Evacuation

Designer: Vladimír Suchý
Publisher: Delicious Games
Players: 1-4
Age: 12+
Time: 60-150 minutes
Played with review copy provided by Delicious Games

Shortly after Essen Spiel 2023 ended, Evacuation sat at #3 on the BGG Hotness. A very impressive amount of buzz from Essen, yet still lower than the top spot it took on my personal anticipation list. As a board game consumer, my hype habits mostly revolve around designer and company – if someone with a proven track record is making a new game, I will be abuzz. Vladimir Suchy is one of those names at the top of my list right now. Praga Caput Regni, Woodcraft, The Prodigal’s Club, and Messina 1347 – all games I love. Underwater Cities has its own distinction, as love would be an understatement. It is my #3 game of all time and the one that I revisit the most. So the self-imposed expectations set the bar perilously high – it’s time to find out if Evacuation has the quality to clear it.

Rules Overview

        This one is tough – Evacuation is a game with a lot of meat on the bones. I am going to use broader strokes here, as we could be here all night if I went on a full rules recap. Teaching Evacuation is tough – there are many elements that rely on each other, so it’s hard to know where you start. The fluid mechanisms require you jump into the rules near the shallow end, and just start swimming around. First breach – what version of the game do you play? Evacuation has 4 gameplay variant categories of which you pick to use:

1. Standard Actions or Advanced Actions (always advanced for me)
2. Race Game or Points Game (always points for me)
3. Strict Benefits or Generous Benefits (always generous for me)
4. 0/1/2 Extra Points Modules (any version ok with me)

       
        I tried the “first game suggestion” – standard/race/strict – and quickly decided that wasn’t for me. I fear that players who play the standard game, are going to think “wow that was tough, I bet the advanced game is even tougher!” But the advanced actions allow for more flexible decisions, and thus make the game easier to overcome! Making the game easier on rules, but harder in play, doesn’t really net the effect they were probably aiming to achieve. 90% rules for 70% of the fun, is not a fair trade either. The race version is more reasonable. However, it can feel very anticlimactic when you are playing with a longer engine, and some technologies don’t really feel compatible. I also really like the goal cards (more on that later), so that’s two reasons I’d prefer to not play the race mode. The rest of this review will focus on the advanced/points/generous version of Evacuation, since that is the only version of the game I would recommend. The other version(s) are ok for a first teach, but I worry it will dissuade potential fans – if you handle Suchy weight games regularly, I would say go straight to the “full” game.

The goal of Evacuation is right there in the name – there are 2 planets, and you want to evacuate the old world and start populating the new one. In practice, this equates to having 2 separate engines with their own production – one that starts full and dwindles as the game goes, and one that starts at 0 and slowly grows. The catch being that anything you want to build, you must spend all the resources from one planet, and that is the planet it will be built on. On your turn, you will play one of the cards in your hand, either face up for its effect, or face down under one of the pre-printed standard actions. Your first two turns are free, but if you want to continue to take actions, you must pay escalating energy costs to stay in the round. The face up actions on the cards are essentially the same as the ones pre-printed, with slight variations or combinations to keep it interesting. It could be resource discounts, it could be extra costs, it could be small changes, but in the end they add very little rules overhead. The type of actions you can take on your turn:

Build a Ship – For this action you just build a ship, to be used later in the Transport phase. These ships will allow you to move resources, factories, and most importantly, people off the Old World and onto the New World. The catch: You remove these items this round, but they won’t have time to be placed on the New World to produce before the next round. But if you don’t remove them, you won’t have resources to settle on the New World! This is the main crux of Evacuation – when to remove production to get resources to build new production, and the absence of wealth in the inbetween.

Build a Stadium – For this action you just build a stadium – you’ll notice a lot of the actions are straightforward. Stadiums serve 2 functions – 1. You must have three on the new world in order to not take a penalty 2. The more you spend on them, the more happy faces you receive, which equate to turn order and points at game end.

Research a Tech – There are 4 technology sets that can be assigned freely at game start. Players will create a 3 x 3 grid with level 1s on bottom, level 2s in the middle, and level 3s at the top. This action allows you to place a disc for free on a technology. If it’s a level 1, you discover immediately and now have a new player ability. If it’s a level 2/3, you must have all the technologies below it first, and it takes 2 actions to fully discover.

