Keystone: North America – Deluxe Kickstarter Edition
Awards
Rating
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Artwork
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Complexity
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Replayability
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Player Interaction
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Component Quality
You Might Like
- The artwork and nature theme
- Set collection mechanics
- Easy to learn but difficult to master gameplay
Might Not Like
- Randomness of the card selection
- Not much player interaction
- Feeling like you run out of options towards the endgame
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Description
In Keystone: North America, you and your friends will take on the role of biologists and work to build an interconnected ecosystem through the careful placement of cards. Use skills, introduce important Keystone animals, and perform wildlife research to maximize your points.
Keystone: North America offers multiple ways to play! Go head-to-head against your friends in multiplayer and see who can build the healthiest ecosystem. Or experience a narrative adventure that will take you on a journey across North America with the Field Journal. This fully illustrated book contains a solo or co-op campaign where you will solve puzzles, learn about amazing animals, and explore the different ecosystems that make up North America.
Deluxe Edition includes:
- Base game
- Alternative Art Playerboards that are foldable
- Beautiful central playmat
- Premium linen print of cards, tokens, & game box
- Custom Plastic Insert
Explore North America’s wildlife in Keystone North America from Rose Gauntlet Entertainment! Up to 4 players take on the role as biologists working to build an interconnected ecosystem through the use of cards. Players take turns placing cards into your grid-like player board and using randomised skill tiles to help you throughout the game.
Collect Them All
Keystone is a game that’s easy to learn and get to the table. Setting up the game requires almost no time at all. Deal out the player boards, deal out the card row, place the action tiles and your ready to go!
The gameplay couldn’t be simpler. On your turn you have 2 options, pick a card from the row and place it on your board or use one of the abilities of the action tiles.
The game ends when you run out of space on your grid to place cards or the time marker hits 0 and then final scoring takes place. You will score based off the ecosystems you have built while also using patterns and symbols on your secret objective cards to get high scores.
More Than Meets The Eye
Despite Keystone being a relatively simple game, don’t be fooled, this is a highly competitive game where cards are taken away before you and your player board fills up fast.
Taking newer cards in the card row will cost you more synergy tokens, as you will need to add one to each card to the right of the selected one in the six card row.
Each card contains symbols indicating which habitats they belong to. When you introduce a new species to your board, you will to link them together either horizontally or vertically in ascending order to get the most points.
Also some cards have endangered species icons which might help with your objectives. Some are classed as Keystone species which let you double the points when scoring your cards.
Wild cards cost a hefty price of synergy tokens but act as any numbered card for a certain habitat helping you bridge the gaps in your chain of cards.
I was surprised by how difficult it was, at least initially too achieve a high score. Keystone requires a keen eye and the ability to adapt to changes as you try to map out out your rows and columns of cards.
Keystone can also be a little bit harsh especially if you make a bad play early on. Sometimes the wrong card or lack of tokens can really set you back plus the huge stack of cards causes another common issue in set collection games; not getting the cards you need.
I occasionally picked a card that i thought would be great only for the next few cards to be revealed to not have the same habitat and so it set me back slightly.
The Beauty Of Nature
Keystone: North America features absolutely stunning production and artwork. The almost photo-realistic drawings on the cards combined with the vibrant seasonal player boards give this game some serious table presence. The gorgeous play mat once rolled out has nice slots for cards and tokens and sets a nice nature scene upon the table.
The games insert is perfectly capable of storing sleeved cards and the great neoprene game mat with plenty of space for tokens and extra content.
The card quality is fairly good however I would recommend sleeving the cards for this game as the constant of shuffling and placing back and forth can cause some gradual wear and tear.
Jumping Into The Wild
You will need to keep an eye on your synergy tokens as-well as what ability tiles are currently in play. These helpful boosts let you gain tokens, move cards around and replace unwanted cards on the card row. You can use one white sided token or as many yellow sided tokens as you want with the additional cost of advancing the time marker.
This is where the real interaction and competitive nature of the game come to life. Being able to intentionally remove cards you know players need or edging the game closer to the finish line can put real pressure on your opponents and provide some great tension.
Do you grab that last card you need for your ecosystem? Or do you manipulate the card row so your opponent can’t get that important card they need?
Walking In The Woods Alone
As a mostly solo board gamer this game was perfect for me! It comes with a journal filled with scenarios, challenges and even secret rewards (which I can’t wait to open more of) and a little narrative adventure that takes you across North America.
Its great for a relaxing yet puzzling game to wind down to. It’s challenging but the 20 scenarios and the unlock-able cards kept me coming back for more each time.
