City of the Great Machine: Hope in the Darkest Shadows
Travel carefully to strike up the chord of discontent in a battle of wits against the machine in City of the Great Machine.
I moved onto the next logical step with City of the Great Machine by bumping up the difficulty level just a bit! This game offers a lot without being too overly complex, at least from my early experiences. Gameplay offers an intricate puzzle that’s fun and deceptively challenging. This steampunk world wasn’t ready to be packed away just yet!
Game Overview
Game Name: City of the Great Machine
Publication Year: 2023
Designer: German Tikhomirov
Artist: Uncredited
Publishers: CrowD Games and Moroz Dev Studio
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Everything happens around trios… Characters, servants, and mission objectives all set the stage for the various districts. Famous citizens can be persuaded to see the artificial intelligence’s danger, all while time slowly ticks away until a trio of riots are completed for the victory.
First Play
March 25, 2023
Complexity
4
Latest Play
April 15, 2023
Expansions
4
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
1 Hour & 15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
42" x 28"
Low Score
N/A
A New City Layout
Districts are unique, and consist of both major and minor areas. Setup requires some general rules, yet there are plenty of recommended layouts to use in the rulebook.
This time, I went with a different setup to see how it might change up gameplay a bit. Districts may move at any point, so I wasn’t expecting anything to change a lot.
However, this layout certainly felt different. I found some different challenges, which was a nice surprise.
Of course, different starting layouts aren’t designed to add a ton of variety, yet the other elements work together well!
Wheely, Wheely Great
I’ll make all the wheel-related puns I can. Ha ha! This multi-purpose component truly is excellent, though.
It almost makes me wonder why something like this isn’t utilized more. Straight scoring tracks often take up more space and don’t always provide as much information.
This is also a sturdy wheel: Although 2 tracks rotate, the pointers are tightly fit in there. No spinner wheels!
Some of the graphic design might look somewhat busy, yet it’s possible to explain a large part of gameplay just by what’s shown on this wheel. Very neat, indeed!
In the Central Square
Although not always in the exact center of the play area, the Central Square is where a lot of action can happen.
It can raise discontent for the heroes, which is useful for bringing more famous citizens into the fray. However, this can be a double-edged sword for the machine…
Lex Hecate showed up, randomly I might add but still in the exact wrong spot. Rather than raise discontent, she moved the machine closer to advancing the plot.
This is just one example of the careful planning that goes into playing through the solo mode. Most excellent!
Too Contented?
While it might seem beneficial to take other district actions, the simplest option in most minor districts is to simply raise discontent. It’s small, but very important.
I utterly neglected it with new characters and a higher difficulty level. This was a crucial mistake entirely of my own doing. No one saw what was going on!
Indeed, there are 5 types of useful famous citizens, and this position only activated the lowest 2 levels.
It definitely wasn’t enough to cause riots over the machine captors, and although close, this play resulted in a loss.
Losing by a Small Margin Even with Mistakes
Perhaps I haven’t played the game enough to make any sweeping generalizations, but it feels quite balanced. Even during my rather horrible losses, it’s never gotten out of control. Likewise, it’s not like early mistakes have caused me to waste over an hour on a guaranteed defeat. Just the opposite: Every play seems to come down to the last few turns.
My victories have been well-fought for, though. It feels like a close loss is the standard, and I have to be better in order to pull off the win. It’s not about the perfect sequence of events. Too much randomness and variety for that! It’s more about assessing the situation and understanding how all of the aspects are interconnected.
Some solo games are rather punishing at first, leading to immediate losses for the slightest mistakes. But in this case, mistakes are almost encouraged to piece together the strategy behind the puzzle. There is a lot going on here, and the design is simply excellent! I may not win all the time, yet I’m constantly learning and having a great time doing so.
A Trio of Trouble
Phantasmer, Judgementor, and Lex Hecate are present in every solo play. Too repetitive? I haven’t found it to be the case. They share a movement deck with random cards.
It’s also useful to understand how each one operates. There is an action order and a special detainment power.
This feels like the right balance for the solo mode. A whole bunch of random servants would make the overhead too much, and it would be hard to figure out the “worst” one.
I say that in an abstract way because the “worst” of the trio differs for each character and stage of the game.
Underutilized Ability
Mateusz was a new character I had in my own trio, and I completely abandoned him! His special ability was all about attacking guards, which I rarely did.
Note that guards are literal machines, and attacking them involves breaking them. This isn’t a game about death.
