When I saw Xenology, I was immediately piqued because it reminded me of a friend’s prototype, a game about studying humanity from the perspective of an alien race. I wanted to see the track a different design mind might do with a similar idea—one of my favorite pastimes.

Unfortunately, Xenology doesn’t capture the weirdness of my friend’s game, nor does it capture the magic of the foundational eurogame elements it deploys across its own design. It’s a “do A so you can acquire C so you can do B and score some points” sort of game, nothing more, nothing less. It has the trappings of a much more interesting game, that resolves into something whose end result feels arbitrary and mushy, and ultimately just fades in with a broad swathe of other games in spite of the unique setting.

Alien bureaucrats demand RFPs

In the game, you’re an alien trying to advance in the alien hierarchy by studying human beings. The process by which you do this is reasonably straightforward.

In the center of the board there’s an action cross of sorts, at the intersection a center action (Mission Control) with four actions that are arranged around it in an offset cross. You start with three alien meeples (cute)…

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Glimmering

I have a soft spot for “flip-and-writes” (and X-and-writes in general). They’re quick, snappy, and they fit perfectly into those “we’ve got an hour (or less) and a cozy table” game nights with my wife. Give me something that sets up fast, plays clean, and still leaves room for a little cleverness, and I’m in. The Hobbit: There and Back Again and Welcome to… are two of my go-tos for exactly that reason.

And yet, I’m a heavy Euro gamer at heart. Engine building is my comfort food. There’s no greater feeling than building efficiency and reaping the rewards. The twist with Glimmerdeep is that it looks like it’s going to live firmly in that lighter flip-and-write lane, but hits you with “What if we hid a whole resource conversion machine down here in the dark?”

Glimmerdeep isn’t the kind of flip-and-write where you’re simply coloring in shapes, adding up points, and calling it a night. As I read through the rules, I was delighted to see that this is, in fact, an engine builder. This is another testament to the old saying, “you don’t judge a book by its cover.”

I Dig It

Glimmerdeep plays over five rounds, following a steady rhythm of digging, building,…

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