Slowly Finding the Lure of the Valley in Earthborne Rangers
Set out to explore the natural world and experience an unfolding storyline in the beautiful setting of Earthborne Rangers.
Solo campaign games have certainly been working out for me lately, although I often get antsy to the point that I move on. When Earthborne Rangers arrived, I was quite excited! Yet there was still a little hesitation. With the last of my holiday vacation, I decided to dive in to see what I might discover in this ambitious and charming new arrival!
Spoiler Alert
This is a game where discoveries and surprises are the focal point. I’ve done my best to avoid any campaign-specific spoilers throughout this post, but note that there are some glimpses into cards that may or may not be mission rewards. The majority is still very vague to explain the game system in general, but just be aware of minor spoilers.
Game Overview
Game Name: Earthborne Rangers
Publication Year: 2023
Designers: Many (5 Credited)
Artists: Joe Banner & Evan Simonet
Publisher: Earthborne Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
This sprawling adventure is very much about stopping to appreciate the sights. Predators and hazards call for clever ways to progress past them, with combat not actually being an element of play. An initial campaign introduces the Valley and all of the unique things that lurk within it…
First Play
December 28, 2023
Complexity
3
Latest Play
January 6, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
26
Play Time
40 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
28" x 22"
Low Score
N/A
Heartfelt Sentiments
The rulebook opens with a section about the inspiration for the game, and it’s peppered with lovely statements.
First of all, this is not a solo game to pick up on a whim. It’s all about exploring, meandering, filling in the blanks to tell a story, and stopping to smell the roses… Mostly!
I took hours reading through the rules, realizing there were key points missing, and then looking up everything else. Also, by all means, please don’t overlook the errata.
What kept me engaged was the promise of this lovely open world where I could appreciate the pastoral scenery.
Character Creation
My most important tip: Ignore playing through the prologue! This is recommended to create a character, but the gameplay elements simply break the rules.
Effectively, the prologue teaches the opposite of the actual rules in many cases. This was extremely confusing for me as I learned, then unlearned, a whole lot of concepts.
The prologue is nice to read through for the flavor text sections, though. In the end, I had an exciting character.
My undaunted seeker had her own personality traits, mainly tied into being distracted by everything. Ha ha!
A Reasonable Play Area
Even after exploring for hours upon hours, I haven’t seen the play area expand by that much. It remains fairly tidy with everything close by and easy to read. Beautiful!
The first mission is designed to be the tutorial, and it almost succeeded for me. I had the rules down at last and could start interacting with the world even more.
Yet I’ll leave another recommendation here: If you fail to complete this mission before day’s end, pretend you did.
I wasted some time trying to follow the rules about resetting, but this only served to add lots of frustration.
Finally Seeing It All
Let me be brutally honest: Those first few in-game days were rather terrible for me. Between struggling through the confusing rulebook and plethora of errors, I was tired.
The world didn’t really come together, either. I was placing tokens, struggling to find the right cards in the path deck, and feeling lost about my purpose.
But it all changed with a villager. Sil Belai gave me my first sense of the awesome scope and beauty of the game.
On a sunny day, she painted a masterpiece to the sounds of meadowlarks as the Tenebrae ominously floated by…
Exploring the Initial Campaign Arc and World
I’ll explain in more detail shortly, but this was the amazing moment when I started to enjoy the game! To step back, it probably required around 7-8 hours for me to really start to get into it… And that’s going to be a big commitment for anyone new to the game. I flipped back and forth about whether it was decent or really bad with my initial plays.
Parts of those first few days were spent looking up rules or realizing that I had to read an updated paragraph in the campaign guide, because the errors are game-breaking. Everything started to feel a little monotonous and I didn’t see how I was supposed to build a story out of a world that had a poorly structured rulebook. Little by little, I got better.
My encounter with Sil Belai took me on a side mission for her to paint. It seemed random, yet that journey took me into a new area where the campaign guide flavor text brought the world to life. I could almost hear the wind rushing through my ears; the meadowlarks crying out in alarm; the Tenebrae screaming in near silence overhead; the leaves rustling.
