Dale Of Merchants 2 : The Most Innovative Game?
Hey Guys, how's it going?
Today we're going to take a look at a game called Dale Of Merchants 2. This is one of the few games where the theme of the game has perfectly resonated with the game's mechanics, I really like it. Thanks to Snowdale Design for sending this out, and let's take a look! (By the way, I'm using a new setup and camera for taking pictures for the posts, let me know how it looks!).
Let's start out with the design and art. I like this game's art. It's vibrant and has a lot of pinks and blues, the game's overall feel is very exotic and trading and merchant like. Which is great for the theme implementation because, from the moment you open the box, everything from that point on feels like you've been transported to the trading, exotic setting of the game; which is absolutely phenomenal. The art is very detailed and doesn't feel childish, but is also pretty lighthearted at the same time.
The game is very portable, and the box is well built. It has a cross-hatch, matte feel that is not only more durable, but also feels really good in the hand. The cards are the same, they have the matte, cross-hatch design, and are very durable; they don't bend very easily which is pretty awesome.
The game itself will be extremely familiar to you if you have every played any deck-building, but it has some extremely cool mechanics that make this, one of the most innovative games that I have ever played. The winning condition for the game is when a player has made a stack of consecutive cards from value 1 to 8. There are factions which can combine to make higher value cards for your stack. Along with there being 5 different actions, one of which you can do every turn(a different action or the same each turn). All of these combined make an amazing gameplay experience, but the best game mechanic is one that most people will never even notice.
What really stunned me was how the game handled stock markets and the ever changing world of trading and merchants that is the setting for the game. Certain cards have a "plus" symbol on the card, this means that whatever spot on the market row they are under, the card's price increases by that much. This is genius! So, just like in the real stock markets, a thing(in this case a card) of value 2 , could be priced at value 6!
With the great build quality, awesome art, innovative gameplay, and simplicity; this is a product that I have deemed worthy of the "Outstandingly Awesome" award. It's a great game that I think can appeal to anyone.
Thanks for reading everyone, I'll see you next time!
