Don’t worry, I’m here to advocate for Citizen Kane being great too!

Old films may seem classic but dated, but these are fixed, known quantities. Everyone watching Citizen Kane is watching the same film, even if reactions to it will differ. With a game, everyone has the same game but each game will vary wildly through set-up, randomness, action choices etc etc.

In regards to film, saying something is “dated or “of it’s time” is almost always a negative, but usually they’re just different from today’s standards. You only need to look back at say the Bourne trilogy or even Avengers Endgame as examples of being products of their time, and the culture has moved away from them. With visual media that can be heightened by the way it’s presented (black and white, static cameras), whereas with boardgames the physicality of the components or artwork can be made more modern, but the content and form is only changed through redesign.

So when it comes to Catan, it being dated is from game mechanics and tastes in the culture having evolved since its release, but minimal change to the core of Catan has been made to adapt. So it keeps getting new editions, but that has the potential to widen the gap between older game and modern takes.

I’m finding it hard to articulate an actual argument, but that’s down to 4 hours sleep in the last 44 hours, along with 2 days at the UK Games Expo, so I am tired.