Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze

Very Impressive. After about 4 hours of tutorials, campaigns, and game play, I can tell that this game is a keeper. Pros: 1. Very pleasing graphics and sound track. 2. Well designed and highly intuitive user interface. 3. Informative and well thought out Tutorial and Teaching Campaigns. 4. Good single player AI. 5. Easy to use and highly configurable Multi-player lobby. 6. Hot-Seat mode 7. And most important of all: The game itself is very, very good. This is one of those games that quickly grows on you. After my first couple of hours of tutorials and campaigns, I began to appreciate just how well this game is designed. This is not Reiner Knizia's first rodeo, he is a well known and highly respected game designer. And from what I have experienced so far, this game is one of his best. One final thought: I am thoroughly impressed by Dire Wolf Studios. They did a great job with this game both in terms of form and function. It looks good and it runs well.

An excellent board game adaptation. The interface is practical and clear, the tutorial is well done and there is a campaign of 10 matches with various conditions that focus on various aspects of the game. The single player match mode (outside the campaign) has two levels of difficulty. So far, as a beginner who never played it before, the AI for the campaign presents a nice challenge. The game is not too complicated to learn (not a ton of rules) and presents interesting strategic choices and possibilities. (I didn't try the multiplayer yet).

I find this game fascinating. Tigris & Euphrates was one of my favorite board games when I first got into the hobby, and II've come to find out that Yellow & Yangtze is a re-imagining of that game. The Dire Wolf implementation is superb. Great animations, music, and UI. Highly recommended.

I love boardgames, and this game is amazing. I'm also a big fan of Reiner Knizia's games. The implementation is very polished, and the AI is a real challenge. The only negative is that there are no steam notifications to tell when it is your move for online asynchronous play. From experience I know that this is a game killer. For instance, I have three online games started and all have stalled, with no moves in the last day or two. Players have no idea when it is their move, and quickly get tired of logging in to check. The gameplay is absolutely amazing, but unless the developers introduce steam notifications I don't think it is worth the purchase. :-(

Can't rec for solo. Game will ensure bots always magically have enough tiles to win a revolt, and they will gang up against you in a war. Like, you can be stacked with black tiles, and they will have +1.

This is a perfect example of smart game-design. The balance between luck and strategy really feels right here. There's no really bad draws but you have to adapt to what you got and use it to your advantage. It is comparatively engaging as chess but with the big advantages of each game developing vastly differently due to the different draws and that it is suitable for more than 2 players aswell. I'd say it plays in a similar league as "Through the Ages" and is way more fun that "Carcassonne". Main advantage over Through the Ages is, that I haven't mastered it yet to an extend where I can beat the AI. So far I've won the first two campaign-missions but lost agains the easy-AI in 2, 3 and 4-player matches. This means there's a lot to still lean before I can move up the difficulty-levels and eventually beat the highest one consistently. One point of criticism I have though: The rules of the game, boardgame and this alike, state that you cannot see your opponents scores. Now that would be understandable, if there really was no way for you to know. But this isn't the case: Theorethically you could track your opponents' scores, if you pay close enough attention to each of their moves. If you would play it really competatively like chess, and the strategical depth for that is definitely there, you would keep track of your opponents' scores on a notepad.

One of those "minutes to learn, lifetime to master" games that really live up to that description: it's easy and quick to learn, but deceptively deep and incredibly satisfying to master. It's the sort of design that Reiner Knizia is (deservedly) legendary for: in fact, it's a redux of the 90's classic Tigris and Euphrates, with more modern design sensibilities (for better and for worse): hexes instead of squares, and more balanced tiles with colored abilities that make it feel like you're less at the mercy of what tiles you draw. Come for the tile-laying action, stay when you realize that the physical game is out of print and will run you $200.

Strong "Yes" recommendation. 1-4 players. I've played a bunch of games solo and 2 online. The game is great; levels of complexity in strategy without being difficult to play. Once of my favorite game categories is "deceptively simple". :-) I've never played the board game, but this port seems authentic and there haven't been any glitches so far. I can't comment on the AI since I'm new to the game, but I didn't see anything dumb and it plays quickly and smoothly. Seems like this is the kind of game that feels very different depending on the number of players. I had to open an account and sign into their host site to play the game; very little time actually, but kinda annoying. Truth is in a year or two I'll not even remember that but I'll probably still be playing the game. LoL I also wish that Steam could standardize requirements for UIs. Pressing Esc should open a dialog to quit; pressing Enter should confirm. Having to mouse over to the settings icon and choose from a menu is lame *every time*. On my touch screen laptop, if I try to move a tile from my hand to a hex, it usually doesn't happen the first time, so be prepared to play with a mouse.

