Wow, thank you so much Matt! When we were designing Rangers we had so many hopes for how the emergent systems and our other weird ideas would work out in players' hands. Of course we playtest a ton, but you never know exactly how it will land. To hear you talk about having the exact kinds of unique experiences we were trying to create brought tears to my eyes. I'm so glad you all loved the game, and I'm excited for you to see what else we're cooking up.

"After a decade of playing and reviewing board games, I don't think I've grown jaded, but there's definitely a small voice in my head that sometimes says, 'You know, maybe things are just not ever gonna be as good as they were. Maybe that's it.' And that's really just the side effect of getting older and becoming increasingly wrong about everything..." I am feeling very attacked right now.

8:43 in another universe, Kim Kitsuragi confirms to Harrier Du Bois that yes, indeed, that is a Insulindian Phasmid

Isn't Matt starting to look like a children's TV character from the early 90s.

Even after all these years I keep getting amazed by the incredible special effects prowess of the SUSD team. I can't even imagine the kind of greenscreen / cgi trickery needed to make it look like Matt and Tom actually went outdoors for a bit!

I hate to be that guy but... the reason the usb was one-sided was to reduce production costs and complexity, so that all electronics could have a comunication standard regardless of the production method. Usb-c requires specialised machinery to create the boards, thus excluding smaller manufacturers from it. Of course, there is the argument of "who the heck buys tech from smaller manufacturers", but I would argue things like this are the cause of that.

Yeah this game is really great! For those of you wondering if it’s worth the price, a single campaign can run 20+ sessions, so there is a lot of game in this box. It’s also one you could play with kids ~9 and up. The cards came in a paper wrap that was so amazing and easy to open without damaging the cards, that I wish every game’s cards were wrapped that way.

"Tag yourself. I'm none of these!" made me shout-laugh. So relatable!

Ah I'm immensely jealous of Matt for owning Kims bomber jacket

What an exquisite review, Matt. I haven't been so excited to try a game since after Tom's review of Heat: Pedal to the Metal and I absolutely love that game after buying it. The task of reviewing a game and revealing just enough while leaving most to be unwrapped by your audience is a tall task, but you have done an amazing job at toeing that line and giving us just enough to see why this game is amazing. I can't wait to get a copy.

i feel like in your version of disco elysium you'd both be Harry

Hey, wink, wink, the late pledge for the second printing just opened on Gamefound. With more of those expansions Matt was frothing over!

This seems like a beautiful fusion of a TRPG and board game, with the flavour of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. They seem so perfectly married that I can't tell which came first! I love this. Very interested in buying it

Matt's whole diatribe at the end about the quagmire that is the existing paradigms of the world was very inspiring. I love all the creators on this channel.

It's really fun to see you this amped about a game. I feel like it's been a while. It's got to be hard when what you love to do becomes the thing you feel like you have to do? I hope you find more games to love this year.

The reverse-fallout description and all the little details that came after reminded me of Horizon Zero Dawn but with more nature and less robots.

I've known Sam for many years, and he really is a cool dude. I'm glad more people are seeing his amazing writing. I've played the game and it is really fun.

It is really amazing. Had the first two sessions over the weekend and the world really draws you in. Every location card so far felt like it really fits and makes the gameplay immersive. Terminology as well is carefully thought out. Even when we had the "luck" that on our first travel we managed to draw a very big baddie we quickly realized that even those can be worked around with a bit of thought. And after delivering the biscuits the feeling of..huh..now what..where should we go..hmm, that place sounds nice, lets go there. And then meeting a stranger asking us a really basic thing, should we stay longer here and spend our time on that or go further to maximize our deck/energy, wait a minute, we are rangers, it is by definition our job to help out people we meet. Basically took us one session to go from do mission and move around as efficiently as we can to: Lets just stay a bit more to explore and see this place, there is no race here and it is a good thing.

First impressions based on the review: this game does for overland travel and exploration parts of Old School RPGs, what Gloomhaven did for dungeon delving and combat parts of Old School RPGs.

My wife, daughter & I have have started this 'campaign'... still learning the game but looks like we're going to enjoy it...

