INTRODUCTION

“Day 3 – After two fruitless days of searching empty ocean, a smudge on the horizon, barely discernible among the sparkling waves, gave me a glimmer of hope. As we drew nearer, a flock of brilliant scarlet birds flew towards our vessel, chirping and whistling as though in welcome. Consulting her charts, our navigator assured us that the island was indeed as yet uncharted. Her words supported a hypothesis we all silently shared – those rugged plateaus, that verdant jungle! - this could be Arnak!”

Hold on to your Fedora, dust off the ol’ research notes and plot a course through the archipelago because it is time to solo review Lost Ruins of Arnak, undoubtedly one of the hottest board game releases of last year from first-time designers Elwen & Mín of Czech Games Edition. The theme of daring adventurers discovering ancient temples and long-lost mysterious artefacts is one that continues to intrigue and captivate its audience, perhaps even more so considering how humanity is currently being cooped up in our grey burrows desperate for a slimmer of escapism. The question though is whether or not Lost Ruins of Arnak manages to convey the excitement of an Indiana Jones movie into a board game format.

Full disclosure: a review copy of Lost Ruins of Arnak was kindly provided by publisher Czech Games Edition.

COMPONENTS

I think of board games as works of art; objects of beauty that should be considered as cultural artefacts capable of having a profound impact on our lives. I also believe that we are currently experiencing a renaissance, where artists are becoming as important to the board game industry as designers and publishers alike and rightly so because in terms of aesthetic appeal Lost Ruins of Arnak is a monumental achievement. Opening the box for the first time and sorting through the components filled me with a sense of unadulterated excitement, sparking my imagination as to what I might discover in this veritable treasure trove filled with bright colours, custom shaped resource tokens, and captivating artwork. Now, as we all know art alone does not a good game make but there is no denying that it certainly goes a long way. The thing though that I find even more impressive is the attention to detail that permeates the game board. Hand-drawn illustrations resembling ancient scrolls adorn the research track, depicting the Guardians and their watchful gazing eyes as you unearth the island’s secrets. It is these little things that makes it all hang together from the artwork to the clear and easy to understand iconography, making Lost Ruins of Arnak one of the most aesthetically impressive and visually coherent board games that have ever graced my table for one.

THE SOLO EXPERIENCE

“So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and ‘X’ never, ever marks the spot.” - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

In Lost Ruins of Arnak you take on the role of a daring adventurer, tasked with leading an expedition through the dense jungles of this uncharted island searching for long-lost historical and cultural artefacts whilst trying to piece together the mystery surrounding a once great civilization. But be careful, for the secrets of Arnak are well protected by imposing and almighty creatures known as Guardians. Only they who have proven their worth shall pass… Lost Ruins of Arnak shares similar DNA with Dune: Imperium in the sense that both games feature the mechanism of playing cards in order to deploy workers on the board and potentially reap the rewards of any associated bonuses of the card in question. The difference though is that in Lost Ruins of Arnak you are faced with the choice of either activating a card ability or using the travel icons to traverse the island. And because you only have two workers at your disposal throughout the course of the game, the choice of how to best make use of your hand of cards is what makes Lost Ruins of Arnak such an interesting and enjoyable experience from a design perspective. These humble beginnings create an arc of progression that reminds me to no small extent of the evolving state when playing Everdell; you start off the game thinking “how on earth will I be able to achieve anything with these limited tools at my disposal?” and by the end of the third round you are performing spectacular combinations of card play, chaining one action after another.

That is not to say that you reach a tipping point where the game plays itself and all tactical decisions are rendered void, quite the contrary. You are constantly considering the most efficient way of deploying your archaeologists on the board and how to make use of your resources. Is it worth to send one of your workers to a location known as a dig site in an attempt to block your rival from say collecting a jewel, essentially allocating half of your workforce for a single resource? The same level of tactical consideration holds true for the research track, which could potentially score you a fair amount of victory points at the end of the game should you succeed in advancing to the higher-level tiers of the track. But doing so can be a costly proposition, forcing you to spend your precious resources as you claw your way to the top in order to be crowned the king of the academia hill. Like any good Euro board game design worthy of its salt, playing Lost Ruins of Arnak is often associated with a sensation of never having enough actions nor resources forcing you to be quick on your feet in terms of tactical decisions which is a quality that I personally enjoy immensely.

When solo playing Lost Ruins of Arnak you will be competing against an automated opponent, representing a rivalling expedition trying to outfox you in the race to uncover the secrets of the titular island. Always seemingly one step ahead, your rival takes the first turn on each of the five rounds using all the remaining archaeologists which at first might seem like a huge disadvantage on your behalf and to a certain extent you would be right, as the first round will undoubtedly give the impression that beating the rival will be an impossible undertaking. And yet because how Lost Ruins of Arnak is paced in terms of game progression, by the second round you will most certainly find yourself in a much more advantageous position being able to compete against the automated opponent on equal terms.

As for the upkeep of performing the rival’s actions the game features a remarkably straight forward and robust system utilising ten tiles known as the rival action stack. On their turn you simply flip the topmost rival tile face up and resolve the corresponding action which takes mere seconds. If faced with a situation where the rival has several options to choose from you simply look at the topmost unrevealed tile of the action stack which will depict a “decision arrow” used to resolve ties. The result is a solo mode that is lightning fast to execute whilst still providing a challenge. It is also the case that Lost Ruins of Arnak is a very flexible solitaire experience thanks to a variable degree of difficulty. Five of the rival’s ten tiles come in pairs, where the red tiles are much more aggressive versions of the actions as opposed to their green counterpart. During setup you will choose how many red tiles you want to incorporate, allowing you to tailor the difficulty to your liking. Want an easy, breezy solo session of Lost Ruins Arnak? Simply exclude all red tiles. Want to be left for dead, lost in the jungle whilst your rival sprints ahead stealing all the valuable resources? Add red tiles to your heart’s content.

FINAL THOUGHTS

By now it should come as little to no surprise that I thoroughly enjoy Lost Ruins of Arnak as a solitaire game experience. From its stunning production values to the way the solo mode seemingly integrates and reiterates the core game design, there is so much to enjoy and appreciate in this latest release from publisher Czech Games Edition. For me, Lost Ruins of Arnak is a shining example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Neither worker placement nor deckbuilding are particularly novel mechanisms to begin with and this game does not bring anything ground-breaking to the table. And yet solo playing Lost Ruins of Arnak is such an enjoyable bordering on cathartic board game experience simply because how beautifully it all hangs together, both in a literal and figurative sense. Personally, I cannot wait to see what the future holds in store for designers Elwen and Mín, until then I wholeheartedly recommend Lost Ruins of Arnak from a solitaire point of view.