too much luck, and all in a long game. Hard pass for me. Completely unrelated, why does everyone hate multiplayer solitaire? It can still be a social activity, you can talk to the other players during downtime. I've never understood why multiplayer solitaire seems to be universally derided.
Bought the base game when it was briefly in stock (uk) I've opened it, but not punched anything yet. Love ROOT and OATH, but I'm not 100% on this.
I am probably gonna love this game since I love Root and Pax Pamir, but it seems like a niche game for sure.
Thanks for bringing us back to reality and giving the game a fair shake 🙂 I'm still probably going to get this because a lot of still sounds good, but at least I've been fairly warned!
Thanks for the review. I like some SU&SD videos, but not most, even though NPI is waaaay worse lol their impact on gaming "society" is terrible.
Great review. I enjoyed your fair assessment. One thing I do think you didn't totally sell was the prelude actions. They are definitely the way to control bad hands. If you really need to construct but you can't because you don't have the suit – it might mean you have Tax cards. That way you can collect some cubes in order to build with those
This game is the game of the year😮. OK, not really! Thanks for the honest review, been looking at this game, the hype, and I'd say a lot of it is hype. Not and fan of Root, and this comes from someone who likes boring spreadsheet 18xx train games. You review has given the conclusion this just is not worth buying. I would say Eclipse is a great game…got on with it!
Appreciate the review. I suspect there's a lot of Marketing money going around, influencing the amount of videos if not the content. It's made me much more suspicious of some 'reviewers'. Far too many glowing reviews with no negatives when it inherently has massive flaws (at least, it will to a large portion of the gaming public).
I do like root, its not my fave. I do like John Company although nobody will play it with me F2F, so ill give this a whirl. Interesting review though I will bear it in mind while I play.
Thanks for the review. Another hard pass for me.
One of these days there'll be the Broken Meeple effect, you just wait Luke.
Great Review I appreciate the honesty and bold tellings.
Great review, any time an overhyped game comes out, I count on your channel for tackling it to give us both the positives and negatives. Appreciate it.
Nice one, awesome work
Would drafting solve the card randomness problem? Nothing easier than adding a draft… Or would it break anything?
I haven't played it, but from what I watched, I kind of expected that I would think the same as you. Thanks for the in-depth thoughts.
Your critisms are fair. However, to me it is easily my game of the year, But i love Cole's games, high interaction games, tactical games. ARCS respects the players enough to keep each other in check with no need for a catchup mechanic. Ive played several games of this and your are always in contention for victory even if you get knocked out early. Obviously this required an advanced understanding. This game also rewards mutliple plays evenually you start grasping the concepts and possible interactions. It is definitely not for the faint of heart or for the person that has to play the new hotness every week.
Thanks for your take. Although i disagree.
Appreciate the honest review. I'm personally starting to get tired of hearing SUSD bang on about stories and experiences – how is it as a game!! You very much focus on the game. Much as our tastes definitely differ in games, I appreciate your focus on the game first and foremost. Arcs is a hard pass for me – long, punishing, brutal game with a pretty high luck factor that doesn't play great at two players is my idea of cardboard hell!