Review of Renature

Blurb from the publisher: 'Help nature reclaim what is hers by restoring a polluted valley to its pristine state. Place your animal dominoes along the course of a brook and replant the surrounding land to score points. But when is the best moment to plant each of your various plants? And where are the best spots to do so? These are the questions you must answer to win.

From simple rules comes a multitude of exciting decisions and tactical possibilities. With stunning components and a beautiful theme, Renature is perfect for casual and advanced players alike.'

What you get: Your EUR 39 or equivalent will buy you Renature, an abstract, domino-like, area-control game that accommodates from two to four players in just over an hour.

In addition to the 8-page rulebook that can be downloaded from the publisher's website free of charge, the game contains the following: one game board, 4 player boards, 55 dominoes (showing two animals each out of a list of 10, with each combination being unique), 74 Plants (four types: turf, bush, pine, oak, and five different colours: white, black, orange, blue, grey), 21 Area tokens, 4 Score markers, 30 Cloud tokens, and one Joker marker.

Contents: The board is a grid of 15 x 15 squares. It is comprised of two different areas: the paths where dominoes can be placed, as well as 18 distinct areas of different sizes (from 2 to 13 spaces) that need to be replanted. Each of the latter includes a semi-random Area token, while four of them also include Clouds. Each player starts with a number of plants of different types in his colour as well as the neutral colour. He also begins with six Clouds. Depending on the number of players, a player will start with 13, 18, or 26 dominoes at hand. He does not get to see all of them just yet, since they form his reserve. He can only see 3 dominoes at any given time.

Players play in turns, always executing four steps in order.

First, a player can place one domino from his hand to the board. Dominoes are placed on paths. Obviously enough, a domino placed next to an existing one must match the animal that the already placed domino depicted. Depending on where the game is at, one animal is designated as the joker, meaning that it can be placed next to any other animal, and vice versa. If both sides of a domino to be placed are adjacent to existing dominoes, both its sides must match what is placed on the board. If the player does not want to or cannot place a domino, he must discard one of his dominoes to the box.

The player then plants one plant. Plants are placed inside the aforementioned areas, and always next to the domino that the player just placed. If a plant is placed where a Cloud is, the player claims the cloud. If there are no free areas, a plant cannot be placed.

The plant immediately scores one point, as well as one point per plant, irrespective of colour, that was already planted in that region, as long that those older plants have an equal or lesser value. There are four values, with turf having the lowest and oak the highest. When an area becomes closed off, be it because it is fully surrounded by dominoes or partially surrounded but without enough free space to add another domino, it scores for the player with the highest value of plants inside it. In case of ties nobody scores. The highest value player scores the area's major points (from 2 t o13), while the second highest value player scores its minor points (from 1 to 5). None of these points are scored however if the highest value for that place (e.g. 1st) belongs to the neutral colour.

Finally, a player refills his hand by drawing a domino from his reserve. If he has no more tiles in front of him, his turned is skipped until the end of the game.

In addition to these four actions, a player may perform as many Cloud actions as he likes. Each action costs a number of Clouds. With two Clouds a player can change the Joker animal, with three Clouds he can take another turn immediately, while from one to four Clouds, he can return plants from the game board to the his player board, depending on their value.

The game ends when all dominoes have been placed. The areas that still had area tokens are scored immediately, even though the players do not retain them for bonus points. A player then scores points for the Clouds on his board, loses points for the plants that he failed to use, and flips the Area tokens he had collected during the game to receive bonus points. The player with the most points win. In case of a tie, the player with the most area tokens wins.

The strong points: It looks cute, it has an awakened, ecological theme, so it's all nice and fuzzy, right? Wrong.

'Cutthroat' might not be the first word that comes to mind when one thinks of domino placement, Renature however is a lot more than that. First, you don't have access to an enormous hand, even though your reserve is defined in advance. Second, there is luck mitigation through the Joker; at the beginning of the game you start with enough clouds to change the Joker animal three times. Thus, in one hand the game limits your choices, while at the other it increases them. The domino-laying aspect is secondary to what needs to be done, i.e. scoring through clever planting. Theoretically speaking, you do not want to be the first guy planting inside an area, since the guys that follow will claim points for your low-valued plants. Yet, by definition you have to plant during your turn unless you forfeit it. Even more so, it makes little sense to use your more valuable plants early on since, if you do that, you are forfeiting the points that you could have gathered later.

As witnessed by the linear gameplay, the game is extremely easy to teach and learn. The theme makes it readily accessible to casual gamers and family settings (grandpa included since hey, dominoes), it has however quite the depth. Even though it is unlikely to win hardcore gamers at first glance, there are many tactics and strategies here to make it not just a filler, but even the repeated highlight of a short gaming evening. Take the static board as an example. It might remain identical throughout each play, on the other hand however scoring values change. For a game that is played on the details, these changes matter. Clever cloud usage is paramount towards winning. The joker is important, the recycling of your plants however touches directly upon your overall strategy. Don't expect overkills; games are close. A clever play here, a little gamble there, a strong perception of what dominoes have been played and which haven't, and you will come out as a winner more often than not.

The scoring mechanic deserves its dedicated paragraph. First, your tally must be unique. That's what gives the game its cutthroat vibe, the fact that tied players are eliminated for counting purposes and the player performing worse than them might score unexpected points. Second, all players have access to the neutral colour. That is mind-blowingly clever. You might not be able to claim a particular area, yet you might collectively hinder the leading player, since everybody can contribute to the neutral competitor.

The game plays well with all player counts. It definitely feels more chaotic with four players, ultimately however it shines most at those counts. With two players it allows for a better understanding of tactics, and of what one can really do. My personal suggestion would be to play a few one-on-ones before unleashing it to your wider group.

The production values are high. The dominoes are good looking, with quite some realistic drawings, while the different types of plants are easily discernible. The mix of wood and cardboard give the game quite an ecological feel, even though this is merely an impression.

The weak points: Renature is not hiding its abstractedness. I don't consider it a negative, those of us however that look for a theme in their game might not find it their cup of tea.

If you like non-confrontational games Renature might be wilder than you hope for. I like games with both direct and indirect confrontation, so I had no issues whatsoever; the design found a good balance between doing your own thing and making your competitors' lives harder.

The game is fiddly, especially near the end when the board is full and you are fishing elements in and out of the board. Not a biggie, just a heads up for the clumsiest amongst us.

In a rather unthoughtful box design, the game's elements don't fit in the box if you wish to place them already setup for your next game. This could have been done way better.

Conclusion: I am very pleasantly surprised by what Renature brings to the table. Behind a happy and positive theme it offers an engaging, conflict-based experience with rough plays, competitiveness and optimization. Seeing how strong its mechanics are and the effortless nuance they bring into each play, I know that it will keep receiving the spotlight on my table.

For more info on Renature and PSC Games visit its website at https://www.pscgames.co.uk.

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