Australis Review

I don't think we'll be making any waves with this one.

I’m not sure how one is supposed to look at a title like Australis and not feel at least a little bit intrigued. The stunning artwork on the box and board, as well as the numerous well-crafted bits and bobs used to play the game, are alluring — beckoning players to the table to try a round. When you do sit down to play, you’re met with a soft, warm current of a title, gently pushing you through the waves of its gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the ride is both brief and a bit slapdash.

Product: Australis

Developer: Alessandro Zucchini and Leo Colovini

Publisher: Thames & Kosmos

Price: $41.95

Age: 10+

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Australis is a Medium weight board game where players aim to score points through a series of varying tasks and collections, with the player holding the highest number of points being declared the winner at the end of the game. The basic premise is simple, but the scattershot nature of the gameplay complicates things a bit on the first run. Under normal circumstances, I would play solo to run through the rules or mechanics of a title, but as there was a group ready and willing to test it out with me, we gave it a spin as all fresh players.

I’m not sure if that was a mistake, but so much of the first run was spent just reading the rules and setting up that it got a bit tiresome early. There are just so many pieces and tokens to manage at any given time that it looks overwhelming at first glance. Looks can be deceiving, however, as once we all played past the first turn, things ran smoothly. There are a lot of discrete mechanics to manage, but none of them ever veer into “complicated” territory. Unfortunately, I think also it avoids ever being interesting mechanically.

There are a lot of discrete mechanics to manage, but none of them ever veer into “complicated” territory.

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I’m not really interested in litigating the entire ruleset (there’s a rulebook for a reason), but for reference’s sake, there are separate tokens for your turtles, the fish you collect (and their food tokens), coral to place on the board, cards to manage for your “engine”, and another set of cards as prize tokens. Oh, and five separate dice sets (well, four sets, plus one big red one). All of this is so that the game can give you a platter of options as far as advancing and competing mechanically. In many ways, Australis is part engine-builder, collection game, and area control game all wrapped into one gorgeous package. 

This may sound complicated, but there’s really nothing to it. The only thing you do is pick a dice on your turn, which determines which resource you get or action you take. It’s difficult to really plan anything because what is available is predicated not only on other players’ decisions, but also the randomness of dice rolls and card draw. When a round ends there’s a dice roll-off using your numbered die to determine which players get prize cards for additional points.

Playing with more players ups the variability of choices available to you by quite a bit. With two players, only two dice are set for each type; with four players, there are instead four dice per player. This opens up both the possible dice rolls per dice type to include more attractive pickings, and also allows for more varied player strategies. With the game so heavily reliant on the dice roll outcomes, more players helps mitigate the randomness a bit.

I really can't overstate how great this packaging looks.

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My biggest complaint is that once you have the rules down, the game feels almost like it just kind of happens, rather than you playing it. It’s a very safe, simple, breezy experience. Of course, the box says the target audience is 10+, but this might be a bit mundane even for that age grouping. This is a problem for repeated plays, as the lack of depth or true interaction prevents any sort of surprises from developing in the course of a game. Each player will simply take the highest number die available until the turns are over and then, eventually, the game will end.

There doesn't seem to be any real thematic throughline, either. Normally when you are playing a board game, you are controlling a single entity or character, or you are simply yourself. Here, it's a bit up in the air — am I a god overseeing the health of the ocean, am I the turtle token, or am I the ocean itself? If we are the turtle, how do any of these other mechanics work in reference to said turtle? Turtles don't have much to do with coral growth and fish populations, after all. This is, of course, a minor complaint. A game doesn't have to have this type of real-life coherence to be fun, but it does feel indicative of the lack of cohesion you feel when playing Australis. You are not anyone or anything, the game is simply a collection of stuff in the ocean.

Earlier I mentioned the large number of differing mechanics for family fare like this, but I also feel it's worth noting how none of these separate mechanics seem to truly shine. Engine building might be a part of the experience, but it is so minor it could be removed and the game might still play functionally the same. This is true for the fish and food mechanics, also. The disparate parts just never fully meld into a thrilling experience.

That said, there’s nothing inherently offensive about the game — it's as safe as it gets. No real competitive or adversarial mechanics to worry about, no bartering or cooperation to be done. By the final turn, barring any sort of horrendous luck, all players will end up in roughly the same area regardless of what they do in the course of a game. In that sense, it is a good game for children, as it’s impossible to be truly punished for making mistakes since there are no mistakes to make. Even the most hapless player will be competitive in some regard.

Verdict

Australis initially drew me in with its gorgeous artwork, both on the box and on the board, but left me wanting when the dice were rolled. There are a lot of mechanics and ideas to work out on first playthrough, but it becomes quickly apparent that there’s not much in the way of decision-making for the player. It also has a great table presence, with a good number of figures and pieces to track, but fails to live up to the standards set by the physical contents of the package. After just a few runs, you’ll have seen everything you need to. 

Image Credits: Taylor Rioux; Thames & Kosmos

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from the publisher.