Review: Sacred Valley:: Sacred Valley Review: Not Quite the Harvest I Expected

by canadiankorean

Sometimes, it’s hard to let go of expectations, and that can ruin an impression of a game. Sacred Valley looked like a midweight tile-placement game with some thinky decisions, but it turned out to be lighter than I hoped.

The premise of Sacred Valley is intriguing: cultivating crops on terraces while trying to outmaneuver opponents. Planting seeds moves you up the harvest track, rewarding larger, well-connected fields. However, those fields become shared spaces ripe for the other players or strategic blocking. The actions, planting, harvesting, and purchasing, are simple and quick, but the gameplay sometimes feels repetitive.



One aspect I did enjoy was the technology cube system used to plant crops. The cubes provided a clever layer of resource management, requiring you to plan where and what to expand. Additionally, the upgrade tiles added variety to the gameplay, offering ways to improve your actions. However, I found not all upgrades felt equally rewarding, which could lead to a sense of imbalance during certain games.

In my playthroughs, I felt like I was just going through the motions. While building large fields and timing my harvests felt rewarding at first, the lack of deeper decisions made the game drag. I often found myself focusing on the same strategies, which made it feel stale quickly. Also luck sometimes adds to the frustration as your seeds might not appear for you to purchase The tile placement felt too open especially at 3 players.



While the components and 3D terraces look great, and the game plays quickly, it lacks the complexity I hoped for. It’s a light efficiency game with moments of excitement but little to surprise or challenge experienced players. Not bad, just not memorable for me. It might be a case of the "it's not you, Sacred Valley, it's me."

The Good
Table presence
Quick Gameplay
Accessible for new gamers
Quality components

The Not So Good
Limited strategic depth
Tile placement is too simple
Vines felt weak
Luck is often a factor

This review copy was provided by the publisher
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