Are your weekdays filled with pulling out your hair at work while working your way through a 100-point checklist? Uhh…yeah me neither. But in case they are, don’t you think you deserve a nice relaxing weekend? Maybe go out on the water, watch the sunset, and paint a few beautiful landscapes? Well, in case you hate leaving the house as much as I do, but that still sounds kind of great, then might I suggest Sunset Over Water instead – All that greatness in one convenient game! Let’s check it out!

What Is It?

A simple, yet satisfying game where you collect landscape cards to fulfill commissions and daily goals to come out at the end with the most renown of all the artists! It’s a very relaxing game, but still holds a lot of substance

Who Is It For?

The game itself recommends ages 8+ and, while I do think that’s pretty accurate, since the game is fairly simple, I might venture to go a little older (maybe 12) just because I think a slightly older audience might be able to appreciate the aesthetic of the game more, and get more out of it because of that. But I definitely do think that if your younger kids are gamers, they would have no trouble grasping and playing this. In addition, I’d recommend this to anyone who likes games that are light and relaxing because this definitely hits that mark. It’s a little bit of a meatier filler game, in my opinion. And I’m hoping that makes as much sense to you as it does to me.

Quality of Components

Everything about this game is pretty fantastic. Not only is the art very pretty, but the cards, rules, and box are all great quality, the insert is well designed, giving everything a proper place, and the meeples (I’ll never know if that or something else is the proper pluralization, there’s so much debate) are sturdy wood and also very nice. No complaints here!

PROS

  • It’s such an aesthetically pleasing game!
  • The meeples are a fun and unique shape
  • Clear rulebook with examples and images to guide you
  • Good reference cards to help during the game

CONS

I don’t really have much in the way of cons for this one, because I think that it really hits the mark it was aiming for. If I had to pick something, I guess my biggest con would be:

  • It’s a bit quiet – while there is some player interaction while moving on the grid and taking paintings, it is nothing that gets you too riled up. It’s more of a pensive game, so it’s easy to go on without much talking between players, which creates what I consider awkward silence. However, it’s a quick game, so I don’t mind it when all is said and done.

Difficulty

I’d probably rate this one a 2/5 for difficulty. Easy enough to learn and play that it could really be for any gamer, but not quite the easiest ranking either because there is some planning/strategy to consider and it can definitely leave you a little AP prone (analysis paralysis for those who didn’t know).

Final Thoughts

I think this is one of those “big things come in small packages” instances. There doesn’t seem like they’ll be much game at first glance because it’s just a bunch of cards and a few player pieces, but once you start playing you see that it’s pretty neat! I am so in love with the art and would honestly recommend it to anyone who goes aesthetic crazy just for that. I think that it’s pretty unique, at least to things I have played, and has plenty of replayability value as well. I definitely recommend checking it out if you get the chance!

Additional Information:
Designers – Eduardo Baraf, Steve Finn, and Keith Matejka
Artists – Benjamin Shulman, Beth Sobel, and Helen Zhu
Publishers – Delight, Dr. Finn’s Games, Pencil First Games, LLC
BGG

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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