The bits you love about this game sound very similar to Far Away! Which is a game I rarely see mentioned but is super unique and ...weird? You're exploring a planet and encountering creatures which all have characteristics and you need to kind of roleplay the creatures and figure out how they would react to your encounters with them. The rules leave a lot to your imagination which feels almost concerningly liberating when you're used to being able to open a rulebook and get definitive answers to questions

OMG I love this theme, it's so different from other games I've seen. I kind of like how you can 'end the day' at any point, putting the game on pause. It's not always a huge time commitment you have to plan your evening around.

I haven't backed a KS, or bought really any boardgame in a number of years, but about 3 minutes into this video, just hearing your description of it, I paused, and went and bought this with all the expansions. Sounds straight up my ally, and I can't wait to try it!

Great review! I did not buy any additional games in 2023 as my apartment does not allow that my collection expands and I wanted to give more credits to the games I bought in the past and play them more often. But whilst after finishing Gloomhaven, our party started full of enthusiasm with Frosthaven, we abandoned it after 2 plays. We needed something different. And this... this might be it.

Wow. Successful GMless sandbox with consistent complex mechanics? Thats quite an achievement.

Matt, you just cost me $400. I can't ignore such strong wording from someone whose opinion I trust so much. Could you do me a favor and hate your next few games though?

As a biologist and fellow board game lover, I gotta say, this looks fantastic. And seeing you get so pumped for it was a joy. Lovely review and I'm totally convinced!

I wanted to like it, but I found myself very bored. It was my first and likely only kickstarter. Just wasn’t my thing and I ditched it to go back to Arkham Horror LCG. I ordered the expansion with the kickstarter, so now I have to figure out what to do with it. Maybe Earthborne would just randomly give it to someone as a surprise with their order?

I can verify, this game is absolutely incredible. 10 out of 10 for flavor, mechanics, and execution. Andrew Navarro and the team at Earthborne studios have achieved something visionary and simplistic at the same time. This game literally oozes with creativity and style, and it’s my GOTY for sure. Kudos!!

Well this may be the most alluring review I've ever seen. And I've been in this boardgaming world for many years now. Congratulations, I knew literally nothing about the game when starting the video and I'm gonna check where to get it right now. To be fair, the game itself sounds amazing and right up my alley. I do live Shadows of Brimstone because of its emergent narrative, and this sounds like it does the same thing in a VERY different way. Which is amazing 🤩

I just had a similar story with the big predator. I tried that mission early on and the story happened, I encountered it but was pretty exhausted by the day. I almost befriended it, but ultimately failed, and could still kill it at the last turn. I decided to spare it and end the last day the mission would go for, realising that it was worth starting over just because I wanted this story to be told. Really cool

This review got me so hyped for the game, but then I found out that the next printing of it won't be available untill next December! What a tease!

Encouraging title and thumbnail, given I jumped all in on the second printing on a bit of a whim!

I'm about halfway through my first campaign soloing and the amount of content I feel I'm having to "skip" over to fulfill some time-sensitive quest is wild... I'm already planning my second campaign to go back and investigate all the locations I've missed 😂

I would love a Let's Play video of this one with Matt and Tom. Doing the Biscuits Quest maybe?

OK, I need this. Not only does this check so many of my boxes, but I think it's a campaign game I can actually get my family to play with me

You bring up a very good point about sustainability. I am starting to get deeper into game design, and never even thought of this aspect. But one game I am working on was planned to have plastic minis, now I am, actually thinking it may be better to use cardboard/wooden tokens instead.

Great review! Ill try it very soon as it sits unopened on my shelf waiting for me to get out of the Oathsworn wood

Going legitimately feral at the mention of this reminding tom of rain world. I need this game

Great review, I'm eager to check this game out when I can. Your bit on sustainability and how it ties into the values of this game was really good.

I definitely have too many campaign games that I have not completed and that are gathering dust, so I certainly don't need a new one. Except, perhaps, this one.

My goodness, what a great review and video. Very tempting, I'll look into this soon. Many thanks!!!

