Atlanteon Review

Atlanteon is a game by Reiner Knizia, previously released as 'Revolution' – but it is rethemed here as a game of undersea conquest. Having a soft spot for myths and sea creatures in general, Atlanteon was hard to resist. Sadly, as is not really too surprising considering that this is a Knizia design, the theme is wafer thin - so it probably won't come as too much of a shock to learn that the feeling of being involved in a deep sea conflict doesn't really come across. The visual aesthetic does try hard to push the undersea ambience, and as usual for a Fantasy Flight game it looks fantastic.

The problem with the theme not really fitting lies in the core of the gameplay: Atlanteon is an obviously abstract game of territorial conquest for two players, with the main mechanic being very mathematical and analytical. Simply put, each player has a stack of tiles numbered from zero to nine, as well as a King (marked with a symbol instead of a number) and eleven control markers. Before play starts, each player takes turns to place one of the three towers (one black, two white) anywhere on the 5x5 grid that they choose. Once this is done, play then begins - each turn consists of placing one tile on the board and then checking for scoring.

Scoring happens when a tile is surrounded - in order to place a control marker on a tile, that tile must be completely orthogonally surrounded, either by other tiles or a combination of the tiles and the edges of the board. Once a tile is surrounded, players add up the totals of the immediately surrounding tiles, and whoever has the highest total places a control marker on the surrounded tile. If a tower is surrounded, scoring can be slightly different: if surrounding a white tower with the highest total of tiles, the player takes the white tower marker but does not place a control marker; if surrounding the black tower, the player with the lowest total wins the tower.

Winning the game can be achieved in one of three ways: by capturing all three towers, capturing the opponent's king or having all eleven control markers on the board at the end of your turn.

As you can probably tell, Atlanteon is one of those games that is incredibly simple to learn, but very tough to master - each turn, despite consisting of simply placing a tile and then checking for scoring, is full of important decisions about which tile to place and where to place it, due to the numerous strategic considerations that come into play when a tile is placed.

Atlanteon can be pretty enjoyable, which is the case with many Reiner Knizia designs – but it is definitely not amongst his best work. It is a game where repeated play reveals previously unseen or unconsidered strategies and options, but the problem is that the very abstract nature of the game makes it seem like a dry exercise in mathematics and forward planning. Atlanteon has no luck or randomness and relies only on the skill of the players involved, which means that, coupled with the mechanics as mentioned above, it is a very Chess-like battle of wits between players. Like Chess, Atlanteon may be a little too much like hard work for the average gamer – it quickly becomes apparent that it is a rather uninteresting game with a blatantly irrelevant theme.

Summary

Presentation: Nicely packaged with very appealing art and wooden components. 8.5/10

Clarity of Rules: The usual high standards we’ve come to expect from Fantasy Flight are all present and correct, with the rules being very clear and easy to understand. 9.2/10

Game Length: Each game lasts around 15-20 minutes, which is fine for a game of this type. Any longer and your brain may suffer permanent meltdown! 8.4/10

Value: Not too expensive, but as the game itself suffers from being fairly dry and uninteresting (and the underwater warfare theme is a thinly veiled attempt to make the game more appealing), replay value is not very high. 6.7/10

Overall: A reasonably engaging game for a short while, but the very abstract nature of the game and the poorly integrated theme mean that Atlanteon’s appeal wears off very quickly. Don’t be fooled by the designer’s reputation – whilst an interesting enough concept, this is certainly nowhere near the quality of Reiner Knizia’s more compelling products. 6.1/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown