Faraway is set on the mystical continent of Alula, hidden behind the sea of mist, it's inhabitants kept from the outside world, until now! You'll be venturing across the lands, discovering all this continent has to offer, meeting the locals and gathering requested resources. Lay your path and then retrace your steps to score.
When we saw this game first broadcast, we were instantly intrigued, the design and small amount of information we had on the game play piqued our interest and we knew that we had to give this game a try.
First Impressions
The artwork on both the box and the components is beautifully unique in it's styling and it's bright colours coupled with the plain white of the box, really captures your eye. The cards have a nice thickness and strength to them and the rules are well written, with pictograms to help explain how to play. With it's unique playstyle, this does require a good read through a couple of times to really understand how the game plays and how you score.
Game Play Overview
The game is played over 8 rounds, with each round made up of 3 phases. Each round will begin by exploring a region. During this phase, players will choose one of their cards from hand to play to the right of any previously played. Once all players have revealed the region they are exploring, you'll move onto the next phase where you'll be seeking out sanctuaries. If the card you played this turn was of a higher exploration duration than the previous card you played, you discover a sanctuary and claim a sanctuary card. If you were successful in finding a sanctuary, you will also claim a sanctuary card for each map symbol that you have in play. Once sanctuaries have been established, you'll move onto the final phase of a round where you'll take it in turns based upon the
duration of the exploration you have just carried out.
The player with the shortest exploration duration goes first and then you'll take you turns in ascending order. On your turn, select one of the available region cards and add it to your hand and then, if you found any sanctuaries this turn, select one to play face up above your journey and discard the rest. Once all players have taken a turn, discard the remaining region card and replenish the pool. You're then ready to start the next round. Once 8 rounds have been played, the game ends. Turn over all your region cards ready for scoring. You'll then reveal your region cards one at a time from right to left and score them accordingly, based upon the resources available on face up cards. The player with the highest score wins.
Pros and Cons
This game certainly requires a couple of play throughs to get your head around the scoring and even then, you'll probably mess up a card or two and score nothing for them! It's a different scoring mechanism to get your head around, but once it's clicked in your head as to how it works, you'll start to figure out the different strategies and what works well in a game based on the cards that come out. The cards have all been designed really well with a lovely finish to them and the story really brings this game alive.
Final Verdict
Overall, this is a really clever game with some interesting new mechanics and unusual artwork. I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this game and although it requires a fair amount of thinking, it's not too difficult to play once you've got your head around how the scoring works!
In conclusion, we would rate this game a 8.8/10
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