I just love interacting with my ferret, Pokodo

Really great review Matt! Saw some other reviews for this game...that, well, in comparison, yours just sings. Another reason why ya'll deserve to be awarded two pears for your amazing reviews!

man my excitement for boardgames is more on the low side at the moment, but this review? I made me really excited about the game and the sustainability, and the messages. But it also made me excited for boardgames as a form of expressing tought, made me want to see what else people can do. Great video, great job

I'd buried in the garden, but in 50 years there still would be card sleeves.

Great video! I would however have liked if you pointed out at the beginning what components are standard edition and what is being an addon.

Heard some good reviews and I finally backed the core box. But after watching this video I went and upgraded my pledge to all in. Excellent review. Really excited for the game.

7:23 we should have a new segment in these reviews called "Tom disagrees" and then he does that

I value the sustainable production so much, besides it looks beautiful I can't wait to try it

There are many fantastic things about this game, and Matt touches on a lot of them. The challenge effect mechanic, for instance, is beautiful! But I can’t help but wonder about the player count that they played at. We have played about ten days at four players, and I think at that point the pacing of it starts to strain quite a bit, unfortunately. A day of play takes us between four and six hours and the game is lacking systems to inject new plot points during a day (like Arkham’s Agenda deck). All of the timed events happen at the start of the day, unless you trigger something through your progress (and many missions will take you several days as well). I think this is fine at lower player counts this is fine, as both the time commitment as well as the number of people that need to commit make it much easier to get it to the table regularly. (So I will get expansions, but I likely won’t play them at four.) There are also smaller pacing things that I find baffling. First, through completing missions, you can get rewards to add to your deck. Some are designed to be precisely what you need in your current location, but to actually add them to your decks you need to travel away from those locations and end the day. So you have to wait for the next session and you won’t even be in the relevant place anymore. Maybe that’s because deckbuilding mid game would be annoying, you say. But the game has that as well: You will find traders which allow you to change a card from your hand for a different one from (nearly) the entire collection. The player triggering the effect will want to make the most of it, as these effects pretty rare, but this leads to the game screeching to a halt as everybody watches them go through a large stack of cards. Even with the doubled number of tokens from the first-edition misprint of the token sheet (fixed before shipment by providing a second copy of the sheet), you will easily run out of general tokens. (There are plenty of harm and progress tokens though, so the balance is just off.) Again, I think this is a four-player problem. Finally, all the characters feel a bit generic (as someone used to Arkham’s characters). You pick your aspects, background and profession all independently. But almost everything could be used by other players as well. There is little that makes your character feel truly unique around the table. (The first batch of expansions apparently aims to fix that.) Phew. This was more negative than I thought. Again, many, many fantastic things here. But I would be careful at four players.

"You've got tests on dishes (this is a lie)" Clearly someone hasn't visited the northern outpost yet :P

I was already convinced, then you mention Rain World similarities, an absolute gem of a game.

The artwork on the cards is stunning!

Childhood memory unlocked: the episode of Sesame Street when Ernie is holding two pears. "I have a pair of pears, Bert!" Anyway, time to take a third look at the late pledge options.

The way the cards interact to bring the world to life is one of my favourite things about this game. It's so organic and leads to such wonderful emergent bits. Another thing I love is how it handles quests, for example track down a creature, but you need to figure out how to do that. It's so fun just to explore.

I have to say that it was very strange to hear something sang to the tune to the Star Spangled Banner, but with a British accent haha

rain world! also numenera and teenage exocolonist. all games concerned with adventure and ecology in a way that eschews the old rpg/dnd trope in which adventure is getting a knife and killing things. in the way disco elysium is to planescape torment.

Was already interested in this game, and now I'm sold, but I want to latch onto a small tangent; Rain World. I'm actually in the position you described with that game; I haven't played a whole lot of it, but I know it's good. It turned out to be much more involved than I expected and I didn't have the time then to commit to it like I now know you need to, but I fully intend to make that commitment in the not-too-distant future. It might also be prime Cool Ghosts material, if that's making a proper comeback.

This has become one of my favorite games of all time. It especially shines in it's emergent storytelling, especially when it effortlessly results in humorous situations. I think back to the first time I failed at a test that would have allowed me to pet a dog, (yes! This game does let you pet the dog) and it being so humorous that my character is so inept that he can't even figure out how to pet a dog. My resulting headcanon became that since my character is such an obvious technophile (having a deck filled with tech and gear) he's just so obsessed with tech that he can't figure out how to interact with the friendliest organic being. And it's this kind of humor and storytelling that the game naturally inspires through the use of game mechanics. And that's what makes this game so remarkable to me.

