City of the Great Machine is the Hide and Seek Board Game You Need
No Pun Included
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25.07.2023
I need closure. Where did Roger go?
this game is a fantastic solo puzzle. you didnt mention the mission cards that an extra layer of decisions and difficulty adjustment. one of the best features of the game is the ability to cater the difficulty to your preference.
hug the dog 🙂
is "Scotland Yard" (Ravensburger) the mother of these games?
So, basically, a worse Not Alone?
This reminds me of a more intricate Not Alone. Am I wrong in that?
A friend has mind mgmt and we've never beem able to play it. Hope to sooner than later
Grant Lee Buffalo’s sophomore album in the background….very cool
I was interested until you mentioned it's 3 hours long! I'll stick with Mind Mgmt.
It's not actually a hidden movement game though? It's simultaneous/hidden action selection. This game is sort of bigger Not Alone game with its one-vs-many approach.
Honestly I really enjoy playing the recruiter in mind mgmt, it's tense the whole way through.
Interesting that you praise the non-logicy social deductionish stuff, I'm the exact opposite, both my favorite hidden movement game (mind mgmt) and my prefered social deduction game (Blood on the Clocktower), are almost entirely logicial.
Great game choice! I got to learn about this one at paxeast and I can’t wait to eat it one day!
Big fan of your constant jumping around to different angles, costumes, mid plays scenes and your dog! Very entertaining!
first
I own two Hidden Movement games, this and Diabolique, and I think that really covers everything I want out of the genre.
My collection can't handle another hidden movement game! But this does look freaking great. Love the weird theme.
This and Beast were Kickstarter campaigns that gave me the most trouble cause I was interested in both but had the money for only one. I ended up going with Beast because I love drafting and the theme draws me in more. I get the criticisms, but I can easily look past them. I don't regret my purchase at all.
That being said, I'm wondering if this game can still live alongside beast since I saw it on Amazon for a decent price, and I still really like the Steampunk Victorian theme it's got going on.
This review mentions that the game is more reminiscent of social deduction/bluffing games than other hidden movement games and as soon as I hear that I have a question: How does the game hold up to someone (or in this case as many as 3 someones) who genuinely has no plan? It seems like a lot of social deduction games (even the good ones) break down when even one player decides not to "buy in" to attempting a logical path and plan. Ideally a game would punish a player who isn't really thinking about their decisions but having them lose, but social deduction games this also usually brings down the whole group. Even their opponent players may not benefit from "monkey on a typewriter" player because it makes them impossible to predict without making them significantly hobbled in achieving their goal. I wonder if City of the Great Machine manages to hamstring someone who isn't "really trying" hard enough to no let mad blundering be a viable path to victory.
Please compare and contrast the feelings you get from playing Treasure Island and this game. Thank you for a great review!
🐕! ! !
Shots fired at Collin
I have no idea what the rules are because as soon as I see doggo I stop listening
MORE DOGGO PLEASE!
Great explanation of how the game does better than other hidden movement. We used to play the bioterroist pandemic expansion and it was always lopsided. With our group of veterans the bio was not even a threat. With the less experienced group the bio had to basically throw the game by trying to make themselves interesting, but not too hard, to catch.
Hidden movement games are the, no pun intended, hidden gems of my board game collection. Letters from Whitechapel, Mind MGMT, Beast, and Fury of Dracula are almost always recommended to play. Not that we do play them all the time, but people always want to see them tabled.
It seems inspired, or an evolution, of “Not Alone“
Great review, love that you compared objectively to beast and mind mgmt. As someone who can't afford every game I want (which would be hundreds) it's nice to be able to compare similar games. My question is: hav you played Letters from Whitechapel? If so, how would it compare to that? Thanks!
I like this!
I love the look and sound of this. Im still curious how it would play as a 1v1 cat and mouse game.
We quite enjoyed Not Alone as a 2 pkayer game, but obviously this has much more going on.
Figured the channel would have a dog in a bandana as its machine overlord. 🥷 This also explains why the channel has issues with Calico.
I have a new all in copy of this I was ready to sell, and now you've simultaneously increased it's market value and made me less likely to sell it..
Have you heard of or tried the Dead by Daylight board game? It's got the same 1vAll (all hiding from the 1) dynamic of City of the Great Machine but plays in less than an hour and I've introduced it to both casual and hardcore board gamers with great success (as long as it's played at exactly 3 players). It's the reason I was about to sell this, but you've made me second guess selling before I give it a try!
it's kinda funny that it's more work to say "M G M T" than "Management"
thanks for being alive man 🥲
I don't suppose you've tried the Dead by Daylight board game, have you? I haven't played it myself, but it seems like a very similar setup (1 killer hunting down 4 survivors who move by playing cards face-down), only a bit on the lighter side.
Oh yes, as one of your Ukrainian subscribers, I can't be more happy that your channel is reviewing a game designed by a russian author and published by a russian company. Nice job! While the russian attacks keep hitting peaceful Ukrainian citizen (and board gamers among them), the money you get from CrowdGames for this review don't smell bad, that's for sure.
Good lord, that dog can act.
Its always awesome how you do these videos. Its just so entertaining!
Love your dog, he listened so patiently to your rules explanation. Even held himself back from licking your face lol, good boy! Insightful review as usual, also love your Podcast recently! ❤
It's a Wonderful World also rocks the steampunk+ vibes masterfully, but with an engine building game instead of hidden traitor worker movement.
Thanks
2013, what a year!
I will always think mixing minis and wooden meeples looks super goofy, but what a killer concept
I loved the review! Your overall assessment is spot-on, IMHO. Though I have one nitpick and one minor quasi-correction.
1) Quasi correction: Toward the end, when discussing player count, you mentioned how two players controlling the Heroes is "awkward" because one player controls two Heroes while the other controls one. But that's not what the rules suggest. So, for the benefit of lurkers here, the rules suggest that one player control one Hero each, while the third Hero is controlled co-operatively by both players. This method goes a long way to removing any sort of "awkwardness".
2) Nit-pick. I would label this as a "Programmed Movement" game instead of a "Hidden Movement". That's because in a classic hidden movement game, the characters remain hidden after they move. In other words, the character's location generally remains unknown without applying deduction or other clues. Whereas with a Programmed Movement game, the programming is usually done in secret (such as with 'Trickerion', which is NOT a hidden movement game), but the character's location is always known. And that's what's happening here. Each Hero's location is known before it moves, and it's known after it moves. Thus, not hidden movement.
I'm only being pedantic about this in case there are players out there who may pass on this game for not liking hidden movement games. That'd be a shame then to pass on THIS game as it doesn't share any characteristic of the typical hidden movement genre.
Another excellent review: wonderfully expressing the 'feel' of City of the Great Machine .
Have you played Bloc by Bloc – a quite different game!