Dorfromantik the board game stole our hearts with it's cooperative gameplay and world builder mechanics and now a new version has dropped... Dorfromantik: The Duel. But what's different about it and is it worth getting aswell as or instead of the original?
Firstly, The Duel, is competitive rather than cooperative, so you'll each be designing your own world. Secondly, the game has been designed for 2 players or 2 teams only (unless you buy multiple copies).
First Impressions
I was surprised initially to discover the box for The Duel is slightly larger than the original Dorfromantik, however on reflection, that's logical as you're getting 2 sets of tiles rather than 1! It still has the same look to it and I was impressed to discover that it also included expansion rules for the original Dorfromantik boardgame to give you extra incentive to purchase both versions. The componenents are of the same quality
Game Play Differences
The main difference to the gameplay, besides each player/team creating their own region, is that 1 player plays with their tiles face down and the other face up. The player with the face down tiles will randomly draw one of their tiles (either a landscape or a task) and the other player must then find their corresponding tile before both players then place it into their settlement.
Once you've played a couple of games, there are assignments that you can add in, orders from the local villagers with various requirements for your arrangement that will score you extra points. A variant of this is also included as an expansion for the base game.
Pros and Cons
I love that this is not only a new standalone version of Dorfromatik but also includes an expansion for the original board game and can be combined with multiple copies to make it playable with more players. The competitive variation and additional expansion module add a couple of nice changes to the game without losing the classic gamestyle you've come to expect. Whilst the gameplay truthfully isn't really that different, it was nice to be able to play it competitively.
Final Verdict
Overall, I really enjoyed it, if I was going out to buy 1 or the other, it would most likely boil down to how many players I would most often play at. However, already owning the original board game, this still provides enough of a difference to make it a worthwhile purchase as it provides a different dynamic and a lovely expansion that can be played with both versions.
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