Infrastructure – aka the objective pile. For this action, you can either draw a card or play a card in hand paying the cost. When you meet the conditions on the card, you get free production. They are all based on how you have played population and factories on the new world via settling. These can be free payouts if you build well, so it’s always important to be mindful of these cards.

Clone and Prefab a Factory – If you are light on materials to settle the new world, you can pay resources to build them. Cloning allows you to spend food on the new world only, to create 2 population discs– don’t ask me how, it just does. Pre-fabricating a factory allows you to spend a resource to create the matching factory, which can be built on either world. If on the old world, you’ll want to transport it over with your ships so you can settle next round.

Settle – Settling the new world is the big action – it’s how you win the game. If you transport population/factories or create some directly on the new world, you can then use them to settle. There is a large map to play your pieces on, and based on what you cover, you will increase the corresponding production. Each hex on the map must be filled entirely in one action – if you do not have the pieces, you must pick a hex with fewer spots to play.  A majority of scoring in Evacuation is based on your production on the new world: you score your lowest track, so it’s vital to increase them all. Deciding where to play is critical, as it can control what resources you have access to, what infrastructure cards you may be able to complete, and how you will score at game end.

Pass – Once all players decide to pass instead of paying energy to act, you will enter the next vital phases: Transport, Turn Order, Progress, Bonuses, and Cleanup.

Transport and Turn Order: The transport phase is when you use the ships you have built. Ships on the new world (i.e. used last round), will fly back to the old world to make another trip. This means ships you buy in round 1/2 can be used again in round 3/4 respectively. After everyone decides what to transport based on their ship capacities, all ships fly simultaneously and the round ends. Turn Order is then re-assessed, based on most happy faces.

Progress: The twist that was not mentioned previously – every action card you play, has a power level. The more power you play, the farther your pair of satellites will move in the progress phase. In turn order, add up your power level, and move your satellites that many spaces, split between them. The further you move, the better terrain on the new world you could access, and thus better rewards for settling. However, as you move you will start to lose connection to the old world  – this means you will lose free production you had, and it means you will eventually have to use energy only on the new world to take actions. There are also a lot of benefits along the progress tracks. When you end your movement, if there is a free slot next to a benefit you can claim it. These benefits are first come first serve, so turn order is vital in this phase. The most common benefits are sun/shade icons that also give access to better spots on the new world. So high progress can give you better access as can turn order.

Bonuses and Cleanup: The bonuses phase is the compensation for taking a low power strategy – the lower power the better reward. There will be a card every round that tells you targets you want to stay below. Example: 6 or less power you get a free factory and tech, 7-11 you get a tech, 12+ you get nothing. The game ensures that the bonus card in the final round is settle focused, so that it is usable, which is appreciated. After everyone receives their bonuses, you do a small cleanup phase – cycle the card markets and reveal the needed information for the next round. After 4 rounds, proceed to final scoring!

My Thoughts on the Game

I must apologize in advance if the upcoming section feels disconnected from the final score. Speaking candidly, I tend to be harsher / more negative focused on games that I feel just miss a mark, as they get me the most heated. Evacuation is a game I really loved the core experience, but there are some things here and there that keep me from swooning. This will end in my top 10 for the year which is a great game, but my hopes for a Delicious Games Essen release is loftier (which may be unfair, but it’s their fault for making so many great games). Let’s start with the stuff I did love.

The biggest win for Evacuation, is just how novel the dual-engine experience plays. Having two worlds to juggle, and deciding when to abandon one to build up the other, is a tight and rewarding thought experiment. The tension between scoring, and keeping a well-built resource engine in place, is the kind of mechanism I keep coming back to in a game. It’s so easy to build a nice stadium in the old world, but if I put in the effort to figure out how to get it done in the new world, I don’t have to worry about transporting it! It feels like you can push yourself at a pace you decide, but you still need to find the right pace: push too soft and you’ll lose in the end game, push too hard and you can feel stuck in the mid-game. You don’t really see engine deconstruction in games, and I think it has wide appeal.