Final Thoughts
Keystone: North America is great blend of set collection and card placement that I found had just enough of both a gateway game for newer players and a deep puzzle game for more experienced ones to keep both happy.
The theme is appealing and accessible and the artwork of the game really help it stand out. Despite this though it doesn’t really push boundaries or introduce anything new to the genre and can be surprisingly tough to get the cards you want especially at higher player counts.
The best thing about this game for me is it actually made me more interested in the animals and plant life presented here and how their ecosystems worked!
Keystone North America solo play has turned my aversion to solo playing board games to an obsession! I am an avid board gamer, but haven’t dabbled into the solo side of board gaming before. Playing the multiplayer version of Keystone North America is intriguing, fun and challenging for those that enjoy some strategy…but solo play is where it really shines!
My first encounter with solo board gaming was with Keystone North America. I’ve been streaming video games for over and year, but I really wanted to start live streaming board games on my channel. I didn’t have the equipment to live stream with other people, so I thought to myself…what if I tried to solo play a board game? It just so happened that Keystone North America was sitting on my table, so I flipped through the solo play instructions…and wow! I’m so glad I did! I set everything up to live stream, played the game and fell in absolutely in love with the solo play!
DELUXE EDITION
If you are lucky enough to get your hands on the deluxe edition – do it! The deluxe edition of Keystone North America includes a neoprene mat with spaces for all the components of the game, while featuring a beautifully printed nature scene. The deluxe edition also includes reversible personal player boards. While one side is the standard plain green, the other side is another beautifully artistic nature scene. Each of the four players boards has a different printed scene.
ARTWORK
I need to give a special shoutout to the artwork of this game. The art style stunning and beautifully detailed. The style feels like something out of a field guide, which makes the theme of the game feel even more genuine and authentic. The game developer also gave credit to their artists on each of the card designs. What a wonderful gesture!
OVERVIEW OF SOLO PLAY
As a Junior Biologist you will take on 20 assignments – each with its own challenges and winning criteria. You begin with the Orientation Day Assignment and spend the next 19 assignments traversing through wildlife areas of North America. From the Mojave Desert to the Everglades and from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone, you will explore North American wildlife in such a delightful and intriguing way.
To solo play Keystone North America, you’ll need to pull out the Field Journal included in the game and read the welcome letter from Professor Howell. From there, each assignment is numbered and includes a personal written entry with various drawings and sketches to help set the scene for your assignment. Next, you’ll check for the unique set up conditions for your player board, including what skills are available and what secret objective you can use. Then, you’ll need to check for special rules and challenges for the gameplay that are specific to the assignment. Finally, you’ll need check the winning conditions and what you’ll need to accomplish in the game in order to complete your assignment.
The Orientation Day Assignment is a nice introduction to the solo side of Keystone North America. Once you the tutorial assignment is finished…then the solo play takes off! When I got to assignment 2, called Keystone Education, I got schooled very quickly on how challenging this game can be. The special rules for assignment 2 are: for every keystone card you play, you have to discard a keystone card from the field. My first try at assignment 2 was a total failure – falling short from the winning conditions with only 63 points. On my second try at assignment 2, I didn’t focus on getting all the secret objectives for points. Instead, I focused on utilizing the double points keystone cards provide and loading them up with bonus task points. I also discovered another strategy – use the available skills at the right time. There are a lot of benefits to using the skills in solo play, especially when you can use the 3 yellow exhausted sides. I demolished my second try at assignment 2 with 131 points!!!
Scoring is an exciting part of the game. You finally get to see if all your hard work and strategy has panned out. You score one column and row at a time, and discover some amazing high scoring spots along the way. It’s so satisfying to count up a row worth 48 points all on its own!
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have enjoyed playing this game with others, but have absolutely fallen in love with this game because of the solo play. There is no more worrying about getting a specific card you need. No more hoping someone doesn’t use the skill you want. You can immerse yourself more fully into the game without the distraction of another player. You have time to admire the artistry and educated yourself on the flora and fauna of North America. It’s a more relaxed way to play, but also challenges your strategy from assignment to assignment. If you are new to solo games or a seasoned solo gamer – Keystone North America is top of the solo play board game list for me! Give this one a try! You will not be disappointed!
Zatu Score
Rating
- Artwork
- Complexity
- Replayability
- Player Interaction
- Component Quality
You might like
- The artwork and nature theme
- Set collection mechanics
- Easy to learn but difficult to master gameplay
Might not like
- Randomness of the card selection
- Not much player interaction
- Feeling like you run out of options towards the endgame