In the deep, lush jungle ecosystem there are a number of living things all around. There are animals everywhere to be discovered- from the small, colorful frog to the Monkey swinging from tree to tree. Flora and fauna everywhere contribute to the beautiful and lush environment that grows and moves all around you. There are so many trees competing, pushing and striving to make their way to the sun as they form the beautiful canopy above. This is the environment we will enter into today while we take a look at the newest creation from the mind of Tim Eisner, Canopy.
Canopy is a two player game that plays in 30 minutes. The designer is Tim Eisner with art by Vincent Dutrait. It is published by Weird City Games and is launching on Kickstarter in June 2020.
Overview
Canopy is a two player game where both players will compete to form the best and most bountiful rainforest. Trees, plants and animals will need to balance correctly to score the most points for your ecosystem. The game is played over 3 rounds.
Gameplay
The main gameplay area is set with a spot for the 3 Seasons (rounds) and their respective pile of Rainforest cards and there are three piles of New Growth cards for the current round. The piles start with 1, 2 or 3 cards from the current Season deck to begin in ascending order.
On a player’s turn, you will be selecting a number of Rainforest cards and adding them to your forest. Players begin by looking at Pile 1 and deciding if they are going to take that pile or pass on it. If they take it, the cards are added to their personal forest. If they pass it, 1 card from the top of the current Season deck is added and they repeat the process with the New Growth piles 2 and 3. If pile 3 is passed, that player will draw the top card of the deck and place that single card to their personal forest.
The cards added to your personal forest will have immediate, in-Season or end of the Season effects. Immediate effect cards are resolved the turn you add them such as a Drought card that will cause you to immediately loose cards. Most of the animals have some sort on in-Season ability that you can resolve each Season once played.
Once all of the current Season deck is empty, players will continue to select New Growth piles until they are all take, thus ending the Season (round). Then end of Season effects happen, such as Seed cards that will gain you additional cards at random into your forest. Fire and Disease cards also resolve, possibly hurting both you and your opponent. Also any Plant and Weather cards will score at this time.
Trees are a unique scoring mechanic in the end of Season scoring as well. They score based on sections in the trees and the tallest each round will score additional points. The person with the biggest collection of them at then end of the game will score even more points.
After everything is scored all cards are discarded except for the Trees and the Wildlife. Then the next Season is started in the same way. At the end of Season 3 all normal scoring happens along with scoring for the Wildlife.
Impressions
Cardplay order is very important in this game. I found myself constantly jockeying for when and where to play a card and deciding if I could push my luck or not to get those cards. Something that seemingly looks to hurt you in the early part of the Season may come back to help you long term, or there may be ways to get rid of those cards. I liked the fluid nature of the card play and that nothing was quite etched in stone until the end of the Season. I love games that give me time to play and plan up to a certain point. It gives me the ability to be creative and plan without being stuck with something exactly as it lays.
Let’s talk art also. This game features art by Vincent Dutrait, one of the best in the game. I am continuously impressed by the work he does and Canopy gives another awesome display of his talents. The plants and trees and lush and full of life. The animals are very detailed and well done also-the game just pops lush life right off of the cards!
A game that is strictly two player can be an interesting avenue to take. I don’t have a lot of games that are two player only, but the ones that are in my collection are super solid games. Most of them involve some type of direct combat between two players and you find ways to punch the other player towards victory. If I’m being honest, combat isn’t my favorite type of game so I was very interested to see how this one would rank for me. This game puts you against another player but in a fun strategic game of trying to take the right stuff at the right time and hand your opponent the not so good stuff on their turns. This is the ideal two player game for someone looking for a game option that isn’t direct combat. There is still a great amount of player interaction-it isn’t 2 player solitaire. But the game feels less aggressive then some other 2 player games out there.
Overall Canopy is definitely a can’t miss game of 2020. Canopy combines some of my favorite mechanics in a tight and enjoyable 2 player game that is destined to stay in heavy rotation on my game table. I highly recommend this one and hope you get a chance to check it out on the current Kickstarter! Details can be found here:
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