Robinson Crusoe: The Cursed Island Review: The Most Immersive and Harsh Cooperative Survival Experience
You become a survivor stranded on a deserted island and must work together with your friends to overcome various challenges and survive.
No other board game is as thematic and immersive as this one.
Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island is a masterpiece that offers an unforgettable, epic survival experience.
In this article, we will thoroughly explain the appeal of this game, things to be aware of, and who it is recommended for, based on actual player reviews and detailed analysis.
Game Basics
This is a cooperative survival board game for 1-4 players, with a play time of 60-120 minutes, and is recommended for ages 14 and up .
In Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island, players are stranded on a deserted island and must survive for several weeks, pursuing different victory conditions for each scenario.
The core mechanic of the game is choosing an action and rolling the dice to determine success.
Each player has two action tokens.
Performing an action with one token requires a die roll, but using two automatically results in a success.
Collect resource tokens such as wood, fur, food, and preserved foods through basic actions such as exploring, building, gathering, and hunting.
You'll aim to achieve your goals while crafting shelters and weapons.
It comes with seven different scenarios, each offering new, more challenging and interesting ways to play.
Each scenario has an independent story and various goals, such as "collect wood and call for rescue by campfire" or "treasure hunt in the volcano."
The allure of Robinson Crusoe: a unique and epic survival experience
The greatest appeal of this game is its exquisite balance of overwhelming theme and strategy.
Overwhelming theme and immersive experience
Many reviewers have praised the game for having one of the most amazing themes they've ever come across.
You and your friends explore the island, one of you finds a river and solves the food problem, while another discovers a source of wood.
You can experience it as if you were in a movie or novel.
As the weeks go by, instead of just building the shelter, you develop the roof and walls separately and fill the shelter with the tools you have made.
A basket, a sling, a belt – each one a small, moving, human victory against the darkest night.
Unpredictable and suspenseful
The board creates situations where something is moving around in the bushes in the distance, a potentially terrifying danger at any moment.
The best part is the stack of "Adventure" cards, which are so inappropriately named that I'm laughing as I type.
In actual play, you might roll a question mark icon while trying to build something like a bag or brick in your shelter, and end up drawing a "Poor Construction" card.
You realize that the shelter is actually quite unstable.
The group then has two options.
- First: Take the time to reinforce your shelter (you don't have time for that).
- Second: If you ignore a card, it will be shuffled into your Event Deck, which you may draw each turn.
This means that at every turn, there is a chance that your poorly constructed shelter could collapse.
Perhaps during a snowstorm.
A perfect balance between strategy and collaboration
A system that forces players to plan their actions as a team before actually executing them requires deep strategic thinking and cooperation.
Each player can take up to two actions, choosing from exploration, construction, gathering, and hunting, and must debate the best choice given their limited resources.
There are frequent situations where players must discuss and think about "what to create and in what order," and the decision-making of the entire team determines victory or defeat.
Concerns and solutions
The main challenges are the high learning costs and difficulty, but these can be overcome with appropriate measures.
High learning costs
The biggest challenge is the first edition, which was plagued by a confusing and hard-to-understand rulebook.
However, in 2016, publisher Portal Games wisely updated the game with a second edition, promising a clearer rulebook and improved components.
The rulebook has been overhauled by Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules, who compiled the 40 page rulebook after several years of rules questions and has made significant improvements.
Countermeasure: At first, you should assume that the game will end and prioritize understanding the rules while reading the instructions.
It's true that the game takes some time to get used to, but the second time around it becomes much smoother as the board is very well designed to guide you through the game and remind you of the most important things.
High difficulty
It's a difficult game to win.
The tough part of this game is that you have to be prepared to lose, and sometimes you'll lose badly.
The weather dice in particular can be particularly devastating.
Even if you think you've optimized your next round, one bad roll can ruin all your careful planning.
Solution: The key is to learn to accept the challenge and then you will be less frustrated and be able to laugh no matter what happens.
The second time, you will need to learn from your mistakes and improve your strategy, such as actively hunting and exploring to gather food.
Long playtime
The first time I played, it took me over four hours, including learning the rules.
The second time I played, I had a basic understanding of the rules, so I was able to complete the game in two and a half hours.
Solution: You can save time by preparing in advance, such as trying out at least a partial solo game before the game to get a feel for it, and then bringing it to game night.
Recommended for these people and occasions
Highly recommended for heavy gamers and theme-conscious players.
Heavy gamers and those who like cooperative games
This is recommended for people who have played a variety of board games and want to play a more challenging game.
If you wouldn't call yourself an avid board gamer, some experience is assumed, so I wouldn't recommend picking up this game, lest you make the same mistake before you're ready.
Solo Player
On BGG, many people rate it as "best solo," and it is said to work very well as a solo game.
This is perfect for those who want to enjoy an epic survival drama while carefully planning their strategy on their own.
Theme-focused players
It's one of the most thematic games of all time.
The actions, rules, components, and gameplay all make sense and incorporate the theme well, making this a solid choice for those who value immersion.
Recommended playing environment
Two Players: This is a great game for two players.
If you're looking for an incredibly challenging, thematic cooperative game with this number of players, you won't find anything better.
Two-player games usually use the additional character Friday, which gives you an extra player pawn, and provides a suitable difficulty adjustment.
4-player: Full player cooperation allows for more diverse strategy and role-playing.
However, it's important to note that Robinson not only doesn't solve the fundamental problem of cooperative games - the bossy player telling everyone else what to do - it actively exacerbates it.
What you can expect: Great game flow.
You start with almost nothing: a single island tile, a few resources, and a few ideas.
But as the game progresses, your group of castaways will also have a growing sense of accomplishment and some very funny, unique and memorable moments, if you're willing to participate in the storytelling.
If you have the mindset to enjoy the game even when you fail, and have enough time, you will never get bored of playing this game, even if you play it for the rest of your life.
Why not share your harsh desert island survival experience with your friends and create an unforgettable adventure story?
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