We're actually starting to play Arkham Horror LCG and this seems fantastic. I'm probably gonna buy it once it releases in my country!

Haven't seen this channel, and Matt, THIS excited about a game in quite a while. It was infectious and I immediately backed the second printing all in, even the wooden add-ons. Here's hoping my wife will play it with me! lol

Thank you for covering this game and the changes it's hopefully heralding

This game looks so fascinating. One of the few games I’ve wanted to instant buy just based on the great reviews it keeps getting.

Looks lovely, but Im a bit tired of the "additional card game with tokens galore hiding a ttrpg campaign hiding as a little board game" genre

Finally got a group together and we're on day 4. Been enjoying ourselves quite a bit!

This is the first time a review has sparked in me a burning need to experience a game. Also the first time a review has pushed me over the edge of committing to buy a game. Now to just wait until Decemberish, to receive my pledged copy of the second edition.

Jokes on you guys I got my copy a few months ago so you can't magically make this one OOS on every marketplace for the next fucking year

8:35 is so accurate! Makes the world feel alive how stuff just happens! This is coming from someone whos played the game to clarify

Everyone is raving about this game--I'd love to try it! I'm one of the last people to ever complain about board games sounding too complicated, but man, every description of the rules sounds suspiciously like The Cones of Dunneshire.

Love it, so excited for the developers of this game! Can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

I really enjoyed Man with Dog's contribution to the video, I think you should have him back on again cause I think he has good chemistry with the group. The man too.

When you notice the Danny DeVito in the background behind the plant

Thanks for the great review ! I was wondering if it is any good to replay? What about solo thoughts?

Like the plastic plants as decoration to highlight this entirely plastic free product 😂

Thank you for your review and superb creative content. I'm looking forward to purchasing and playing this game.

I was unsure until you mentioned the similarity to Rain World, my all-time favourite game. Gonna go buy this now!

I'm a huge fan of this game, really happy to see these kind of reviews. Really hoping more and more people enjoy it so the team continues to make content for years to come. The only thing that worries me is I'm going to become too committed and then it will go away.

I’m designing a dice chucker (called Planet Repossession Force) in a similar solar punk post-apocalyptic setting. It’s a dark and gritty take on the abandoned Earth idea, where nature’s brutality is amplified to the max and players have to survive in the extremely hostile wilderness, battling all sorts of creature and insane mutant denizens. Earthborne Rangers is a nice lighthearted take on a long abandoned Earth which I appreciate. My game won’t be a full fledged campaign game like this either but just a competitive or co-op 60 minute game. EBR looks beautiful! Love the components!

Unfortunately i bounced back hard from this game, but i am keeping the base game to see if with expansions it gets better. I played as solo for about 10 days in game, so it could be just that i need to go deeper, but for now my problems are: -rulebook is very unclear and generally hard to comprehend, and i do not think it is because the "world is wild" -campaign book is flawed with a massive amount of corrections that you need to check on the website, you cannot play without a browser open on the page -components: the insert is a cool idea but practically not useful, cards are very filmsy and i suggest to sleeve everything, tokens were never a problem in solo but i can see it beign a problem in multi cause they are very few -gameplay/travelling: every time you change location you have ti deconstruct the previous deck and build the new one, which gets repetitive very quickly and for me the idea of travelling through 6 locations is unbearable admin -gamplay/end of day: the way you finish the day is a little strange, cause is supposed to be an "end of session" but it can either happen: to want to go on, i.e. beign too Fatigued and deciding to stop the day but wanting to continue the session; an NPC dies first 2 turns of the play session and having to stop the day and reset everything again -gameplay/paths: it is true that you become very familiar with the different paths and you become more skilled at traversing, but for me personally that entails beign bored and never excited to go back the same paths, also cause in solo it boils down to be "no i cannot go through there cause i don t have the proper instruments" -gamplay/challenges: the deck with the modifiers and symbols is a very cool idea, but sometimes (for me at least one time per session) you get screwed and can t really do anything about it, especially if you do not have cards in your hands cause drawing new cards is a challenge, which you can fail and activate some nasty red symbols spiralling out of control. The game is fascinating and i want to love it, i ll try again maybe in 2p with an expansion in the future but for now i would not recommend it especially cause the price (which i find strange SUSD do not mention as they are always very careful) of the (splendid) choices made in production made the price very steep. That s all folks! Thank you for reading my squabblings

