Leading the industrial revolution

There have been quite a few @devirgames releases already this year, but the biggest box of them all - ⚙️Daitoshi - was held back until #SPIEL24 . 🙌 The game is set in the Kemushi Saga: a shared universe for multiple Devir games now. At first I thought it was a bit forced but I quite like this idea now! 🙂

It all began with 🌿Bitoku, where everything is green and idyllic with Yokai spirits dancing around in the untouched nature - then you also have 🏜️Sand, which is more of a post-apocalyptic world, with deserts everywhere and tribes struggling to grow plants and survive. Daitoshi seems to be set during the turning point. ⚖️ The industrial revolution is in full swing as people mine coal and use water to turn it into steam to operate all kinds of machines, factories and inventions. Of course all this mining hurts nature and causes conflicts with the Yokai living there. This thematic setting is also reinforced by the game mechanics! 😉

Daitoshi is a eurogame for 1-4 players. The two main elements of the game are the factory boards of the players and the city of Daitoshi itself which is a rondel. 👉These two elements are also basically the main actions you can choose to do on your turn: either activating the factories which hold the inventions that generate resources and points - or moving your magnate clockwise in the city and activating the district where you arrive. 

As the game goes by you can buy new inventions for your factory floors and they'll improve as you use them. The city rondel will also be expanded and upgraded as you play, changing your options. 

As you use districts you will exploit certain wilderness types: this is partially good because you get access to coal, water and workers, but overdo it and conflicts with the Yokai will worsen aspects of your factory, which is why it's important to also use actions to give back to nature and move your monks along the tracks to appease the Yokai. Exploiting enough tiles triggers the end of the game - and maybe the downfall of the world of Kemushi? 😧

Let's take a more detailed look at gameplay next time! 🙃