How do you write a review for a legacy campaign game? I don't know but we're going to try. Charterstone has players building a village from essentially nothing. Each player will control a character and is responsible for building up their section of the village. I chose to play as the miner and my wife was the logger. There are 6 zones and they all produce differently with the central area being the one that remains consistent. Here you'll be able to open crates, build new buildings, and some of the more traditional worker placement spots. Opening crates is how you attain new buildings or personas, which act as character upgrades to provide bonuses. It's not cheap to open crates but it's also a way to progress the game. Any time you open crates, build, or objectives are scored. The game ends when the progress token reaches the end of its track and then players will score points. The winner gets to fill in parts of their player box that can provide permanent starting bonuses later in the game and help their overall campaign score. Each game will introduce new elements and rules but that's going into spoiler territory. This overview essentially covered the first game and the core elements.
The Good: This is the first true campaign/legacy game that I've played that I think will keep my attention span. After each game that I play, I want to continue because I want to see what's next. Putting out stickers on a board and writing on cards feels wrong but watching your little village grow into a bustling town is such an enjoyable concept. The overall game itself is very approachable and the artwork fits perfectly for the game itself. Even building out the rulebook by putting out stickers on the empty spaces is satisfying and a unique way to learn the game.
The Okay: While I enjoyed unlocking new rules as I went along, my wife didn't feel the same way. By doing this, it added a fair bit of downtime and reading instead of playing. The rules are easy to learn but having to stop every few minutes to read and teach a new one wasn't her favorite thing in the world. I can see this being a problem for a lot of people who just want to play the game and not learn more as they go.
The Not So Good: Charterstone is definitely designed with a full group in mind. There's ways to get buildings from the other sections out later in the game and an automa that can simulate players for you but that's never the same. When playing with 2 players, the village will feel a lot more empty and you won't have access to those more powerful spots until way later in the campaign. There's also ways to add players later on so the game doesn't always need to only be the same player count.
Final Thoughts: Avoiding spoilers for a game like this is hard. I have plenty more thoughts about the game but I don't want to give anything away. I'll leave it at this, Charterstone is a really interesting game. I loved to uncover new secrets and concepts as I went and if you've been reading my reviews for a while now then you'll know I love to build a map. While I wish I had a larger group to have built it faster, it was also a great game to play slowly and not try and rush through to the end. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was this charter.
Thanks to Stonemaier Games and Jamey Stegmaier for providing a review copy.