The Problem with Board Game Sequels

railroad inc and burgle brothers are two of my favorite board games of all time so this year when they both release sequels i should be excited right this is the problem with board game sequels take railroading a game i love so of course i was excited by the new sequels railroading challenge and now i have four versions of the same game the trouble is i don't have four times the desire to play railroad inc i want to play it as much as any other game in my collection so if all games are worth one point each railroad ink copy now has a shelf value of a quarter and they're taking up space of other games that would offer a completely different experience but john this is ricky he watches the channel and he speaks for all of you the expansion dice make each version different yes they help each game of railroad inc feel different but they still feel like railroad ink so only keep one copy but which one sometimes i might want to play with the rivers sometimes the volcanoes and do i keep original or the challenge version okay so keep all the expansion guys put them into one box and get rid of the rest of the games throw away a perfectly good game that's so wasteful and the boxes are so beautiful so keep all of them but the shelf space god are you even listening the appeal of a board game sequel is that at its heart it's the same game you know and love it's familiar and comforting amidst the thousands of new games released every year a sequel is the only one you can guarantee you will enjoy and that's true here if you like burgle brothers or railroad ink you will enjoy their sequel the problem is is that at their heart they're the same game so should you buy them if you do you are contributing to a growing trend frosthaven the sequel to gloomhaven is the most successful board game kickstarter ever raising 13 million dollars i can't blame a publisher for taking an easy win all they have to do is make changes to an existing design and they have a ready fan base of backers burgle brothers 2 and hardback both sequels are fower's game's most successful kickstarters surpassing their originals by thousands of backers when they've branched out with new original ideas like sabotage and now boarding the backers are less willing well we didn't know if those games were any good i get that but if we only ever fund sequels why would a publisher ever try anything new it'll become like hollywood where everything's a sequel or a remake and when someone makes a half-decent original idea like knives out it will be such a welcome surprise that everyone goes nuts over it i love that film i can't wait for the sequel and if we encourage the sequalization of every game we love aren't we holding ourselves back as a fan i'm torn i'm naturally excited to see what they've added to a game i love but when the railroad ink designers aren't designing expansion die sets for railroad inc they produce something truly groundbreaking in king's dilemma but don't you want king's dilemma too well of course i do but that's a story game it doesn't count we didn't need sequels to these games they're already endlessly replayable there is an oblivious gamer out there who owns one copy of railroad inc has played it a hundred times and has no idea three other versions exist i wish i was that person there is another species of gamer homo kickstarters who is obsessed with variability in games they post comments of concern that it doesn't have enough cards or tiles or scenarios to make the game replayable having never played the game tattoo this to your forehead variability does not equal replayability having more stuff in a game does not make it more fun and it doesn't make you want to play it more a great game like burgle brothers one creates a unique puzzle every time you play by the way that 48 shuffle tiles interact with each other this attitude that we need more of everything is behind the rise in sequels it's the kickstarter of gaming where every component is counted in a list that proclaims the value of your investment if a game has variants and mini expansions it's seen as more valuable when in fact it should be a red flag that if it needs all this additional fluff it implies the basic game isn't fun on its own the basic game of railroad inc is fun and thankfully railroading challenge has stuck with it you roll four dice and draw the symbols on your board trying to connect up exits the first thing it adds is new icons on the map if you draw in those spaces you get something for it for example the factory lets you draw another space that turn they're simple and effective they tempt you away from completing routes by offering you something more enticing you think i could complete routes and get some freebies but more often than not you draw in something that creates you even more problems it's classic roll and right stuff let the player trip themselves up by overreaching original railroad inc already had that dynamic now there's more of it the game also introduces goals such as filling up a 3x3 grid or connecting one side of the map to the other you're racing to complete them before the other players to get more points and it's nice it works all the additions to railroading challenge make sense they give you more to consider when building your map and more deadly incentives but they definitely slow the game down railroading challenge has twice the challenge and twice the analysis paralysis if you add in the expansion dice as well it's too much i will never play with challenge and an expansion but you don't have to every aspect is modular it makes sense that a sequel adds more and if you've milked railroading dry you might want it but with a light travel game less is more i already felt that railroad ink was perfect i'm not sure i need extra stuff the makers have done their best to justify you owning four copies of railroading there's the extra boards so you can play with up to 20 players or challenge with eight players each set has four unique expansion dice giving you two extra ways to play the game and the challenge editions each have their own unique goal cards their cleverest justification is their new way to play the game in draft mode now the dice are rolled in pairs and you take it in turns to choose a pair of dice to use so everyone gets different routes i was surprised by how much i