- Publisher : Pixie Games
- Designer(s) : Gustaf Sundström
- Artist(s) : Giorgos Arniotis, Thomas Girard, Gong Studios, Alifka Hammam
- Players : 1–4
- Playing time : 90 - 120 Min
- Weight BGG : 3.27
What's this?
You lead a mining corporation specializing in extracting resources from the asteroid belt and trading with cargo ships. The goal is to accumulate victory points by building facilities, claiming asteroids, developing research programs, and gaining influence within the A.M.A.C. council.
How do you play?
The game is played in 3 rounds, each divided into 4 phases:
1. Asteroid Belt Phase: Rotation of the rings of the asteroid belt.
2. Production Phase: Players collect resources according to their stations and asteroids.
3. Activation Phase: Players take turns to:
Activate a location with a leader token, activate a station with a worker meeple or pass.
4. End of round and maintenance
The main actions:
➡️ Construction and expansion: Build or improve outposts using resources.
These are cards that you can activate with workers.
➡️ Research: Progress through three research areas, each with permanent abilities
➡️ Interplanetary Trade: Trade resources or credits with an active cargo ship or Choose an available colony project card, either to complete it immediately (by paying its cost) or to commit to completing it later.
➡️ Asteroid Claim: Deploy mining probes on asteroids to earn resources and points.
➡️ Activate an Outpost: Assign a worker (matching the station type) to activate an outpost of your corporation.
At the end of the 3rd round, the player with the most victory points wins.
Is it good?
Ceres offers a classic and effective worker placement game experience. The game offers good strategic depth thanks to several development axes: outposts, colonies, probes, research… This diversity of options pushes players to make choices, guaranteeing great replayability.
Despite its complexity, Ceres remains accessible. One game is generally enough to master the mechanisms, although the iconography, particularly that of the favor tokens, can pose some ergonomic difficulties.
The construction of outposts is undoubtedly the most interesting mechanic. It allows you to create a personalized game engine, thus offering a wide variety of strategies.
The game also requires tight management of workers, a resource common to all players, which requires constant anticipation.
The material is of good quality, the illustrations are neat, even if the thematic immersion is sometimes in the background.
In summary, Ceres is a solid game that will please fans of euro games. Its well-honed gameplay and numerous development possibilities make it an essential title for those looking for a strategic and deep game.
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Review Ceres
Accessible despite its richness, it offers a fluid experience for fans of euro games with great replayability and quality material.
Positives
- Effective mechanics
- Balanced between accessibility and complexity
- Creating your engine with outpost cards
- The timing to have for shared workers
- A great replay value
Negatives
- Ergonomics could be improved
- Perhaps a little too classic
