Voidfall Review: 4X Marks the Spot - with Jeff
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- čas přidán 4. 05. 2024
- Jeff Knapp takes a look at a monstrous game described as a 4X game for euro enthusiasts by designer David Turczi. We welcome you to scream into the Voidfall.
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Rarely comment, but have to say this is one of my favorite affiliate reviews I've seen on the channel and I'll be digging back through to find the rest of Jeff's videos. Top marks!
Thank you so much. I do also have a separate channel, but you'll never guess what that is... 😇
Enjoy all Dice Tower reviewers, but Jeff's consistent, stellar reviews puts him at number 1 for me.
Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. :) - Jeff
This review is fantastic. I want more of this guy.
You'll never find me... I am existential... 😂
The green screen touch is next level. So smart Jeff.
Love the shots putting yourself ‘in’ the game!
I had this idea early on - it was a LOT of work to film!! Thanks! - Jeff
This is an amazing video. Great production quality that raises the bar for the industry. Well done, very well done.
Thanks for the kind words! I enjoyed making this one. - Jeff
The production quality on this one is at another level over your past ones so great job!
@@Frankie-the-Tankie haha - I kinda knew this would be a popular game/video, so I wanted to bring my A game...!
Voidfall at this point is my favorite game of all time. An absolute masterpiece of a game. I love the focus cards and the decisions you are forced to make around them. I love the asymmetric houses and how each of them play differently, even between starting agendas. Each game feels very different between the scenarios, events, and technologies giving every play a unique and engaging experience. The co-op/solo adding in the Joint/Heroic focuses and the Crisis board to manage adds another puzzle on top. You can tweak the game as you see fit with houses, maps, technologies, etc. Brilliant.
61 plays in and I can't wait to play it again.
I think Voidfall is one of those games which finds its audience, and by that I mean if you like the type of games Voidfall is, a heavy euro in space with complex interacting systems, you’ll love it. If you’re looking for Eclipse/TI+ then it’s less likely for you. This review was excellent but it didn’t in my mind acknowledge this fact clearly enough. In its true genre, Voidfall is a masterpiece. Still, their marketing did invite criticism in its positioning.
I welcome you to tell me a bit more about what it takes to call a game a "masterpiece," in your mind. I'm not trolling ya, but I'm thinking about doing a follow-up video on my own channel about this (as I sorta suggested towards the end of this review!) Cheers.
@@TabletopToolbox No problem. Disclaimer: I took part in testing to a minor degree, and offered some rules edits. First off, a game's claim to greatness needs context, and that's what I was trying to convey. Too often it's apples and oranges. Some exceptional games are just overall masterpieces. Most are within a genre. In Voidfall's case, I think it's a masterpiece because it is an incredibly tight, polished design that delivers an incredible experience. I totally agree with you, that it's not the kind of narrative experience games with more random elements can create. What it does do is present a game with a wide range of strategic choice, has great asymmetry, amazing production values, and excellent reference material which often lacking in complex games (compendium etc). True, setup can be daunting but I come from a hex and counter wargame background, where many games make Voidfall look like a breeze in comparison. I could go on but I think that captures the essence for me.
Good points!
I always appreciate the extra you put into your game reviews. This one was amazing. Fantastic job. Seriously. :)
Thank you very much!
This was one of the most balanced and insightful reviews I've seen on the DT channel- frank about the perceived negatives but also reinforcing the strengths that this game offers to its players. Well done, Jeff!
First video I've seen from Jeff. Nicely done Sir. Skipped the rules explanation, but enjoyed your perspective on this game and the way you presented it.
Thanks so much, Chris! - Jeff
Great review, Jeff!!!
This might be one of the Top 10 game reviews ever put out by the Dice Tower. Superlative!
Much appreciated - thank you. :)
Wow! How have I never seen a review from Jeff?! Stellar review, Jeff!
By the way, I loved that exchange with yourself! It reminded me of John Hammond in Jurassic Park talking to himself via video. And I mean that in such a good way!
Well to the first question, that's all you. :) But I've become a pro at mocking myself! Check out Forests of Pangaia, and pretty much the entire script of Dragon Keepers (where my daughter AND the Yi's joined in on the fun...) :) Thanks.
That was a phenomenal review. Top notch review. Really enjoying Jeff’s reviews more and more. Keep them coming!
