From Desert Canyons to Snowy Peaks in Bestiary of Sigillum
Find the solutions to quick solo puzzles with the unique abilities of all sorts of characters in Bestiary of Sigillum.
My first impressions of Bestiary of Sigillum were quite positive, and I enjoyed the way it set up a series of little puzzles to solve. It remained on my solo table for several days as I worked through more solutions and got to see more of it! There is still an interesting system here, although I cooled off of the solo mode a bit… Which matched the final map I used. Ha ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Bestiary of Sigillum: Collector’s Edition
Publication Year: 2023
Designer: Peter Vibe
Artists: U. Grebeneva, D. Preobrazhenskaya, & G. Vostrikov
Publisher: CrowD Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Each solo puzzle is like a little study of a specific situation, often with a goal of achieving victory in 1 or 2 turns. There are all sorts of characters and not too many components, yet there is a great deal of variety! Campaigns provide a bit of a storyline, although the game is quite abstract at its core.
First Play
March 17, 2025
Complexity
2
Latest Play
March 23, 2025
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
13
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
28" x 20"
Low Score
N/A
Creating a Team
A couple of the scenarios threw me for a loop, and I had to reset a number of times before I saw how to best utilize the abilities set out before me. Some very satisfying victories!
However, I came across a scenario that didn’t actually set up a puzzle, but allowed me to create a team of my own.
This is a big part of the fun in a multiplayer matchup, where creating clever ability combinations to trick an opponent or luring them into using their abilities too soon is central.
My goal was simply to defend, and this got away from the storyline as I used the best characters. And not Vinctum.
Survival of… Time
Not only did this puzzle not have a solution with the way I could create my own team, but it just involved standing in place and making sure someone survived until the end.
With my team of high high point characters with defensive abilities that triggered every few rounds, it was quite easy.
I just had them stand there, moving some tokens around and slowly counting out damage I did to a castle each round.
This felt like it got back to the roots of the core game a little more, yet not in a satisfying way. My only delight came from the fact that one character showed up in the next puzzles!
To the Mountains
A-ha! Another new map to change up the scenery. Each one does something a little different or changes the hex configuration just enough to be interesting.
There were more enemies and new elements in play, but I found myself achieving victory much easier. It wasn’t hard to win in a single play now that I had a handle on the rules.
Vinctum himself was kind of a foregone conclusion, and I knew exactly how to do the maximum damage with him.
The story sort of melted away as I calculated the necessary damage, and then worked backwards through my moves.
Goetium… An Ally?
Throughout this entire campaign about Vinctum is his strong dislike of magic, which was what led to him being imprisoned. Who locked up him? Goetium, seen here.
Who is Vinctum’s nemesis in this campaign? Also Goetium. And then what happened to me here? I got to choose any character for my team, and based that on available abilities.
So… Goetium helped Vinctum during this scenario. I should have excluded him as a possibility, but was already playing.
I didn’t like the open-ended scenarios and lack of a story. This was neat to try out, but it’s not a solo mode for me.
Tempering First Impressions of New Games
If you were quick enough to spot my initial first impression rating before I updated it for this post, this fell into a very high category of games! Yet I will typically label my first plays in some way to indicate that my opinion may change. This is more true with initial positive impressions, as I’ve learned to move on from solo games I don’t enjoy from the start.
Maybe that sounds like a contradiction. If I don’t like a game, wouldn’t there be a chance I would like it more with repeated plays? Absolutely, yet I also don’t have unlimited hobby time. Rarely will I give a solo game I don’t at least feel neutral about a second chance… And that’s usually if I find out I misread the rules or clearly played incorrectly in a major way.
What I think becomes more valuable to me are the games that I keep playing beyond those first impressions. Not doing so often leads to lots of extra games on my shelves because I remember liking them the first time I played… So of course I can’t part with them! Yet finding the ones that are great in the long-run is a big part of why I play lots of different games.
Session Overview
Play Number: 5-13
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Vinctum’s Campaign Puzzles 3-8
Outcome: 6 Wins & 3 Losses
Puzzles make sense for me sometimes, but not often. I also started to get a little tired of setting up a scenario, only to defeat the enemies in a single turn. There wasn’t a lot of wasted time, yet why was I setting everything up just to remove characters almost immediately? I will say I’m looking forward to playing against my husband! Just no more solo plays as I move onto something I hope to enjoy.
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
4
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Lots of different characters allow for all sorts of abilities and combinations to try out and understand how to optimize.
- Not a lot of components are needed, and the tokens over miniatures approach is very much appreciated.
- Different maps offer unique challenges that come with new abilities or features to make use of in the best way.
- Play time is very quick, even for some of the tough solo puzzles, and resetting to play again takes almost no time.
- The component quality is excellent with useful trays to store all of the tokens and stands to hold character tokens.
- Most of the rules are very easy to understand, and the complexity lies in figuring out how to use a team’s abilities.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Setup and cleanup are pretty quick, but enemies are often knocked out during the first turn and never do anything.
- There isn’t really an ongoing narrative throughout the campaign, as it features abstract puzzle situations to solve.
- Open-ended scenarios to create a team from any characters feel a little out-of-place for the overall solo mode.
- With more experience comes a better understanding of the abilities, and puzzles can start to feel way too easy.
Victory Conditions
Solve the Puzzle
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Complete Vinctum’s campaign. (8/16)
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Bestiary of Sigillum? Do you have any interesting stories about how your first impressions of a solo game changed? I still think these solo puzzles could be excellent for fans of this one, although I’m planning to only enjoy it multiplayer in the future. Always neat to try out a new game, though, and there were definitely some fun times!
It’s a game that I like and feel like it is objectively good, but for some reason has lacked that special something for me. Which is probably what is holding it back from being more popular. I do enjoy owning it though!
Agreed about it being good overall! I’ll likely have some more fun with it when I play against my husband, and the good news is that I should theoretically be better based on these solo plays. I’ll happily take the advantage. Ha ha!