I wondered if this was a slightly underpowered ability, since Mateusz still used up an action. He simply had a chance to save his trust, or the game’s currency.
The heroes all offer different strategies of their own, and I was having a great time seeing them interact!
City of Light
As I reset to play again, there was some literal hope… Some sunlight cascaded over the play area and seemed to indicate that this might be a successful victory!
Olga started off in the Central Square, and she could ignore guards during her first movement. This helped her hold onto more trust, which was very useful.
I learned my lesson with the servants, though… Staying in the same district can be very risky for any hero.
Even traveling to a district a hero recently was in could be disastrous and lead to detainment. Lots of choices!
Master of Shadows
Phantasmer looked like he was hiding from the long shadows… I was fine with that, since he was a servant that no one wanted to cross paths with at any time!
I still had some trouble telling some of the miniatures apart, but luckily, the servants are a darker shade of grey.
The trouble with a lot of the main districts was the lack of famous citizens. It was far too risky to bring about riots, which was another nice thematic touch.
When Phantasmer broke down a few times, that was the moment when the heroes could stick to the shadows!
The Doctor’s Riot
Mustafa began the game in the Velvet District, and he returned to it near the end. He was excellent at identifying and moving around famous citizens to prepare.
With a single guard already broken, he succeeded in bringing about a small but useful riot! After all, the win condition is to complete 3 riots.
I still need to get a little better at taking risks with face-down citizens… I just always manage to get the traitors!
And again, no death here: Riots are meant to break mechanized guards and showcase the machine’s power.
Mission Complete
I also played with a different mission set this time, which changed things drastically! This creates a set of 3 connected objectives that must be completed to start riots.
There aren’t that many missions included for solo, but each changes the tone of the game a little bit. A small storyline takes center stage, too, adding a mini-narrative.
I came about as close to defeat as I could have… Just barely managing to start 2 riots during a single round!
Had it gone another round, it was all but guaranteed that the machine would win. Very close, and very satisfying!
Session Overview
Play Number: 3 and 4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Easy Difficulty Level
Outcome: 1 Win and 1 Loss
It was close! This second play might have gone a little better had the traitors not decided to congregate in the districts that would have been easy to start riots in… Well, I suppose they lived up to their name. Ha ha! They actually blocked a riot at one point, which was most distressing. Yet I was able to pull everything together and learn from that blunder. It’s still true: This is a wonderful game!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
6
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- A lot of information is shown by the multi-purpose wheel, and it often helps guide decisions during the round.
- Each hero typically takes a single action, so managing 3 characters in the solo mode requires little extra work.
- There are a lot of optional modules and expansions, yet the base game offers a fantastic and full experience.
- Mixing plastic miniatures and wooden meeples actually works well here to help see the guards very clearly.
- Just the right amount of artwork is present to add plenty of thematic flavor to the game’s atmosphere.
- Mission objectives and city events provide guidance on what to do next to get closer to achieving a victory.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Most elements are easy enough to track, but city events, mission objectives, and directives can get to be a lot.
- The insert is useful in many ways, yet lacks dedicated compartments for specific components to speed up setup.
- Some of the hero miniatures look a little similar, so it can be easy to accidentally move the wrong one.
- The movement of the servants does use some deduction, but the deck is shuffled many times to limit this aspect.
Victory Conditions
Complete 3 Riots
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the novice difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the easy difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game with Breach in the System.
Win at least 1 game with Know Thy Enemy.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about City of the Great Machine? Are there any other solo games that have surprised you lately? I’m enjoying the way this doesn’t punish me for every mistake, even though there is a lot going on! There are many things to keep learning, and it’s all done in a way that’s fun. Although I’m packing it up for now, I shall return to the city!
It’s funny, what you call a wheel, I call a clock. So I originally read your post and went “What wheel? Oh, duh.” I definitely agree that they save space over long tracks. And multi-row tracks can be a hazard because it seems like there are several ways to snake them.
Ha! It does resemble a clock more than a wheel now that I’m looking at again. I should just call it that round thing! The ability to keep nearly everything put is a huge plus with the way I often embody clumsiness at my game table. The red tracker meeple can be knocked over, yet the spaces are so large that it would need to go flying to lose track of where it is. Love the idea of saving table space, and now I want more games with… These round things. Ha ha!
Where can i read how to play solo? i cant find anything on the manuals in the box!
I believe the solo mode is included in the reference guide, although the main rulebook is also needed. This should be located in the base game box, and looks like it’s also on BoardGameGeek. Good luck, and enjoy playing!