*gracious bow* - thank you kindly. - Jeff
Thoughtful, entertaining, creative, and a great production.
Probably a ton of hard work, but it was **chef's kiss**
Voidfall introduced me to and gave me an appreciation for the deeper "chunkier" games of our hobby, like Hegemony, Mage Knight and GMT's COIN series. These games are in a different league than TI4 and Eclipse 2nd Dawn, This game also has a decent solo mode that I haven't found with a "4X" game since Space Empires 4x. That's all I have to say objectively about it, subjectively I love the game, but then can understand why others wouldn't. Heck, I had to watch Paul Grogan's hour long how to play video three times and his four hour play through once before I was somewhat confident with the rules.
Good review! I respect these viewpoints. I personally LOVE Voidfall. As others have mentioned below, it is not an apples-to-apples comparison to TI4 or Eclipse. It is a giant space Euro puzzle that starts with the moment the tiles are set up. Immediate strategy... trying to figure out the best path and adjusting as things develop. Each game is different and unpredictable despite deterministic combat. Such a fun game! Masterpiece.
Is it the "giant" aspect of the game that makes it a "masterpiece?" Or the decisions included within setup? Genuinely curious - I'm going to tackle the "masterpiece" discussion on my own channel because I keep hearing it.
I always enjoy the creativity you put into your review videos.
Thank you very much!
As always Jeff, great Video, great production quality and fantastically explained ❤
Haha thanks Sarah! Appreciate it!
((jealous of his Voltron in the background))
Haha I do loves me some Voltron. I need to break out my G1 Lion set now that I repaired the green one... Thanks!!!
Love your green screen work Jeff. Chris, masterful editing (or whoever did the editing).
Lol thank you - editing is all me, with a little help from CZcams University... :)
Consummate work. Consummate.
That was an epic review! Well done for all the hard work!
Thanks for the review. I feel like this is the kind of difference for RPG players where some come for the stories and others the depth of mechanisms. Voidfall is the later. TI4 is the former. I absolutely love Voidfall, primarily as a solo player but also enjoyed a ton my competitive games. It's got Euro game goodness all over it and gives something TI4 doesn't - depth in one's own economic development.
So for me at least, Voidfall has become a top 10 game. TI4 I also love for what it brings, but it's not as high for what I seek in board gaming.
Yeah I mean, if you're looking for a HUGE solo space game, this is gonna be it.
Great integration of the board game. For years, I've been thinking of doing a board game channel called "Get Into Gaming", with the hook being that I'd put myself into all the games I talked about. This is the perfect proof of concept. However, my window of ever wanting to do a CZcams channel is long closed. So I'm very satisfied seeing someone bring that idea to life.
Well, thank you, but MAN this was a lot of work. :) I've done some basic composite-video work before, but never in a way that required an angle-finder device to line up camera angles before!!! :) I have a picture I took of my game room when I did that green-screen video. It looked like a tornado had come through!!! 😅 Thanks again! - Jeff
@@TabletopToolbox lol... aaaand that's why I never got around to trying it. I'm a video producer by trade, and the only way I was ever going to do a youtube channel of any kind was if I had some sort of interesting hook. I know how much work it takes to put something like this together and I just never had the giddyup to do it. I was going to use a virtual 3D camera to fly over the board (with me in it). Would have been cool. But way more work than I was willing to do. If I was an established channel with thousands of subscribers, it would maybe be worth switch over to this style. But for several years building up a channel? With only dozens of views at most at first? lol. My spirit broke. I will celebrate through your presentation. Are you planning on doing any others? I can see several games where this sort of presentation would really sing.
@VictorDiGiovanni boy I'd love to learn more from you! I'm a total newbie still - at least I feel like it - learning on my own using Davinci Resolve.
I too wanted to do movement between the 2 shots, but I couldn't begin to imagine scaling the shots - slow movement across the board game but fast movement across the live shot... That stuff is above me...
Anyways I can't say I do this often, but I do have another channel (that I'm posting from) where I do KS previews - I try to do some 3D virtual shots in those when I can. I'd love to chat with you more! - Jeff
@@TabletopToolbox Would be happy to talk about it whenever you get a chance.
In general, though, I use After Effects. It's relatively "easy" to set up a simple 3D space (flat pieces, not 3D objects) and a virtual camera.