enjoyed playing in draft mode it makes the game less frustrating because you always get at least something you want each round the catch is that to play in draft mode you need a copy of railroad ink for every player to give you enough dice what i don't like is the new dice not the expansion dice the basic dice they now have these useless and infuriating dead ends on them and these two separate roads the other new changes to railroading challenge make the game more difficult the changes to the dice just make it more punishing i really don't understand it and if i do keep railroading challenge i'm just going to use the dice from the original game hey there's a reason to keep both before i give my thoughts on burgle brothers 2 i need to disclaim that tim fowlers paid me to write some puns for the game i know that sounds like something i would say as a joke but it's not please take my career choices seriously you're not my dad just as in the original burger brothers your team of characters are entering a building to crack a safe and exploring tiles by either running onto them or peaking first in this sequel you're robbing a casino and there are only two flaws which are now divided by this box stand because kickstarter backers love gimmicks it is fun to play the game in 3d but i would have preferred the standard been sold separately because it makes the box really annoying for storing the game there is now only one safe to crack but it is much harder to do and involves regular coordination between floors encouraging you to really work together as before there are bouncers which move at the end of every turn and you need to avoid them they have a clever new mechanism when you cause a commotion the bouncer not only changes his destination to your location but he moves one space closer it means you always have to be careful when you're near them because you could get caught and now getting caught gives you heat thematically you're in disguise hiding in plain sight but the more the bouncers see you causing commotion the more they suspect you if you get six heat you lose the game it's another neat change that is slightly better than the original another fun thematic addition are these poker chips when you reveal a new tile you first reveal the person there a saleswoman will corner you and not let you move again and if you run onto a tire with a drunk you crash into him and fall down a floor burgle brothers was always great at providing fun surprises that add to the narrative of your game and these tokens are totally in keeping with that but they also add more randomness to an already lucky game you're no longer safe when peaking at an adjacent tile because the primadonna could drag you in anyway which robs you of the tactical choice of playing it safe once you crack the actual safe you enter the finale there are nine finale scenarios they're cute they add flavor but at the same time they disrupt the flow of the game because you have to stop and learn new rules rules that aren't always clear it reminds me of the haunt in betrayal at house on the hill this faux campaign the stickers that provide a legacy element the meeples that are only used for one of the nine finale scenarios they all feel like tricks to impress the kickstarter crowd original burgle brothers didn't need them to make an entertaining replayable game and i don't think burgle brothers 2 does either there's a trend with reviewers to say things like burgle brothers 2 fixes all of the problems with burgle brothers this is a burgle brothers killer if you made me play burger brothers again i would puke everywhere first of all what problems the huggable brothers is an incredible game that didn't need fixing but i also don't think that burger brothers 2 does fix the problems they're talking about burger brothers 2 is way more streamlined i don't think it is some parts have been streamlined but other complications have been added to fill the void for example tiles that require you to track every time you enter with a cube adding more admin to the game bogo brothers 2 is so much shorter i mean barely there is one less flaw to explore and only one safe to crack but it takes much longer to crack than before and the finale acts like a third floor if you're looking for a game that is half the length of the original this isn't it what it definitely doesn't fix is that if you didn't like burger brothers i believe you'll like burger brothers 2 even less it leans harder into its idiosyncrasies but then isn't that the point of a sequel i did like it though so should i get the game or not alright hold on it's complicated as a reviewer there's a pressure to come down on one side or the other which one should you own but it isn't that simple there's a reason why i still own pandemic and panoramic iberia and pandemic fall of rome neither is better each has their own benefit and this is the ultimate problem of the sequel i didn't need a new burgle brothers or railroad ink i didn't ask for this dilemma they are too similar to keep both and they don't kill their originals if anything they've shown a spotlight on how good the originals are if you've never played burgle brothers or railroad inc this is really easy you should try them they are both brilliant games and if you already have you could try the sequels or you could take a chance on the next great game invest in the next burgle brothers and encourage new ideas don't know what that game is well subscribe to this channel and i'll let you know that was the problem with board game sequels if you'd like to support more videos like this please become a patron of the channel at patreon.com forward slash actual i'm john perkis thanks for [Music] watching [Music] you

Channel: Actualol

Views: 49,199

Keywords: Board games, Board game, comedy, family board games, board games for couples, popular board games, top board games, best board games, london gaming, new board games, tabletop gaming, party games, shut up and sit down, Dice Tower, Family Games, board games for 2 people, board game sequels, Burgle Bros, Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Capers, Railroad Ink, Railroad Ink Challenge, Tim Fowers, new board games 2021, the problem with board game sequels, roll and write, casino heist

Id: 1EbgyhVJAFM

Length: 12min 44sec (764 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 29 2021