Climbing Oak and Working Through a Tangle of Icons
Build up a druidic order and climb along the branches of an ancient tree to become the most renowned order in Oak.
I set aside my older unplayed games for a little bit, eager to dig into some new arrivals! Oak was among those, and its very unique theme seemed to call to me. It featured awesome meeples and the ability to upgrade them by adding wearable elements. I still approached it cautiously, yet I happily dug into the box to see what was waiting inside!
Game Overview
Game Name: Oak
Publication Year: 2022
Designer: Wim Goossens
Artist: Maciej Janik
Publisher: Game Brewer
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Over the course of play, druids can move through the branches to gain bonuses and victory points. Yet there are shrines, creatures, artifacts, and potions with different actions and strategies to focus on as the druids work to become the most well-known in the community.
First Play
November 24, 2022
Complexity
3
Latest Play
November 24, 2022
Expansions
0
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
1 Hour & 15 Minutes
High Score
65
Game Area
38" x 34"
Low Score
53
A Gigantic Play Area
I love beautiful art and a massive table presence, but there was a lot of empty space on this gorgeous board. Plus, I had to stand up to reach the top of the score track. Oh, my!
For solo, this simply felt way too big. I loved it, yet the icons were also pretty small from so far away. I’ll get into that in a little bit… This had a lot of iconography.
Despite my immediate issues, I could see an interesting game present within the rulebook. Time to check it out!
Note that my first impressions aren’t meant to be overly negative: Just what I was struck by as I set this one up.
Icons for the Ages
Language independence looks like it was the main concern with the components. This close-up is only part of the reference on the back of the rulebook.
The trouble was that there were so many combinations. Not all of them were intuitive, and there were another 4-6 pages just to explain what every component did.
Although helpful, I ended up spending a good part of my plays flipping around the rulebook to look up the icons.
Iconography can be great, but this was another element that didn’t seem to be implemented in the best way.
At the Potion Station
Onto more positives, though! Setup randomizes many elements, leading to a lot of unique combinations. There were 5 of each potion tier, for instance.
A potion brewing action required some ingredients to take advantage of special actions. These had to do with recharging artifacts, moving on the tree, and creatures.
There was a lot of variability present here, yet the artifacts and creature cards also played into different strategies.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do, of course! But I was hoping to discover a good game beneath the icons.
Iconography: A Sometimes Hidden Language
In the best case, special iconography serves as a sort of internal language for a game. It should be simple to interpret after learning it during the first few plays. There are lots of excellent examples out there, but there is a major pitfall that I saw with this game… The icons weren’t intuitive after learning them. They didn’t provide enough details.
Reference cards or pages are excellent to look up quick information about some icons. Yet I found myself looking up every card or component when I wanted to use it. Take a look at the potions shown above. I still had to pause about a couple of icons even after playing with some potions multiple times. Confusion was the overall feeling, unfortunately.
There is a good game here that might have been even better with improved iconography. Is it really that important?! To me, it is. When I play this again down the line, I’ll know that I need a rules refresher and another dive through all of the icons. They’re not memorable enough to memorize, and there are simply so many of them in different combinations!
Maybe it’s another personal issue I have with processing the information. Yet I’ve played many heavier games that rely on iconography, and I haven’t struggled that much. There’s a trade-off when making a game language-independent. Sometimes, text truly is needed to ensure that the full information is conveyed in a quick, easy-to-understand format.
Druidic Order Home
Alas, the player boards posed another odd issue: They were dual-layered to track the resources, but the layers weren’t glued together. It felt very odd with the flaps.
From what I understand, the reason not to use glue was to avoid warping. Yet this player board warped on its own by the time I finished this session. So… Why not glue them?
Granted, I liked the resource trackers and the way extra slots had to be unlocked. Some neat mechanics there!
Plus, these standard druids looked like they were ready to get started and maybe pick up an item along the way!
Utilizing Moot Cards
I started off with a trio of moot cards, which defined the sorts of actions I could use. These had varying costs, and corresponded to a specific space at the temples.
Alternatively, I could use the final action to move a druid along a branch, getting closer to lucrative victory points.
It didn’t take too long to get used to, yet this should be a good example of how difficult it was to parse the actions. The red text for costs was also really hard to read.
Still, my first few turns felt compelling and I saw some interesting strategies developing. This could be good!
Friendly Allies
Creatures came in all forms, and I managed to befriend a couple of them for a few bonuses. Mistletoe could be a wild, and I picked up some extra during my income phase.
With 35 unique creature cards, though, this was a very unknown element. Some of them synergized, but it wasn’t a good idea to expect them to come together.
My bard granted me an additional area so I didn’t have to pay to open up another slot, which was pretty nice!
This pairing was very useful, although buying new slots was pricey for cards that might not work together.
Awesome Upgrades
I though the wearable meeple upgrades were going to be a little too much of a gimmick, yet they were excellent!
Each gently snapped or clicked in place, ranging from these birds to things like a vest, cape, or bag. Druids could only be upgraded once, and there were different abilities.
This elder druid could go to the same space as another druid without having to pay the extra cost. Sharing spaces normally required an extra druid, so this was excellent!
I also found it easy to spot my upgraded druids from afar. The decisions were a lot of fun, and added more strategies.
Digging Into Artifacts
The various artifacts offered special action spaces, yet these came at a cost. A used artifact had to be rotated, which resulted in more and more negative victory points.
But I could decide when to use them, and there were plenty of times to move ahead. I completely used up my first artifact as I brewed potions left and right.
As with creature cards, artifacts were limited and only worked together sometimes. At least these did!
The strategy had to do with identifying which elements could synergize, and how to make the most of them.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Order of the Bee
Outcome: 53-52 and 65-59 (2 Wins)
Success! It all came down to the very end, when both the solo opponent and myself had a chance to brew a potion for extra victory points. My completed branches also yielded scoring opportunities at the right times. Very nice! I enjoyed my plays, although without a difficulty level modifier, it’s hard to expect to play again soon. Still, I had a nice time despite some of my initial trepidations!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
4
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
6
Quality
Components & Rules
7
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Gameplay involves many different decisions about what actions to take, and the strategies are often compelling.
- There is a lot of variety in the components, and each play can feature very different combinations at the start.
- The solo opponent mainly serves to block spaces, yet there is also an interesting competition for victory points.
- All of the druid meeples are excellent and the upgrades fit on them very nicely to create elder druids.
- Unlocking extra spaces and using artifacts often open up special bonuses that can be fun to experiment with.
- Despite there being a single difficulty level, scoring can be very close to come down to the very last action.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The iconography is extensive and requires constantly checking the rulebook to find out what a card means.
- Although there is an included insert, assembly takes ages and components are mixed together in very deep wells.
- Such an enormous board makes it difficult to reach across the table in solo, and some elements are hard to see.
- Luck plays a role in determining how well the randomized components will work together during a play.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 60 points.
Win at least 1 game as the Order of the Bee.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Oak? I know I started off with a lot of hesitations, yet it was nice to find a good game hiding underneath! Are there any other recent solo games that have surprised you in a positive way? I hope to find a way to increase the difficulty level at some point so I can come back for an exciting challenge against the solo opponent!
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