Haha, loved your green-screen shenanigans. So good! 👍👍👍
I will never not engage in shenanigans... ;) Thanks for the kind words! - Jeff
At some point we'll need to discuss the elephant in the room: what has become of Chris's popcorn bucket?
How have I never seen one of Jeff's reviews before? I'm immediately going to see if he has reviews of some of the other games I'm interested in
Well... ...did I?!? :)
You on the board is sweet! You're a leader in the industry - so cool!!
I dunno about a "leader," but thank you for the kind words!
Great production. Articulate and interesting review
Jeff i love your reviews, you give an in depth analysis of the game, this amazing
Amazing review, great job Jeff!
Jeff always knocks it out of the park
Thank you! - Jeff
I have no interest in the game, but Jeff's videos are always entertaining. This was a great review and well put together! Kudos!
Thanks so much!! - Jeff
Great review.. would love to see more reviews by you
Thanks! My Top-100 will be landing on the channel in a few weeks!
Great review, Jeff!
Really love the green screen effects. Well done. Definitely an amazing touch.
Thank you kindly! - Jeff
Fub fact 11:45 this game's combat system was lifted from the Civilisation boardgame, which predates, and is assuming to have inspired, the pc game. I think the 4X elements were gradually removed. I remember when you could take over capitals.
On a dice chucker 4X to very Euro solo puzzle you can rank TI1- TI4 - Eclipse - Voidfall so hopefully most people can find something that suits their tastes.
very etertaining review. thx!
What's the tool used in the panning shot?
Kinda depends - sometimes I just shoot from a distance in a high resolution and then pan across, digitally. I did however recently pick up a Neewer "slider" - 48" in length - that I've been having a ton of fun with, but I got it mid-filming for this review so it wasn't used heavily in this video. Cheers!
Taking one for the team. lol. Great job as usual.
Haha thanks Charles!
I don’t need to tell you, Jeff, that this game is definitely not for me. But your video is great!
Haha that's fair, Cay!! :)
So Tabletop Toolbox has finally released the video.
Haha here I am! Cheers!
Great review, thanks
Thank you! - Jeff
Which version of the game has those giant-sized hexes? I want those :)
Great review! Thanks.
Hey Kris! I don't know if the retail version has smaller hexes? Or if they're single-layered instead of these 3-layer versions... But I have and showed the "Galactic Edition" of the game here. Thanks man!
Same size in retail!
@@TabletopToolbox I think he meant the ones you're walking on!
@JohnClem56 aaaah I should've figured that out!!! I had considered trying to put a giant die in the shot to interact with but I don't get a prop budget like the studio guys do!! 😂
Great video!
Thank you kindly!
Wow, is this a Dice Tower review? Such production! Really great thoughts too. I was really interested in this one when it was on Kickstarter but the more I learned about it the more I thought this is just too much and too dry for me. I think your review confirms that.
I ended up backing Fractal which ran at the same time, and kind of regretting it for different reasons. I’d love to see you give that one a review too.
Thanks for the kind words. :) I actually backed Fractal instead of Voidfall, buying Voidfall later as I mentioned here. I haven't played it yet, so now I'm concerned if you have regrets! I'll be checking it out for sure, either here or on my own channel.
@@TabletopToolbox Ha don’t let me bias you then, it has good points too. The combat system is very unique, kind of the best and worst part of the game all at once.
@@svachalekwell, guess what I played tonight...! 🥵
@@TabletopToolbox ha, what did you think?
@@svachalek the combat was definitely different. I didn't hate it, but we did some rules wrong (I had most of my tactics upgraded but never kept them in my hand - discarding them instead). We also had a player who just didn't take the combat well and sorta soured the whole game to a level that by best gaming bud never wants to play it again... Might try out the solo today since I left it set out to do filming later. Dunno if I'll ever get in enough plays for a review.
Love the intro ❤❤❤
Golden review
Thanks so much! - Jeff
Woah, this guy is good!
Haha why thank you! - Jeff
One of the best games in my collection. Blows away Eclipse and TI for me.
A lot of players, myself included, have gotten tired of being nickel-and-dime’d as they tiptoe into small games that just keep getting more and more bloated by additional expansion content. But nowadays there has been a significant increase in the number of games which are already filled with all their bloat right out of the gate, making gargantuan shelf hogs like this one. I don’t care how awesome this game might be; I’m realistically never going to get deep enough into it to make it worth the cost, both in money and time.