I also really love the action selection mechanism in the full game. Being dealt a full hand of multi-use cards and deciding which one suits me best, is fascinating. As usual with Suchy games, he gives you a nice dose of hand refresh in between rounds. So there is a ton of flexibility in what turn you take. You can always use the pre-printed standard actions as well, so power feels like it’s in your control. It takes what is essentially a 7 action game, and makes it feel like there are 100s of actions you could take, which is clever. I particularly love the cards that you spend extra to have power flexibility in the progress phase. Having a card that counts for 3, 4, or 5 power as needed is very satisfying for trying to hit juicy progress benefits.

The techs are another piece of Evacuation that really shine. The way you mix the tiers and how you unlock in progression is solid. They add a lot of pop to the game – feeling unique and powerful at the same time while adding a nice dash of strategy focus. The fact they cost nothing in resources or requirements keeps players always engaged with them. It’s a nice touch for game longevity, as you’ll look forward to trying a different tech set the next time, or even playing the same set but with different ability combinations. My first game I misread one of my techs and bypassed it, and immediately after I was looking forward to the next time I play that set and giving that tech another chance. But of course, I had to try the other sets first and see what else I could do!

Final major positive for me are the goal cards in the full game. Again, they are a nice dash of strategy layered on top. Having clear targets to aim for, and changing them game to game, keeps the game feeling fresh. It takes a game that has one goal (evacuate) and gives you 3 more. I particularly enjoyed the goals that aimed for specific power intervals in a round, as those felt tough yet rewarding to achieve. There are also some easier cards that will be achieved by just playing the game as normal, so you could draft those to get less points but they distract you less. I will say that some have clear synergy with each other or with certain player techs, which can feel a little swingy. The goal for tundra spots goes really well with the goal for infrastructure cards. The goal for techs unlocked goes really well with the tech board that gets discounts on all future techs. The goals for specific factory types pair well with the tech sets that get those factories easier. But I still view them as an overall massive positive addition. Just need to be mindful that at the end a player could feel like they had a more uphill climb than someone who drafted easier and better cards, and they didn’t even know it til final scoring.

The power level/progress wasn’t really what I was hoping it would be. I thought players had to decide how hard to push power versus better actions. I love that idea of sacrificing power for reward. However, I don’t feel there is enough benefit to a high power strategy in Evacuation. High power gets you to new territories, which in theory gets you more track bumps and more freedom from competition. However, the 2nd tier (desert) feels more like a punishment than a reward. In order to access the desert, you have to sacrifice 6 production on the old world first, which is huge. The spots require more population/factories on hand, and have fewer infrastructure cards. You don’t really see the payoff until 3rd tier (forest), but the rules restricting satellite distance really make it difficult to get to forest. Also when in forest, you have to take actions with energy on the new planet only, which is game losing if done too quickly. High power also often falls behind on turn order, and misses out on the bonuses phase. You do get free production on the new planet eventually which is nice, but it takes so long to reach that point and you have to sacrifice so much to get what equates to 1 infrastructure card of reward. What could have been an interesting push/pull decision space, instead feels like artificial barriers to keep you on a pace that the game wants. I don’t like being told what to do this much in a game. Maybe it’s because the cards are mostly low power, or maybe there was a broken combo, but in the end I don’t really love the banding satellites rule. Maybe the small variants I haven’t tried help alleviate this a bit, but I think power is too small of a decision space and too large of a guard rail as is.

Infrastructure cards are a miss for me too. The cards are leveled, so that you have to get through 13 level 1’s before you start seeing 5 level 2’s. Here is a breakdown based on symbols in each deck: Tundra 22/0, Desert 7/3, Forest 2/5, and Ocean 1/3. For me, that is too much Tundra for too much of the game, and not nearly enough cards total. I understand it’s the terrain everyone can work with so it keeps everyone involved, but it feels overboard. There is an option in Evacuation to spend a resource to wipe a display, which is super clunky when it comes to infrastructure. I could spend one resource a turn, continually wiping the level 1’s to race to level 2’s, thus paying big to finally bypass the tundra overload. My opponent can then do the same, and when we finish the deck, we shuffle it all together? It is not well thought out in this instance, with a messy potential for screwing with others. I appreciate that Suchy often adds rules to allow players flexibility in their choices on purchases, but in this instance it just causes frustration and confusion. They are an active turnoff for me, which is a shame because I like having goals in games. Being rewarded for building in specific ways is a great idea – I think the issue is in execution. The deck needs way more cards and diversity in build formations, and that alone could take it from a turnoff to a bright spot of the game.

