In a magical realm, a village awakes, and artisan dragons make coffee and cakes!
My birthday is one of my favorite times of the year: time to pick out a couple of new games to try! Is Flamecraft worth all the hype? Is it simple enough to introduce to the family? Time to find out! Regardless of the answers, dragons are always amazing, but even better, they are cute and bake pastries, too!
In Flamecraft, you are a Flamekeeper in a town with various other shopkeepers selling precious goods. Some may excel in herbiology, while others excel in alchemy, metalworking, or baking! Better yet, you can communicate with cute dragons of the land, enticing them to work in your shop and utilizing their flame to produce incredible items for your customers. Whichever Flamekeeper has the best reputation at the end of the game wins!
Mechanics & Categories: Worker Placement, Resource Management, Fantasy, Set Collection, Card, Contracts, End Game Bonus
ADORABLE DRAGONS
For someone like me, I can’t get over the bright pastels and exciting dragons. How often do you see a dragon baking bread? Or frying meat? It’s just so unique and fun to look at. The town's ambiance and the fancy dragons bring nothing but joy when playing. Of course, this can only be enhanced by playing fantasy town music while you play.
Each dragon, basic and fancy alike, has a unique artwork displaying what good they are making with their magical fire. Each shop also displays the bustling service they are providing to their customers. Flamecraft truly makes you feel like you're inside your very own RPG (role-playing game).
The artwork doesn’t just stop there. Even the box insert displays artwork of town stone walls so that you never really leave the town of the Flamekeepers, even when tearing down the game for the night.
FESTIVE & PUNNY
As mentioned earlier, the vibrant town and bustling shops immerse you in a fantasy world full of wondrous things. Each and every dragon you meet has a name that usually is a pun or reference to the type of good they produce, such as “Loaf” for baking, “Twig” for plants, or “Brisket” for meats. It’s quite a pleasant time playing and learning which dragons will come to town each game.
The shop names are also punny with the modern world, like “Draco Bell.” What better way to tie our world to the game and make us feel more at home? You also have names like “Critical Rolls” that throw in a fantasy and D&D reference to the game.
Each of these details just immerses you further and further into the world as you play. Not all players will notice it or pay attention, but for those looking for that level of detail, Flamecraft has you covered. Certain kids will enjoy this experience a lot.
BANG FOR THE BUCK
At such a cheap price point of $40 (sometimes less), I am beyond thrilled with the components Flamecraft provides. Buying a nice playmat for your office or card game can often run you this much and more, depending on what you are looking for. Playmat collectors rejoice; the town game board is one elongated playmat!
I honestly don’t care what else the game provides, but having a mat that can be rolled up and fit nicely into the box is a massive victory in my book. There is a dedicated slot in the box insert just for the mat.
Now that the price is already covered by the mat, you also get vibrantly colored wooden dragon meeples and a wooden reputation heart tracker. The resources and gold you collect are only cardboard punch-outs, but their website offers several upgrade options to improve your experience! The card quality is also excellent, providing a variety of mini cards that save a lot of space in the box.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with what the designers chose to use to produce this game. Also, selling higher-quality components is an excellent option for those looking to spend more.
The decision to use a rolled-up mat and small cards makes this viable for a mildly travel-friendly game. Better suited for a vacation rental with a large table, but you could keep all dragons, tokens, mat, and cards in a smaller pouch if you needed to.
Final Comments
I agree with many online reviews where this game seems simplistic for big strategy gamers. That being said, there are still numerous options to choose from on your turn, making it a bit more challenging to decide which path will lead you to victory.
I wouldn’t quite categorize this as a “gateway” game as I would others, purely based on the number of choices you have. No, I don’t think it’s too overwhelming for newer players, but sometimes it might be nicer to get them to play games with less choice first and then ease their way into more strategy.
Flamecraft fits this tier nicely. Simple enough for big thinkers to relax, have a fun evening, and rest their minds, but challenging enough where your choices matter.
Though they recommend ages ten and up, you could easily start kids on this game sooner. You just need to be able to count resources, match them to the contract icons, and discard that many to score points. Especially with the cute and vibrant theme, this would be a massive hit with the kiddos.
You can’t go wrong buying this game as a gift for your gamer friends and family. If you have the opportunity to play, I would definitely give it a go. It is not the most stimulating game in my collection, but the theme pulls at my heartstrings enough that I can see myself getting this to the table more often and buying some of the upgrades available.
Similar To: Honey Buzz, Iki, Ex Libris
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Publisher: Cardboard Alchemy
Game(s) Pictured: Flamecraft
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