And Sil was comfortable in this world, quietly painting and preparng to share a gift with me. In my campaign, I have a lasting memory of this encounter. Another thing that helped was how I finally got the rules down, allowing me to stay immersed in the world. It still took about a week of in-game time to find the joy, yet there it was in all its glory!
The Coolest Moments
Another part of gameplay was figuring out how to use my deck. If I camped out for the day, I had a chance to swap in rewards to improve it. Yet what of the initial cards?
I could almost see the synergies, but it took me a little while before I found the neatest combination ever!
Many of my cards relied on the flora keyword… But there was no flora in the area. Oh, but there could be!
With some carefully placed spores, a warning tap on the Atrox sent vines bursting forth with flowers. I harvested these, felt less fatigued, then vaulted onward. So cool!
Traversing the Valley
It was awesome to have the map nearby, which provided a full look at the Valley. Traveling between locations involved different terrain decks, which I got to know.
One my early frustrating days happened when I was on Mount Nim. Something happened in the world that demanded immediate attention, and I heeded the call!
Except I spent the entire day getting injured trying to get off the mountain. It was kind of hilarious… No progress.
But then timed elements started coming into play all over the Valley, and I didn’t feel like I was wandering aimlessly.
Changing Weather
It might not seem like a major element, but the weather is the main difficulty modifier. The campaign provides a recommended setup, yet this is simple to adjust as needed.
Tests make up the majority of gameplay, and these cards are easy to predict: The worst one involves a -2 value.
Ah, but don’t forget the challenge icon! The rest of the cards can interact to help or hinder progress.
I had one situation where a pair of predators ended up fighting with each other, then tumbled through some thorns to run away. Most excellent for me to waltz on by!
Improving a Deck
Completing various missions gave me some new rewards that I swapped into my deck, although I didn’t find that these took away from my main focus. Or lack thereof…
As you may recall, my character has the lowest focus value available. Ha ha! So I’ve leaned into many other sorts of tests, typically in the awareness or fitness department.
I wouldn’t say that the deck-building process is that involved, as rewards are typically just better overall.
However, it’s not about maximizing elements here… Rather, it’s about tying in memorable experiences.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-14
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Prologue & Days 1-13
Outcome: Campaign Incomplete (14 Wins)
I wouldn’t necessarily consider each day a win, as this is very much about the experience without any losses. Don’t look too closely here if you want to avoid spoilers, but this is a general idea of how much content I saw at this point. Does the campaign end on the 30th day? No idea! So it’s hard to gauge where I am, although I’m having a lot of fun with what this has offered so far. Such a lovely concept!
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
7
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork is amazing, often incorporating technology from the natural world in a very neat setting.
- There is a lot to discover about the Valley through exploration, often by timing arrivals or being in the right places.
- Earning rewards to augment the deck is less about making the perfect build than holding onto early experiences.
- With a small path deck for most locations, there is still a very high level of variety in how each day progresses.
- Finding out how to use all of the cards in a deck is awesome, particularly when unexpected outcomes pop up.
- Once the rules are understood, gameplay moves along quickly and allows the focus to be on the storyline.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rulebook is missing important sections, while the campaign guide has several major errors to remember.
- Although eco-friendly is excellent to support, the cards are noticeably thinner and prone to chipping or warping.
- Quickly traveling through multiple locations takes a lot of time to construct and deconstruct the path deck.
- Gameplay is hard to enjoy with a less-than-stellar prologue and starting mission that don’t showcase the fun.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Day
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete The Lure of the Valley campaign.
Continue the Conversation
How far have you made it in Earthborne Rangers? Are there any exciting moments that stood out during your campaign? I’m still working my way through the experience and look forward to sharing my final thoughts when I’m done! Despite the rough introduction, I simply couldn’t stop playing to find out what else was out there. Awesome!
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