Ignore my hours, I mostly play this on IOS. The Steam version works great, no issues for me. It's an okay 2-player game, a blast at 3 or 4. I've never had so much fun getting stabbed in the back after a peasant riot!

This is an excellent very challenging game, I have played Reiner Knizia's Tigris and Euphrates board game, but never tried this newer game, which is a nice improvement over his classic. Dire wolf did a great job on the digital port, the graphics, sound, UI, and AI are all fantastic. Playing against the AI opponents is tough they really put up a good challenge. This is one of the best digital board games I have ever played, up there with Through the Ages, Root, and Race for the Galaxy. If you enjoy board games this one is well worth picking up.

This is an outstanding version of a very good game, which is itself an improvement from a classic board game, Tigris & Euphrates. The app includes a series of tutorials to learn the game. You may also look for the strategic tips given by Dire Wolf Digitial (google them). After that, you'll need time to master the strategy, but the basics of Y&Y are pretty straightforward. Dire Wolf Digital did a great job, as they did with the app for Raiders of the North Sea. I can't wait for their next adaptation of a board game!

This game is like an onion; on the surface it seems simple, but the more you cut into it, the more layers you will find, and you will likely be crying too, because the AI is more than capable of taking a dump on whatever strategy you can come up with.

[h1]Game Review from 30 Minutes of Play[/h1] Reminding myself if I should revisit and if you should purchase. [b]ELEVATOR PITCH: Can't Afford the $200 Board Game? No Problem![/b] LIKED: One of the best of Reiner Knizia games adapted to digital. Great tutorial, slick graphics, and easy intuitive user interface. DISLIKED: This is making me want to drop money for the physical board game. Help. Me. [b]===== Mood After 30mins =====[/b] ☐ Addicted ☑ Afternoon delight ☐ Grindfest ☐ Frustrated [b]===== Will I Revisit =====[/b] ☑ Yes, I aim to 100% complete ☐ Yes, but only beat the game ☐ Eventually. Until then, back to the pile ☐ No, on to other games [b]===== Price =====[/b] ☐ Full price worthy ☐ Discount ☑ Deep discount ☐ Pass [b]Disclaimer:[/b] [i]I'm aware 30 minutes is not enough time to properly review any game. Historically, I'm a big completionist when it comes to gaming, but my backlog will just not die and adulting obligations continue to mount. I needed to find some sense of accomplishment with my backlog other than buying them at great discount. Dedicating at least 30 minutes of play per game will be my arbitrary sense of achievement. It may not justify my gaming spending habits, but I'll suffer less buyer's remorse. Who knows, in 30 minutes I might discover a great game I want to revisit and something you want to purchase. GGs![/i]

What a fantastic board game! A single-player game against bots plays in about 10 minutes, so it's easy to jump in, and after some 20-30 plays, I'm still exploring the depths of the game. The only thing I would want improved, really, is the touchscreen controls. Zooming out to see the whole board is impossible via the onscreen interface (the mousewheel is the main way i've seen to do it, and multi-touch controls don't seem to do anything), and touch-and-dragging tiles only occasionally works properly (for some reason, there's a bug where the tiles move with your finger, but can't be placed onto the board), and some way to speed up the animations a bit. Mouse controls work great, though

A board game of subtlety and skill from a legendary game designer, beautifully implemented in electronic form. We need more people to know about this best-kept secret, so there will be more people to play against in the cross-platform multiplayer format.

This and Root (also by Dire Wolf Digital) are the best digital implementations of strategy board games I have seen. But I can get this one "to the table" far more than Root because it plays in under an hour at all player counts. The UI is a joy to interact with. The tutorial is excellent. The AI is good for learning, then try to get some friends to join you online. The game is outstanding at all player counts (but more people is better). The rules are extremely elegant, almost like an abstract game. But the games have, to me, the most amazing emergent narratives. I am still thinking about my last turn in my last game, when my gold leader marched an army across a river and attacked a kingdom in the south. I am still wondering if that was the right move. I have had some of my best experiences in gaming with my friends on this app.

