$19.99Everdell A storybook village worth building
Build a woodland village one season at a time. Send your critter workers out for berries and twigs, play cards into a growing city, and out-score rival founders before the Winter Moon rises. A cozy-looking board game with real strategy underneath, playable solo or online.
Is Everdell worth it?
Everdell is worth it if…
- you like board games where every turn is a small, satisfying decision
- you want something cute on the surface and genuinely strategic underneath
- you enjoy building a city from cards and hunting for the perfect combo
- you want a solo board game that fits in half an hour
- you like playing at your own pace, online, without everyone online at once
Screenshots
A year in your city, four seasons at a time
Each turn you choose one of three things: place a worker to gather berries, twigs, resin or pebbles, play a card into your city, or prepare for the next season. When the seasons turn, your workers come home and the board resets, but your city keeps growing. After four seasons the Winter Moon returns and the highest-scoring city wins.
The rhythm is the charm of it. Spring is for gathering, autumn is for spending, and somewhere along the way you realize the inn you built in turn two is feeding the post office you just played. Cards score points, so every critter and construction in your city is a small decision that adds up.
Cards that like each other
Your city holds up to 15 Construction and Critter cards, and they generate resources, unlock abilities and score points. The real game is in the combos: a card that pays out when you play certain others, a building that turns a weak critter into a scoring machine. The meadow only offers a few cards at a time, so you rarely get exactly what you planned, and part of the fun is spotting what the hand you were dealt wants to become.
That mix of a shared board and a private city keeps runs different every time. One game you race an event, the next you stack a single street of synergizing cards and watch the points pile up.
Playing together, near or far
You can face other founders in cross-platform multiplayer, in real time or turn by turn at your own pace, which suits a game you want to think about over coffee. There is in-game chat for the occasional well played, and matches against people tend to run around an hour with three or four at the table.
If nobody is around, the AI opponents move quickly and make a decent stand, and a solo game takes roughly half an hour. Solo Challenges add their own twists, and Rugwort is there to give you a run for your berries. One thing to know before you click: there is no undo, so a mis-dropped worker stays dropped.
Questions you might have?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, and it works well. You can play against AI opponents in a normal match, take on Solo Challenges with their own rules, or face Rugwort. A solo game against the AI takes about 30 minutes, and the AI moves through its turns quickly, so you spend your time thinking, not waiting.
Do you need to know the board game first?
No. The tutorial walks you through the basics carefully, and the in-game rules section explains the mechanics and lists every card. New players generally get comfortable within a game or two, and the digital version handles all the fiddly scoring for you.
How long does a game take?
A solo match against the AI runs about 30 minutes. Online with three or four players, expect around an hour, depending on how long people think. That is much shorter than setting up and playing the physical version, which is part of why the digital edition is easy to return to.
Can you play with friends on other platforms?
Yes. Multiplayer is cross-platform, so you can start a game with people on other devices. You can play in real time or asynchronously, taking turns when it suits you, which makes it easy to keep a longer game going with a friend across busy weeks.
Is it relaxing or competitive?
Both, depending on the table. Against the AI or in a solo challenge, it is a calm, low-pressure game where you build at your own pace. Against other founders it becomes a proper contest of who reads the meadow and the seasons better. The look stays friendly either way.
