I love cooperative fantasy games, but I need a break. I have been reviewing too many lately.
Behind cooperative games, my favorite type of game is an indirect confrontational Euro. Not completely multiplayer solitaire (for example, Rolling Realms, which I do love). A Euro where worker placement or drafting what your opponent wants is as confrontational as it gets.
So, what is this River of Gold that showed up in my review queue? Honestly, I never even heard of the game. After reading the box, I discovered it is set in the Legends of the Five Rings, a world I know about as much as the Eras’ Tour playlist. Hint #1: I know nothing about the playlist.
But not knowing much, or anything, about a game, has not stopped me from reviewing before. It has a quick playtime. It does not appear overly complicated. Fine, I’ll give it a shot.
Did I enjoy my time with River of Gold? Or did I drown in boredom, waiting for a new fantasy coop to save me? Hint #2: I did not need a life vest during my time with the game.
Gameplay Overview:
River of Gold is a competitive worker placement game for two to four players. As previously mentioned, it is set in the Legends of the Five Rings universe; however, like Lords of Waterdeep and Dungeons and Dragons, anyone can play this game and enjoy it—knowledge of the setting is not required. Most games are a comfortable sixty to ninety minutes, depending on player count.
The game lasts an undetermined number of turns, with players progressing through four steps on their turn as follows:
- Spend Divine Favor – this allows you to manipulate the die result you rolled during step 4 (see below)
- Take an action
- Purchase a building tile
- Move one of your two boats down the river (the worker placement of River of Gold)
- Deliver goods to a customer
- Claim masteries – masteries are three shared player goals – you will only do this once per mastery, at most, during the game
- Roll your die for your next turn
There is a scoring round when Era 1 ends (all the Era 1 tiles have been moved off the building board), then play returns to normal. The game will end after all the Era 2 building tiles are moved off the building board. Points are tallied up and the player with the most VPs is crowned the winner!
Game Experience:
What made me want to sail down the River of Gold:
My biggest takeaway from playing River of Gold is the simplicity of its turn structure. You roll a die at the end of your turn so that you can plan your strategy. Once your turn begins, you may use Divine Favor to adjust your die roll. Once your result is set, you have three choices.
- You can move one of your two boats the number of spaces on the die, gathering resources, money, points, and/or influence from the four shore spaces adjacent to your boat’s destined space.
- You can purchase a building tile in the region of the river matching your die result with the money you have collected to construct it on a shore space. These buildings provide both influence (players with the most influence in a region will score bonus points at the end of the game) for that region as well as the resources mentioned above. Additionally, they provide a bonus to its owner whenever anyone, including themselves, lands on its river space.
- You can deliver the resources your customers want, assuming your die result matches their region. Customers provide three different abilities—one that results in an immediate benefit, one that provides an ongoing benefit for the rest of the game, and one that provides an endgame ability.
It sounds simple because it is however, knowing when to do what action is the key to victory. You are rewarded for specialization, be it in delivering to as many customers as possible (the end game scoring rewards are incrementally greater, up to six customer deliveries), completing mastery cards for bonus points, winning on the influence tracks, or generating points from buildings. The key is timing when to continue specializing or when to branch out. Should you move this turn to grab the money needed to buy the building you want before your opponent does? Or do you deliver this turn, unlocking a bonus ability you believe is key to your strategy? Or do you move your boat to the end of the river, expediting the end game?
I love the end game in River of Gold. It is driven by the building tiles. Once the last Era 2 building tile is moved from the building board to the market, the game ends (technically, the player ending the game gets five points and everyone else gets one more turn). Obviously buying building tiles moves the game forward; however, so does moving your boat to the end of the river. When your boat reaches the end of the river, you receive a bonus, and a building tile is removed from the market. This mechanic creates end-game pressure. You cannot buy buildings or make deliveries without money or resources. The main way to collect money and/or resources is by moving your boat. Moving your boat speeds up the end of the game. Is Jimmy using his Divine Favor to roll sixes every turn to move his boats to the end of the river? Or does he just want to deliver to customers in region six? Or is he trying to place buildings in the sixth region so he can steal the influence track bonus right before the game ends? I love the bluffing and paranoia that can occur in the last few turns.
The game also has considerable replay value. The buildings remind me of Lords of Waterdeep. They come out randomly, and not every building is used in every game. In addition, the board is randomly seeded with up to nine starter buildings, based on player count. Similar to Lords of Waterdeep, the available buildings will have a significant impact on how the game plays out. One game might be heavy in resources, and the next might be money-heavy. The combination of buildings available, locations of buildings on the river, the mastery cards available, the customers you get during the game, and the player count (all of which are fun, but I prefer two players), create the type of replay value I appreciate.
Finally, the game is easy to teach and plays quickly. The excellent rulebook is fourteen pages long, only nine of which have rules-related text. I have yet to teach the game where a player has not understood the basic game structure within a couple of turns. I really appreciate rolling the die at the end of your turn as this saves time as well.
One last note – I love the art on the board itself, especially the gold foil. It looks great on the table!
What made me want to remove my life jacket:
I only have two minor complaints about the game.
The biggest issue I have is that the game feels like a typical Euro. The boat worker placement is similar to Egizia (100% transparency, I have never played Egizia, but have heard others mention this). The buildings are like Lords of Waterdeep. You collect resources to deliver to customers. There are influence tracks and public goals. All of these are commonplace in the Euro game market. If you only want to have “x” number of worker placement games in your collection, I am not sure River of Gold is unique enough to make the cut. That being said, I am definitely keeping this game.
My other issue is minor. It can sometimes be difficult to discern which of the four shore spaces is adjacent to your boat. I had this problem. My wife and, to a lesser extent, Tony, had the same issue. It became easier after multiple games but was a little frustrating when we first started playing.
Final Thoughts:
I went in with almost negative expectations (I don’t care about the Legends of the Five Rings), and left thinking that it, along with Leviathan Wilds, is my surprise game of 2024 (so far). I truly enjoyed this game. It is not revolutionary; however, it is great in what is important to me as a gamer—quick turns and fast gameplay, yet the decisions are tough and meaningful.
If you like worker placement games, at the very least try, if not buy this game. And I would still recommend a fan of Euros to try River of Gold, like me, you may be pleasantly surprised!
Final Score: 4 Stars – My expectations were blown away by this Euro
Hits:
• Simple, yet satisfying, turn structure
• The end game
• High replay value due to random setup and building tile randomization
• Easy to teach and plays quickly
Misses:
• Nothing revolutionary when compared to other Euros
• Can be difficult to determine the four shore locations adjacent to your boat
Disclosure: Someone who contributed to the rulebook for River of Gold also writes for Board Game Quest. He had no influence over the opinions expressed in this review.