One of the best digital adaptations of a board game I've ever played. And, Yellow and Yangtze is an amazingly good game from the celebrated German designer, Reiner Knizia, whose corpus of work is in excess of 700 games. This is a war game, easy to pick up but hard to master. It's a tense battle throughout and the included campaign is good at teaching the game as well as the tutorials. The AI is competent, although eventually you will gain enough skill to need human opponents. Very well done and worth the money.

Amazing adaptation, only gripe with it is that it isn't Tigris and Euphrates... but that's not the game's fault. I'd buy the hell out of a digital T&E though – if you can get the rights, do it Dire Wolf Games!

Beautiful implementation of a simple, elegant game. Captures the tension of various forms of war: political, economic, military, trade, and farming.

Outstanding adaptation. The AI is solid and the tutorial is pretty good. The game itself is relatively easy to learn, but it took me a few games to get reasonably good at it. Every game has progressed a little differently, which should give it some staying power. I'm looking forward to racking up more hours on this one.

I have Tigrus and Euphrates, and this is a worthy successor. The strategy is complex and multifaceted with many options each turn. Not a game for those who don't like abstract strategy, there is a small element of luck in th draw of the tiles, but this is closer to go than mah johng

I Love this game! Can't recommend it enough. I have Only One issue with this Steam version - No Vertical Sync?? The game suffers from screen tear bad. PLEASE Dire Wolf, can you add a Vertical Sync option (or just do the sync automatically)? Then this will be a spotless digital board game translation! (I'm going to make the same comment on Raiders of the North Sea - outstanding digital board game but with this one issue on the Mac version here - no vertical sync and thus terrible screen tearing. Argh. No problems on the iPad versions - but don't Just do mobile version translated to PC/Mac! Need a few things that are generally standard here, like vertical sync).

Hours of fun. The strategic learning curve is quite steep, but it makes for challenging games. Don't expect any deep strategy hints in the tutorials, but if you watch the AI you'll pick up on them pretty soon.

A awesome Board game turn into the digital version with great performance !! Good tutorial, easy-learning, weight enough strategy. Very recommend it !!

Excellent implementation of excellent game. Great tutorial. Beautiful graphics. Lovely and interesting music. Solid AI. Based on the board game, Y&Y is a highly strategic abstract game that does capture some qualities of empire building, warring, and politics. Once you understand the implications of the scoring system and the few special unit powers, it is intuitive yet very deep. Each move worthy of a ponder. Great at any player count.

This is a great implementation of a great board game. The AI, although I've currently only tried it on Easy, seems to be quite logical and competent.

Challenging game, interesting theme. Player must choose tile placement wisely to optimize point generation, ideally seeking balanced scoring across four categories, while retaining tiles for defence against revolts and wars. Very fun game. I played solo vs AI, which at Easy setting was challenging in two-, three-, and four- player modes. Game resolves in 30-45 minutes. I recommend this highly.

Beautiful implementation of what turns out to be a very fun game. AI is pretty good, but the online play is somewhat lacking (asynchronous play only, and relatively few people available to play with).

An almost flawless* adaptation of the brilliant board game Y&Y is. My favourite abstract game of all-time. *I'm, somehow, unlocking badges that could never be unlocked after the handful of games I've played. For instance: I've received the Emperor badge (win 200 games) after my 5th or so game...

I'm still not sure whether I prefer this or Tigris and Euphrates, but this is a fine implementation of a good game. I just wish the devs could set up a notification system for online play!

They did a really good job getting this game onto PC. Interface, tutorials, rules implementation: It all works very well.