I'm only halfway through this video and this is probably one of the easiest backs I've ever seen. I was intrigued when you said it deserves 2 SUSD recommend awards and convinced when you made the comparisons to Arkham LCG, but the stuff about the interactive ecosystem has me ecstatic to play because this is the kind of game I've wanted to create for years and now I don't have to because someone much more experienced (and whose work I'm already a fan of) did all the hard work already. 😆

Cubes and tokens should be wooden. When everyone decided to have games built in China everything became plastic. Old euro games are wood.

The fact that this game shares its DNA with AH LCG is what draws me to it - I love AH LCG, but I feel it's lately going into somewhat of a decline, so something fresh that is built upon a similar engine sounds just about perfect.

Too bad the core game is like $100+ and good luck finding it. I hate how all these reviews suddenly come out and the game is always impossible to find.

I got as far as that effusive praise and the fact that it's coop and immediately sent this video to the game buying member of my household. Y'all are relatable content.

On 17:06 through the video now... This, game sounds very much to me, what many open-world video games desperately want to be. What I want and hoped them to be... Surprise, the game I'm looking for was in a board game... A world that I can share with friends. Gamers and non-gamers alike. Oath got my itch for the empire scale. Now here's a game for the adventurer!

I really love this game and you did a great job of describing what makes it special

8:44 Matt repping a certain kimball binoclad in that jacket.

I have been on the edge of my seat with this game for a long while. I'm absolutely thrilled that you all (especially Matt) decided to take the time and give it a proper review, which, by the way, turned out phenomenal. I am so very excited to get my hands on this game! Thanks for all your hard work!

Great video - I'm so tempted to buy this, but it'll probably have to be a solo only game for me, so I'm torn (as my shelf of shame grows). Two questions - how is the replayability after a campaign, and did you guys try it solo at all?

Thanks for a great review - love the passion !

God damn. Being a family with not that much money running around these days.. (I even use my wifes youtube account to cut down on spending..) and then I see this film. Never heard of the game.. after 3 minutes I have bought it. Damn It will cost alot...., and the VAT and postage to get it to Norway.... I am trying not to think about it. Oh well. I bought Blood on the clocktower when you recommended it, it was fantastic.. and I hope this will be just as good. You make me go bankrupt, but I am happy. (Mirja, my wife.. if you read this, its much cheaper than you think... its almost nothing. Don't worry)

This sounds a lot like Unsettled from Orange Nebula, where you are using cooperation and skill sets to over come challenges. Looks very interesting.

I'm really interested in trying this game because it feels like an RPG without all the things I don't enjoy about a traditional RPG. This is already set and accessible, so I don't need a dm to come up with all the missions and characters and scenarios. If someone new comes in or someone couldn't come to the session is fine. It has enough freedom where you need to make plans together and take decisions, but not so much where I have to come up with absolutely everything. Also, seems it flows much faster and makes people be comfortable with discussion while with an RPG new people aren't as comfortable having to act a character, make dialogues and all that "Role Playing" aspect. And an RPG game is completely valid, just not my style. So I have been really looking forward to a game that keeps those aspects of having an epic adventure and exploring the world.

I may have missed it in the video, but is it a pure sandbox where the draw is just existing and interacting with the world? Or are there objectives and a path to “victory” that the players would be moving towards while playing?

Sounds like a tabletop immersive sim. Looks really cool!

7:42 love Tom looking at the wrong camera.

It says something of the quality and transparency of a review, that a game can be praised to the heavens, and I still feel nowhere near wanting to buy it!

This looks like a light modern Magic Realm. Very cool!

As always a great review!!You mentioned the publisher provided you guys with a copy. Can we please send you some games?