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Pocket Gamer's board game retrospective - Agricola

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Pocket Gamer's board game retrospective - Agricola
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iOS
| Agricola

Agricola is a board game that doesn't pull any punches. It's tough to get to grips with, and some people are going to find its mechanics a little bit too stodgy to really enjoy. Others, however, are going to absolutely love it.

It's a game about running a farm. But while you're trying to make sure you family doesn't starve, you're also competing against other players.

Feeding everyone is one thing, but making sure your plot of land is more successful than your opponent's is another thing altogether.

You need to sow and plough fields, expand your family, build up your farmhouse, and raise your livestock.

It's a massive juggling act, and this is by no means a game that's going to hold you by the hand every step of the way. Or any step of the way for that matter.

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But it's competitive as well. So you're trying to grab resources like wood and stone before the other players can. More balls, more juggling, more head-scratching.

To call Agricola deep would really be a massive understatement. I expect it's more work than actually running your own farm in the real world.

You're going to need to put a lot of time into Agricola, but it's worth it in the long run. This is a strategy game with more to offer than almost every other strategy game on the App Store.

It's going to take years to master, but if you're in the right head space you're going to love every second.

And on top of all of that you can play on your own, with people online, or with friends on the same device. It really is the board game that keeps giving. So long as you're not too worried about it taking up an awful lot of your time that is.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.