Brilliant game, but it's only 3X for me - the exploration part is severly lacking.
Thanks for the review Jeff. Very thorough and succinct. But I think it’s sort of a shame that the others in the DT crew shied away from reviewing this one. I personally think it’s a masterpiece of a game and becomes very intuitive with a few plays. Yes, setup is a bear but it’s no worse than say Oathsworn in my opinion. And that game is obnoxiously large with boxes and boxes to look through and sort.
In their defense, the folks in Miami get a TON of games every week, and a huge game like this that takes multiple playthroughs to understand would take the place of reviewing probably 3-4 other games. So I get it, and I'm happy to fill in. :) Thanks for the kind words - Jeff
I dont get the comparison between eclipse and voidfall. Eclipse is very luck dependant but way easier to play and teach, the latter is pure planning but way deeper but it is Not a confrontative Game! I wouldnt recommend voidfall for Fans of eclipse and i think you can easily have Both in your Collection. They dont overlap in anything but Theme. Personally I Like vf more and even Sold Eclipse but Not because vf replaced it in any way. In the end Eclipse is a dice chucking dudes on a map Game sort of while vf is a Heavy euro
You didn't listen to me - my comparison was in the way it FEELS to play those games. I never talked about mechanisms - I talked about the adventure. Cheers.
@@TabletopToolbox sry it was meant to be an answer to one of the comments below and Not to your Video as a whole
@@olehansen3775 ah - fair. Thanks :)
Great review, and clearly this game is no more a 4X game literally than any other board game, as the exploration element is always somehow disappointing (whether it's by revealing a tile, or a square card...)
But - So many other games that set up and play quicker than this "with a similar experience"? Really? I can't name one. Or are all eurostyle boardgames providing roughly the same experience in your book? Fair enough, then it's not a game for you.
I'd rather ditch half a dozen games that together take the same space and cost the same price in order to play and replay Voidfall. The time factor though is a thing...
Thanks for showing combat on this one. Looked interesting until I saw that.
You gotta do the wargaming dice rolls or you gotta do the hidden combat actions of Dune/Scythe. You just gotta. Otherwise combat in a game just isn't exciting.
Was impressed by the size of this at first, but the deterministic combat pretty much kills it for me.
I'm only 5:46 seconds into this review and while I don't play board games nearly that much, this seems more like a video game than a board game.
This game is a masterclass of design and gameplay 10/10 ❤
I'd be glad to hear more about how you classify a "masterpiece" - not trolling ya, but I'm thinking of doing a further chat on my own channel about this subject!
@@TabletopToolboxNo worries :) I am just impressed with the number and quality of options and how deep the puzzle of choices is - especially in Co-op play. Have you tried it co-op?
@@RulebooksForYou I've played it solo which uses the Crisis board and unique focus cards, similar to co-op. I wasn't as fond of the "extra costs" that those crisis cards add - those type of solo/coop "tweaks" to games are my least favorite - when they simply add extra costs to the competitive game to make it harder.
@@TabletopToolboxi guess for context, some of my other "greatest" games includes Mage Knight, Frosthaven, Feast for Odin, Through the Ages, Kingdom Rush, Arkham Horror LCG, and ISS Vanguard.
Here's a plug for Eclipse Second Dawn. Half the cost, plays in a decent time, is great at most player counts, and is super fun
How often did you play Voidfall? Do you like euro games?
Oh and set up is way quicker without minis. The retail edition is not that expensive.
I will never defend the number of plays required to review a game, but I have played this more than any other game I've reviewed on the channel, thus far... HOURS of my life went into this review! Also, the minis do add time, but not as much as picking out the 8 factions required for each game and picking out the different cards needed for tech, fallen houses, or players. That always eats up a lot of time.
The amount of plays is only relevant in this case for set up time. If you have it organized we'll it's not half bad. But the galactic box organization is terrible.
@@stormburns ah - I understand. When Daniel and I setup for that last clip, I think we set it up in about 45 minutes, but I had recorded all the dialog by then. I'm surprised that the galactic box is that much harder to setup though... I have to wonder how the faction pieces are organized in the retail game...
@@TabletopToolbox just having a stack of cards is better than the tray system. We get the set-up time down to 20-30min.