Stadium cards are the other end: solid execution, but they don’t wow. Spending more gets you better turn order and more points at the end of the game. I just find the action to be bland, and I wish they did something a little more. I like the idea of being able to fight for turn order in a game where it matters so much, that’s a positive aspect. I also like the struggle of transporting them over if built with old world resources. Maybe my bigger issue is that the game forces you to build 3 of them. It feels like very little payoff to build more, and very punishing to do less, so again feels like the game is telling me what to do. It feels like a forced distraction, even though I’d rather do something more exciting with my turns.

Overall, Evacuation is a game I really have loved my time with, but I’m uncertain where the future lies. The core gameplay is novel, intriguing, and filled with delicious tension. I love juggling two worlds, I love the action selection mechanism, and I love the asymmetry and replayability provided by the techs and goal cards. Those elements feel like they make up most of the game as well, so most of the product here is a winner. But the smaller items around that core experience leave me wanting, which can also be a frustrating feeling. It feels so close to what I wanted overall, but just a little too linear in play. If I had more decision space with power, stadiums, and infrastructure, it could compete for game of the year for me. It’s one I’m definitely keeping for now, but it’s possible a year from now I will have sold the game after a couple more plays. I keep a very tight board game collection in general, and this one feels like it’s flirting with that cusp. Specifically, an expansion to tweak decks or power is something that could keep it on the shelf forever without doubt. Regardless, a game I play 6-10 times happily is a rare occurrence and one that Evacuation will achieve that handily. I would recommend any Euro fan at least give it a shot – it’s a unique and tight gameplay experience that you shouldn’t let pass you by. 

Thoughts from Other Opinionated Gamers

Dale Y: Well, I’m in the camp of like it but not love it.  And for the record, I’ve only played the race version.  For me, I really really enjoyed the logistics puzzle of doing things on the two different planets – figuring out where to produce resources and how to move stuff from old to new.  I really liked the way that the production/power wanes on the old planet as you move things to the new planet.  Interestingly, in all my games, I’ve never really had to move past the first area on the new planet (and I’ve been fairly successful in the scoring), so it makes me wonder what’s so great about the other two regions I never need to get to.   Like many older Wolfgang Kramer games, this game by Suchy offers you multiple ways to play – almost as if the publisher/designer couldn’t decide upon the best version of the game – and I’m not a fan of the choose your own adventure style of game modes – though I can see the appeal for others to have that flexibility.  For me, I always wonder about how things are balanced and whether just focusing on a single mode would give me the best experience.  That being said,  I like the version that I’ve played (race/standard/generous), and it is a good balance between streamlining the decisions while still offering a fairly crunchy experience. 

Jonathan: I like the arc of the game because it feels different, but some bits get a bit fiddly, such as the ships. My favorite part is probably the variable tech tree with the 3×3 grid that is different each game and there are four asymmetric sets.It is quite logistical, so if you think you might want a job moving from one planet to another, this is a good way to find out if it is the right job for you.

Justin: I really enjoyed my plays of Evacuation, and I prefer the Race Mode over the Points Mode because Points Mode feels more like a traditional Euro in its scoring. The puzzle of when to start moving certain bits from the old world to the new world is why everyone keeps coming back, and I really enjoyed the “Strict Benefits” version of the end-round bonus structure. Variability out of the box? Count me in, so I love that I can play this different ways with different players. Like Ryan, I wonder about the legs on this one, but like most games these days, Evacuation will definitely survive your first five plays and then expansion content may freshen things up. I have not tried Evacuation with the Advanced Action variant and haven’t felt the need, but this will also give the game a longer shelf life.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Ryan P, Ben B. 
• I like it.  Dale Y, John P, Justin
• Neutral. Jonathan F., Steph H
  
• Not for me. Rand L.