A World of Desert Wonders in Keystone: North America
Solve individual puzzles in a nature-based campaign to see all the beautiful inhabitants in Keystone: North America.
Sometimes, having a structured set of scenarios through a solo campaign of some sort can be excellent. I was enjoying Keystone: North America, and looked forward to doing a bit of traveling with the next few assignments! The simple rules were about to get more complicated with special conditions and restrictions. I was prepared for it all! Mostly…
Game Overview
Game Name: Keystone: North America
Publication Year: 2022
Designers: Jeffrey Joyce and Isaac Vega
Artists: Irem Erbilir, Alyssa Menold, and Yan Tamba
Publisher: Rose Gauntlet Entertainment
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
A 4×4 grid forms the main play area, where different animals and plants are placed. Matching habitats form ecosystems, which only score for consecutive numbered cards like 1-2-3-4. A series of 20 solo assignments create puzzles to work through, along with sealed envelopes!
First Play
August 24, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
December 13, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
22
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
174
Game Area
26" x 26"
Low Score
50
Sealed Envelopes
Oh, exciting! As I moved into assignment 3, I had the chance to open up my first new content. I’m not always one to love this mechanic, yet it was a lot of fun here.
Without any spoilers, this first envelope was more about following through the solo assignments than changing up the core game in some monumental way.
To make sure I was properly decked out, I switched out my deluxe player mat for one set in the desert. Beautiful!
I continued to experience the very relaxing nature of the game, but I could see there were lots of challenges ahead.
The Best Animal Cards
Choosing a favorite card would still be impossible! Yet I started to notice some of the animal cards I loved.
Although not on all, a lot of the cards included the cutest little baby animals. Look at these piglets! I might need to make up my own challenge to only choose them. Ha!
This was where the assignments began to feel extra challenging. I had to think. Strategize. Not get distracted…
And that felt just about right. 2 introductory assignments set the foundation. Then, new content and a much more challenging set of rules increased the difficulty.
A Desert of Possibilities
Make no mistake, however: This still remained a generally lightweight and relaxing game. My play time stayed right around 20-25 minutes. Plus, I didn’t struggle too much.
In fact, this final board had the largest possible ecosystems all around the exterior. Lots of victory points!
The assignment narrative helped set the stage as I added more and more cards. Some decisions started to get trickier as I had more conditions to meet before the end.
One thing that never waned was the fun factor. I may have considered more options, but it was all in the name of fun!
Migratory Patterns
Moving into the fourth assignment, I saw a lot more possibilities. Actually, this turned out to be much harder to wrap my head around with the special movement rules.
It all felt very thematic, though, as certain birds were tagged and then tracked on their migration north.
This one was a slight struggle, only because it was like I had extra cards to move about freely. At the same time, they always took up spaces and couldn’t get locked in.
Once again, I passed up some awesome animals in order to make sure I could score every row and column. Tricky!
Visualizing the Entire Play Area of Ecosystems
As much as I loved the illustrated player mats with my deluxe edition, I found that I got a little distracted with these special assignments. When the setup called for specific cards, they seemed to blend into the background. Luckily, the other side of these mats feature a much simpler back that I might have to try out at some point. Choices for all!
My issue wasn’t so much in finding the specific icons, but visualizing where I could place cards. At a glance, I really only saw the birds on the far left pictured above. That’s not to say I won’t be using these illustrated sides again. It’s just something I learned along the way! Maybe my mind likes to hone in on simpler elements these days.
What I found that helped was to look at the borders. That’s been part of my strategy, actually: Maximizing the top and bottom rows, plus the far left and far right columns. Everything in the middle can still help, but being able to complete that perimeter can make a huge difference. I’m just waiting for that plan to go right to pieces. It happens! Ha ha!
Barely Succeeding
I kept playing through each assignment twice to enjoy the scope. It was during my second play that I got my lowest score yet. Such a struggle to get the cards to work.
The migrating birds added another layer, in that I needed them to migrate to certain spots. They might stay there, but most needed to move elsewhere before the end.
It definitely didn’t go according to plan! I think I crossed things up and assumed a certain bird would go in 2 spots.
But it all worked out! I found other ways to score victory points. It was my closest play to-date. I made it, though!
Into the Desert
These assignments all focused on desert ecosystems. I thought the narrative might have moved me on, but I realized how most nature games aren’t about deserts.
So when the fifth assignment rolled around and remained in these familiar plateaus, I was quite excited about it!
And as usual, during setup, I got a little lost in the artwork of the deluxe player mat. There were so many little details!
I took my time. There were a lot of special rules, mainly tied to using the action tiles. So I tried to make do with most of the animal cards as much as possible.
Session Overview
Play Number: 5-10
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Assignments 3-5
Outcome: 126, 115, 113, 79, 92, 113 (6 Wins)
My wildlife skills continued to shine! I had a lot of requirements to meet, though. It wasn’t easy trying to build the best ecosystems when I often needed other cards. This slow increase in complexity and difficulty felt very natural: I wasn’t left confused, as I was building on the strategies from earlier assignments. Again, I loved what I saw and enjoyed every different puzzle!
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- The iconography is easy to see after a few plays and always remains prominently in view on every card.
- Challenges ramp up after a few assignments, yet the overall game experience remains quite relaxing and lovely.
- Bright and colorful artwork make for an awesome table presence without spreading out beyond the main area.
- Although there are a lot of steps to scoring, these flow pretty quickly and are generally very intuitive.
- Different assignments introduce sealed envelopes and special rules to create unique puzzles that are a lot of fun.
- Action tiles provide other ways to manipulate various elements and find ways to earn more victory points.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Sometimes, the cards that come out don’t work with the current goals, so it becomes a game of discarding a lot.
- The double-sided synergy tokens can be tricky to deal with, since accidentally flipping them affects the total.
- Although gorgeous, the illustrated sides of the deluxe player mats can blend in too much to hide empty spaces.
- Various cards can be a lot more valuable in most situations, making those the very obvious choices at times.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Assignment
- Overall Goal Progress 88%
Goals and Milestones
Complete Assignment 1.
Complete Assignment 2.
Complete Assignment 3.
Complete Assignment 4.
Complete Assignment 5.
Complete Assignment 6.
Complete Assignment 7.
Complete Assignment 8.
Continue the Conversation
What are some of your favorite things about Keystone: North America? I remain adamant on not being able to pick the best card in the deck. Ha ha! Have you played any other campaign-based solo games recently? This one continues to be a delight, although I have plenty of other games waiting for me. When I want another walk through nature, here it is!
Your continued coverage of this game has got me intrigued. Plus the wildlife theme makes me think I could convince my partner to play it.
I couldn’t find many copies online so I’m going to see if my local games supplier will be ordering it.
My favourite solo campaign game of recent times has been Hadrian’s Wall. Really enjoyed how the campaign has opened up the gameplay and forced me to look into different strategies.
I hope you can find a copy out there, Oli! The deluxe edition has some nice component upgrades, but the retail edition includes everything needed for play. It’s been interesting to see some opinions on the multiplayer game. Definitely think the solo campaign is where it shines, although it can be played cooperatively!
I don’t currently own that one… But may very well need to keep taking a closer look at it. Sounds really intriguing, and I love the artwork!