Forbidden Desert - Review

Stranded in the desert, your team of adventurers must work together to recover a legendary flying machine. Rumour has it, this machine is powered by the sun. However, your helicopter has crashed here, and now your only hope is to find the machine and its missing parts, before you get overwhelmed by a deadly sand storm! This exciting game is the second in the forbidden series, following on from Forbidden Island!

Set up: 7/10

Setting up the game is straightforward, if a little time consuming. First, create Forbidden Desert, which is made in a 5-by-5 grid with a space in the centre, then place the Engine figurines to one side of the board. Shuffle each set of cards and randomly deal out (or choose) which adventurer cards you want. Each adventurer sets their water level at the top of their canteen. Then, set the Sand Storm Level, place eight sand tiles in a diamond shape and you’re ready to start! It’s a simple game to set up, especially when you’ve played a lot, it just requires a lot of shuffling.

The Explorer and Water Carrier face the wrath of the desert!

Mechanics: 9/10

The mechanics are simple and easy to learn, and, as each turn follows the same mechanics, you can pick them up quickly. On their turn, each player takes up to four actions, then draws a number of Storm cards equal to the Sand Storm level. Simple! What becomes challenging is deciding which actions to take, and the interaction between different characters; as it’s a cooperative game, you can ask other players for advice on your turn.

Let’s have a look at the actions. The actions are all simple, with a choice of four: Move, Remove Sand, Excavate, and Pick Up a Part. To move (as you may expect) you move your pawn to adjacent tile; to Remove Sand, you remove one sand tile from an adjacent tile or the tile you’re on. To Excavate, you turn the tile you’re on, so it’s excavated sign is showing, provided there’s no sand on the tile. To Pick Up a Part, you take the part from the tile you’re on, provided it’s excavated and unblocked.

After completing actions, you end your turn, by drawing cards equal to the Sand Storm level. You move the tiles as instructed by the cards, placing sand tiles on any tiles you move. Some cards have alternative instructions, in which case you do what it says on the cards.

Players also have several free actions they can do at any time: Share Water, and Pass Equipment. You can also use equipment cards, by following the instructions on the card. Should you forget the order of play, or which actions you can do, each Adventurer card has a quick reference on the back.

Scoring: 10/10

Forbidden Desert is a win or lose game, there is no scoring. However, you can change the difficulty level, with a choice of Novice, Normal, Elite, or Legendary, which will change how often you win.

Play as one of six different adventurers!

Replayability: 10/10

Forbidden Desert has quickly become a firm favourite, taking Forbidden Island’s place as our favourite cooperative game. Every single game is different, and with six different characters to choose from, your strategy will change from game to game. Forbidden Desert is enjoyed by a wide variety of people, even by some people who are less interested in playing board games, due to its cooperative nature. It has a variety of strategy and luck involved, and with different difficulty levels you can play this at a skill level best suited you.

Speed: 7/10

Forbidden Desert takes about 30 minutes to play, although if you can take a bit longer (the box states 45 minutes). It’s a little timely to set up, as you have several sets of cards and tiles to shuffle, but if you share this between the players it will take less time. Each turn is quick to play out, you’ll have the occasional turn when you have to discuss with your teammates what to do, but for the most part it’ll be obvious to everyone what to do on each players turn.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a new cooperative game, Forbidden Desert is a great pick! It’s fun and challenging, with lots of replayability. Forbidden Desert can also be really quick, we’ve played often enough now that some games only take 20 minutes. It is slightly harder for beginners compared to Forbidden Island, so if you’ve never played a cooperative game before, I’d recommend picking up Forbidden Island instead of this, as Forbidden Desert is slightly more complicated. Despite this, Forbidden Desert has taken Forbidden Island’s place as my favourite cooperative game, and I’d recommend playing it. It’s also different enough from Forbidden Island that I’m happy playing either game, and I don’t feel like I’ve got a duplicated game by owning both!

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Happy gaming!

Chris