Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Splendor Marvel: everything is better with Spider-Man

Everything I said in my original review of Splendor is still true: it's a great game that never would have caught our attention if it hadn't made so may "best of" lists, and we probably still wouldn't have bought it on our own. The theme is just...well, let's just say not very interesting. A friend got it for us as a gift, and we played it quite a bit and really enjoyed it, but the theme is still...well, let's just say not very interesting.

Reskinning old games with new, flashy properties is nothing new, but it can be a bit of mixed bag in terms of success. The game play in Revolver, for example, doesn't make any sense at all until you realize that it started out as an unlicensed game based on the 1986 film Aliens, but on the other hand, the Legendary card game series has adapted itself extremely well to multiple genres and properties, and there seems to be no end to the viable versions of Love Letter (I even made my own unlicensed version based on the aforementioned Aliens film, thus bringing us full circle). It tends to work particularly well with games whose themes are a little on the thin side, which brings us neatly to Splendor: Marvel.

The game play is more or less identical to the original Splendor, with only a few minor variations: one dictated by the need for a sixth gem color in order to keep with the Infinity Gauntlet theme, and the other an interesting but not obtrusive Avengers team theme, where a bonus point tile goes to whichever player has the most Avengers characters in play.

I would argue that, unless you actively and passionately dislike Marvel, the re-theming makes the game better, or at least more accessible. The replacement of the original game's renaissance gem cutters with comic book characters shouldn't really matter to players who enjoy the game's abstract strategy, and the  much more exciting artwork might better hold the attention of younger (or young-at-heart) players, although as a lifelong fan I often find myself going after favorite characters even if they don't particularly help my strategy. The vast majority of the characters featured are ones that have appeared in the movies and TV shows, but there are a few deep cuts like Beta Ray Bill and Spider-Woman.

Rating: 4 (out of 5) the Marvel re-theming doesn't quite bump this game up to a 5, but it makes a solid, simple game that much more interesting (for us, anyway).