Great job Direwolf. Very nice app, beautifully presented and with a clever game behind it. Campaign was fun, albeit short and I completed it in a few hours. AI is ok, and has beaten me a few times. There are leaderboards but I don’t understand the way they’ve done the ratings. Perhaps a simple ELO system would have been better? I think this one will have legs: * if they make the most out of the single player campaign ideas similar to the way Through the Ages did their single player challenges * if they can really develop the competitive side of the online experience * if there are future options for new maps, variants (like open scoring), and expansions. Now they’ve got the game’s systems designed, I’d love to see a Tigris & Euphrates add on (one of my all time favourites) ! Hint hint :)

Yellow and Yangtze is an updated and slightly more complex take on Reiner Knizia's classic "Tigris and Euphrates" game. There are now more differences between each tile colour, and more differences between the leaders as well. But the core of the experience is the same: play tiles onto the board to form states, and if you have a leader of the matching colour in that state, you get a point in that colour. Play three similarly-coloured tiles adjacent to each other and they transform into a 1-point per turn padoga. If you connect two states they go to war with each other. If you play a leader into a state that already has a leader of that type there is a revolt. Both wars and revolts are handled with a simple (perhaps even simplistic) bidding mechanic. The highest point total wins. ... except that your score is the lowest of your colour coded points. So if you have 20 points in red, blue, and green, but only 1 point in black, your final score is 1. This is a very clever piece of design work, since it incentivizes players to behave strategically, and often means that players are willing to abandon states or leaders because they don't need points of that colour anymore. This is one of the most unique features of T&E/Y&Y, and one of the reasons it is so beloved. Overall this is a decent implementation of the game, with challenging AI and multiplayer options. My only gripes are that there should be a fast animation option to speed up AI turns, and bizarrely, the quit button is not available on the main menu... it is buried in "options" for some reason!

Highly addictive. And a very good conversion of the board game. The AI is hard to beat!

I hadn't ever played the board game. So assuming this is similar, I totally understand why it is such a winner!

Im going to have to rate this as Awful for now.... I think that if you ALREADY know the rules and how to play, it might be great... but the "tutorial" is so awful, and the gameplay itself so obtuse if you don't already know what is going on, that the barrier to entry requires a significant investment of frustration before any fun can be had... This is disappointing because I sense there is something really good, here but the godawful tutorial leaves it out of reach.

A new skin of board game "Tigris & Euphrates". I like it. :-) Wait for a new features (optional in settings) , animations and maps

just got into the game feels pretty good so far, ill update my review as i play more

It's a great game. Wish I didn't suck at it. I think I'm getting worse :D

Solid implementation of an excellent boardgame. Really should have notifications, though.

A very good video game adaptation of Reiner Knizia's Yellow & Yangtze. The AI plays very well even on "normal" difficulty.

I really like it. It scratches my itch for "city building". I haven't encountered any bugs. So, recommend!

very good digital implementation (have only played local, can't speak to online multiplayer yet). the tutorial is actually super well organized and it makes doing other board game tutorials feel clunky.

Very high quality port ! Now we need players !

Cant recommend this game for one simple fact: of the five tiles you can have basicly only one matters: governors! Because those allow you to anhilate enemy governors and take control over certain elements of the typical superstates that emerge after the midgame. All i find myself doing is discarding my hand all the time in favour of searching for governor tiles to start revolts and then after i have succeded the ai basicly does the same and then tries to take back control. That goes on back and forth, all the time. That is basicly the game. And no soldier tiles to destroy governors usually dont matter, because the superstates have themselve so many soldier tiles that they can not be challenged from the outside by building up smaller states. Not within resonable time. A very unbalanced game, mechanicly not thought thorugh well. Also the rules on revolt are not written clearly. Its not governors, but governor tiles that add strength in revolts. Refund.

I've never played the board game, but I have to imagine this is a perfect adaptation. The tutorial moves quickly but tells you everything you need to know. I see no obvious improvements that need to be made to the UI, and the AI seems quite capable. I can't review the multiplayer aspect as I have not tried it. If I were still a physical board game player, this version would definitely have convinced me to pick it up. The need to develop your colors in a balanced way brings a fresh layer of strategy to the territory genre. It's satisfying to uncover new tricks and nuances as you hone your tactics, and the way the game flavors each color's abilities is masterful. I can't think of a strategy board game adaptation on Steam that I'd rate more highly than Y&Y. There are a lot of good ones (and even more bad ones), but this one is basically flawless.

How about a manual that actually teaches how to play this game? And how about a variety of maps as well?

Game crashes when running a AI player against multiple players. Shame, as we really enjoyed this as a couch strategy game.

Great game - very strategic and reminds me of Tigris & Euphrates - but better.

Smooth implementation with a good tutorial intro. Tigris and Euphrates was always tough to grok. This intro made the same system easy to learn.