Sagrada Reviews

This is a fun little time waster if you get it on sale. There's some logic and planning and strategy to getting the pieces into good patterns that reward the most points, but the later boards are so full of pre-set pieces where you have very little control over what goes where, that getting what you need feels more like raw luck rather than any sort skill or planning. "Oh, this is the run I happened to get three blue sixes" and that's the only thing that mattered. I played the same challenge twice in a row, one time I got 30 points and the next time I got 90, and I didn't do anything different or change my approach, I just got better dice rolls and the computer got worse ones. And the scores of my computer opponents varied wildly as well, there was no real baseline to shoot for on any given challenge. Even with very limited and costly tools to readjust the dice rolls, you can only manipulate one or two pieces in small ways per match, so it's usually not going to be the difference maker most of the time unless things are extremely close... and it's impossible to judge the score the computer has until it's being tallied since you don't know what one of their win conditions is so you can't really weigh the cost of spending points on a movement tool. The online is also effectively dead, if you want to play against human players you'll need to get a friend with the game or ask the forums, you aren't going to find any random matches. After finishing out the achievements, I'm probably not going to replay the game any time soon, but it was fun enough for a few hours.

Sagrada is a really relaxing and beautiful little board game. I really love the aesthetic of the dice as stained glass pieces. In each match, you place colourful dice into a stained glass window, following placement rules based on colour and number. It sounds simple, and it is, but it’s also much more strategic than it first appears. You’re never entirely sure what dice are coming up, or if your opponent will use the ones you've been hoping to grab before you get a chance to, so good play involves keeping your options open for as long as possible. The game gives you a private scoring objective and three shared objectives in every match. The more you play, the more familiar you get with these, and you’ll start to recognise what’s expected of you. Scoring is automatic and the rules are enforced by the system, which would make it easier to enjoy than the physical game, in ways. I’ve read that in the physical version it’s easy to miscount points or accidentally make illegal moves. Here, that’s all handled for you, so you can just play and enjoy. No arguing. lol. I’ve only played single-player so far, but there’s a solid solo campaign and daily challenges to keep you busy. You can also play against AI at different difficulty levels, which works well if you’re just after a quiet game or want to practice. I found it really relaxing. And the music is really nice and super relaxing too. Unfortunately, online multiplayer is completely dead. I haven’t found a single match, which means I’m stuck on the PVP achievement for now. (If any of my friends have this and want to team up so we can both get it, I’m in.) The lobby system still works. Like, you can host or join games, including casual and password-protected ones, so it’s easy to play with friends, just not easy to get a public match. I’ve never played the physical version of Sagrada, but this digital one has tempted me. Although I doubt I’d get many chances to play it in real life. For now, the digital version does a great job of offering a quiet, thoughtful, and beautiful board game experience. Definitely worth picking up if you like this kind of thing.