Overboss Review

Overboss from Brotherwise Games is a tile laying game where each tile will score differently. At the start of the game, 5 random regions are selected and their tokens are added into the bag. The tiles are shuffled and the market is created. Each player will take turns drafting a map tile along with the token underneath it. You simply place each of them onto your map. Play will continue like this for 12 rounds, if you're playing the basic game. You need to be clever with how you place tiles, though. Because they all score differently, every placement matters. For example, you score points for each desert tile that chains together so if you want to score big points on these you need to choose carefully what else you plan on taking. You're also going to score points for the tokens on the tiles. Each set of them next to each other will generate a set amount of points. If you get a portal token, you can also use it to move your tokens around to further optimize your points. Once everyones boards are filled, they tally their points and whoever has the most will be the winner.

If you want to add in more complexity, you can play with the other side of the map. It's a larger board so the game will be longer and the scores will be higher. It's still full of tough choices to make. You can also add in boss cards that give you a one-off special power and another end game scoring option. Finally, there's the command cards. These are randomly added with the market and when a certain pattern of the same tiles is created, the player can activate the card. These bring in an additional take that element because they largely allow you move tiles on other players boards.

The Good: Overboss is filled with so many difficult choices. At the beginning of the game, you have an empty board full of opportunity and by the 3rd round, you're questioning your own existence. This is how you know a tile placement game is good. Because the tiles are randomized and don't really work together at all you run out of space quickly. I like the "shorter" game even more than the long game. Twelve turns is not enough time to feel accomplished but at the same time you're choices matter so much. It's great. I love the retro style video game artwork. You feel like you're building a video game level for an old school Nintendo game.

The Okay: Some tiles are better than others. I really didn't care for the volcano one specifically. It's good for when you have nothing on the board but because it'll destroy everything around it then you could be destroying a lot of points. They're worth good points early on though.

The Not So Good: I found it to be really difficult to score a lot of points. In every game that I've played, I barely got above 40 points. The solo game considers a great game to be over 72 so I'm nowhere near that. A lot of this has to do with the general randomization in setup and blindly drawing tiles and tokens. It's definitely a game that you want to continuously try and score higher for and keep going with new combinations.

Final Thoughts: I've always been a sucker for tile placement games. Overboss is no exception. Having to constantly make tough choices and change strategies is a constant here and the ability to add in extra modules means that you have nearly unlimited combinations and ways to play the game. This is one of the most accessible tile drafting games that I've played. The rules are straightforward and it plays in a relatively short amount of time. Overboss is a game that I couldn't recommend enough. I can't wait to see what happens with this universe.

Thanks to Brotherwise Games for providing me with a review copy.