Habitats: The Drive to Build a Preserve of Colorful Animals
Create a wildlife preserve filled with all sorts of animals with their own unique terrain requirements in Habitats.
Animal-themed games might seem like they’re everywhere, yet there are plenty in my collection that have gone unplayed for far too long! Habitats arrived not so recently, late last year. Excited by the colorful box and the prospect of placing tiles to provide homes for animals, I finally brought the solo game to my table to play for the first time!
Game Overview
Game Name: Habitats
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: Corné van Moorsel
Artists: F. Gavril, D. Profiri, and D. Ramsey
Publisher: Allplay
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
A set of tiles provides an area to drive around in, choosing the direction to move in. That tile is then added to the wildlife preserve. Animals have specific requirements for adjacent terrain types, and other items like watchtowers or flowers help provide other ways to enhance the area!
First Play
August 4, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
August 2, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
8
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
83
Game Area
16" x 22"
Low Score
47
Vroom! Vroom!
There are different colored vehicles to use in the main area where tiles may be chosen. A wildlife preserve begins with a single tile that blocks placement anywhere beneath it.
In actuality, this tile explains the game entirely: Take. Drive. Draw. Place. There are some nuances, yet the sequence of play is extremely smooth and easy to follow!
The challenge comes in choosing tiles, figuring out future tiles to choose, and managing to meet tile requirements.
I discovered a much deeper game than I expected, which was awesome. Plus, the animal artwork is great!
Creating a Preserve
My initial play didn’t result in a decent final score, but I was pleasantly surprised by some of the challenging aspects of tile placements. Not at all a walk in the park!
Adjacent tiles can create matching areas of the same terrain, like forest or water. Each animal only scores if its requirements are met, and each one differs a lot.
Special tiles provide other ways to earn victory points, too, so there can be some very interesting decisions to make.
The path of my vehicle through the main area was also interesting: Choosing which way to go was important!
Beautiful & Colorful
To go along with the bright and vibrant colors, the tile draw bag acted as a very nice way to randomize and draw tiles each round. Not too big, either: Just right!
Somehow, I though the solo mode was more complicated or the overall game was going to be too simplistic. Definitely wrong on both counts, thankfully.
There are tons of tiles, too, and I saw a lot of variety across my multiple plays. Very cool to see so many animals.
I also liked how I had to plan ahead a little bit in terms of driving my vehicle around… At a very slow pace. Ha ha!
A Very Watery World
My wildlife preserve looked very different with my next play, sporting a pretty extensive river or lake region!
This happened mostly from the available tiles being heavily focused in the water realm. I tried to add animals nearby who preferred water, which made it worthwhile.
Some animals will never have their requirements met, yet their own terrain type can help fulfill the needs of others.
I had to settle for a little less than excellent when the final tiles didn’t go my way. Part of that was my fault for giving myself sub-par choices, yet I liked having some control.
Mixing Simple Rules and Challenging Gameplay
Although I certainly enjoy some rulebooks that include dozens and dozens of pages for some of the more complex games, there’s something to be said for solo games that can offer an engaging experience with limited rules. Aside from a few nuances and scoring examples, this one boils down to 4 simple words. So cool to experience!
However, at first I thought it might mean that the game would be far too simple. I appreciate lightweight games, but when I see simple rules and simple gameplay, it usually means there will be an end point… Or just a time when I feel like I’m done with the game, usually relatively quickly. But when challenging gameplay comes into the picture, it’s great!
I still classify this as a pretty light sort of game, but choosing and placing tiles are steps with a lot more thought. It also comes down to deciding which animal requirements aren’t going to be met, often based on new tiles that come out as the vehicle moves around. Maybe it isn’t going to be at the top of my favorite games, yet this is certainly very enjoyable.
Unused Components
I picked up the deluxe components for this one with a giant set of wooden animals. The trouble was that they weren’t great substitutes for the cardboard checkmarks.
Each one corresponded to an animal tile, but I had to play a difficult game of trying to match them all up. Separated by terrain type, this still wasn’t an easy task.
My husband and I had a discussion about whose idea it was to buy these… And I think it probably was mine. Ha ha!
Although I don’t recommend them for use this the game, I’ll hang onto them and find a fun use for them elsewhere!
Best Outing Yet
Gameplay moved along at a quick pace, and I found myself eager to continue playing. This was a nice blend of simple mechanics and interesting, meaningful decisions.
The rulebook itself is just 4 pages long! And the solo rules are technically contained on a small tile with scoring tiers on the back. Really easy to get into playing this game.
I managed to make better decisions and complete most requirements in this play, leading to my best score.
However, I was still about 20 points shy of the highest scoring tier. Plenty of room to improve in the future!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Accessory: Habitats: Component Upgrades
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 47, 58, 63, 58 (1 Win & 3 Losses)
I went for some watchtowers that didn’t pan out in my last play, yet I could see my strategy slowly evolving over time. Chances are good that I’ll hit the highest scoring tier at some point! This is such a charming and quick game, though, and I don’t see myself stopping after I hit that threshold. Tile-laying games are very fun for me, and this delivers a great experience with so many lovely animals!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Colorful artwork makes all of the tiles stand out with unique animals that make up the majority of the choices.
- Driving a vehicle to choose tiles is a simple but excellent mechanic that requires a little bit of planning ahead.
- Tiles may be placed anywhere, so it’s hard to run out of good moves with the way scoring opportunities are added.
- Checkmark tokens make it simple to figure out which tiles will score victory points at the end of the game.
- With a quick sequence of play, there is little time needed to get started and play, leading to lots of fun in minutes.
- Tons of variety exists with the tiles so that nothing feels too repetitive, particularly with so many decisions.
– Cons (Negatives)
- It takes practice to understand how to plan ahead with choosing tiles, although it’s hard to remove all choices.
- Visualizing the terrains is a spatial puzzle that can become extra challenging with multiple requirements to meet.
- The round tracker goes from 1 to 10 and works for solo, but it’s easy to lose track and have to recount placed tiles.
- As a note specifically for the upgraded components, they add more confusion and play time than they’re worth.
Victory Conditions
Score 60+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 50 points.
Score at least 60 points.
Score at least 70 points.
Score at least 80 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Habitats? Do you use the upgraded components to mark completed animals? I believe I’ll stick with the checkmarks for this wonderful little game! Funny how I took ages to bring this to my table, yet I’m so glad I did. This one will be sticking around so I can continue to create these lovely little wildlife preserves with animals!
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