Fair and honest review, and that is why I really enjoy your content. I agree with almost all of your points, except I rated Pendulum an 7.5 out of 10 (initially 8.5 because of the refreshing feel it gave at first). For me, it fills a niche that we had empty, and it does give a nice change of pace to our usual games so it will stay in our collection.

They should have stuck with the original Roman theme. Glad I skipped this game :) Nice Review!

Loved the review, a very interesting analysis of the game.

Very good, comprehensive review...definitely know this is not the game for my shelf. Thank you 🙏🏻

You're fast becoming one of my favourites.

Thanks for the review Luc. You saved me some serious cash!

Great review - felt it is all a bit ‘trying too hard to be innovative’ I’ll give it a miss but wanted to reach out and say congrats very well done review video great structure and appreciate time stamps !

Thanks for another great video! As always, we agree on many things, but not all of them! I agree on the theme, it’s horrible, and not there! When it comes to the board and graphic design, I think they made the right choice. They made it easy to see everything, which is super important in a game like this. Does the board look boring? Oh yes! Can I see everything I need, and does it make the game easy to play? Also yes! I’m choosing playability over look every single day! When it comes to your big point of «if you take away the timers, then there isn’t anything there» I find a very strange critique. You might not enjoy the game, and that’s fine, but it’s obvious that the timers/real time element is the game. That it’s a very simple game underneath, makes a lot of sense, or it would be way too complicated to play as a real time game. To say that this is boring without the timers, feels to me like saying Carcassonne is boring if you take away the meeples. Pendulum isn’t a game without the timers, so why talk about taking them away? I do understand that there is a «non timed» element here, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how the designer wants you to play the game, or experience it. It would be very hard to make an interested game untimed that also would work timed. Also, I have heard many people say that the solo mode is bad, and I can’t say anything about it. Also, I liked the 3/4 player more than 2, but not a huge lot more, and I don’t understand the critisism of it being more boring with 2 than 3. If you watch our play through, there isn’t a lot of «waiting» time, and the time we are waiting, I am planning my next moves, like I am doing with downtime in every single other game. This feels different, but still is kind of the same in that regards! So, I agree with a lot of what you are saying, maybe even more than usual, but I did find the game enjoyable and different. Is it a masterpiece? No, by no means, but I was happy to get to play it! Again, thanks for the review! I respect (most of) your views, even though we disagree on a lot 🤪 Keep it up!

I have only played this 5 times so far, but I have to disagree on a lot of points. The first big one is the aesthetics. I think they are perfect for this game. The art is extremely detailed & yet it is not distracting from the game play. I think this is an amazing accomplishment & a necessary one for the real time aspect of this game. Secondly, I love the real time Euro. I get so frustrated with AP players, & this completely eliminates it. You have to make a decision. Thirdly, I think the asymmetry is fantastic. The characters (while maybe not thematic) each play differently on their advanced sides. The asymmetry is what keeps me coming back to try different methods to victory. My biggest complaint with this game is the rule book. I thought it was awkwardly written.

That's hard. Thanks for the review. Very hard for stonemeiger to get top marks every games they release.

Kinda sorta reminds me of a mobile "hurry up and wait" game made into a board game. You know those ones where you go to the "stonecarver" or the "barracks" and then have a 5 minute Real Time timer on being able to do it again?

I’m not sure it’s divisive. I‘m not sure I have heard anyone really rave about this game. Even the positive reviews say that it’s „good“ but are not enthusiastic about it. It’s unremarkable really. Great video btw!!

Thanks for another great review. Have to say I agree with you on all points you made, this game isn't very good even if someone is into the whole timer aspect. I am a pretty big Stonemaier fan, but I'm disappointed with this one.

I can somewhat understand how they ended up with the rather bland cards and tiles (what are they again? "provinces"?)... While it seems the timers are the strong point of the game, they also probably caused this particular issue in my opinion - you can't have "interesting" cards if the game is real time, players need to be able to process what they have in hand or what they are taking at a glance... I personally passed on the game as soon as I saw the first pictures of the board :( Bland is the right word to describe all of it...

Eh, games don't need theme. Mechanics are king. Slap whatever theme on you want, I don't care. Thanks for the review. My biggest issue with these types of real-time games is unintentional cheating. Doesn't sound like they solved that.

As soon as I saw real time, I knew I was not interested, thanks for the confirmation.

Good take. I'm all for playing Pendulum once. Zero interest in owning it. Zero theme equals big yawns.

I feel this is at heart a mechanic with a game loosley thrown behind it. How does the name Pendulum even fit the game? Time? Really. The timers could have represented different regions and been thematically represented on the board. Big miss for me.

After Wingspan and Tapestry, this is another easy pass for me. Great review, btw.

For those of you criticizing the game, I am wondering if you actually played it. I had my doubts about this one, but picked it up and I am really enjoying it. It’s unique and I am looking forward to getting it to the table again, which is a sign of a keeper. The theory of why the game is not good is meaningless. What matters is what happens when you play it. By the way, the theme sucks and I wish it was better.