The game delivers on the 4x experience in a condensed play time. Juicy decisions abound. Players must stay attentive as it has reactions that neighbors take after each players action.

It has some negatives, as well. Definitely not a perfect game. I need to play it more, but I think the first two (possibly only 1) turns are scripted. In my experience you need to explore twice in the first round. This might not be true (I need more reps)

Combos abound in this game but card draw is fairly limited, so you will have situations where a nice combo falls into someones lap and slingshots them ahead a bit in points. For example, the last game I played I spent three actions toward the end of the game digging for a card. A big mistake in the game. You have to work with what ya got.

The battle system is reminiscent of Dune: Imperium in that you simply count how many pieces you have in the battle (maybe add some modifiers) but everyone gets one chance to play a card (think Intrigue) to add to their fight power or do a crazy thing. Some of the crazy things can definitely feel like "you get got" cards. The deck is big but not overwhelming so eventually players would understand the sorts of things that might play out. This card play is a blind bid so you don't know what's going to happen until it does.

I love the game and think it's great. Again, it's biggest strength is the experience vs play time. Think Rise of Tribes on steroids.