Which rule did we get wrong?

I picked up Daybreak last week. First off, it is a good looking game. As something of an environmentally conscious person myself, I appreciated how the game shipped without any plastic in or around the box. It’s the little things that make me feel good.

Daybreak box, 2023 © CMYK

The game is made by CMYK. Looking at their page, it seems like they make lighter games, all of them looking gorgeous.

The rules seem simple, build your engine and go to town battling climate change. Do it as either Europe, US, China or Majority world.

For the premiere game, we got three players and got cooking. Tried to stop the world from cooking. Started saving the world. Gentlemen start your engines. But make sure it is an electric engine and not an ICE.

We succeeded in saving the world by turn 4, by filling the world with small modular reactors, giant nuclear plants, and planting some trees. No more CO2 in the air, high fives all around.

As usual when playing a pandemic style game, and succeeding, it felt a bit weird. Which ruled did we miss? Was it supposed to be this easy? Hard to tell, until we play a couple of more games and perhaps get enough planetary crises that we get overwhelmed. This time, we where thoroughly whelmed.

It’s weird that you don’t have the kind of automatic rules policing in co-op games that you get in competitive games. Everyone just trudges or zooms along in their engines, debating a thing here and there, but ultimately just thinking that this seems reasonable.

Winning the first game makes it feel like the game was a bit easy. Good thing then that there are some challenge cards included, which can make the game a bit harder.

All in all, I like the game, and will probably bring it to work and try to get some colleagues to play it. It felt like less experienced players could enjoy the game, as long as they enjoyed the theme.