Oltree

Today's review is of the 2021 release, Oltree. For 2-4 players, it takes 60 minutes per chronicle.

Overview

In this cooperative game, you are rangers charged to watch over inhabitants of a decimated empire. During setup, players choose a chronicle (there are six included; one short, five long) and assignment (easy, moderate, and hard, and tailored towards the chronicle length). Each chooses a ranger (with profession and ability), places incidents in each location and sets up other areas, and the game begins.

Turns proceed clockwise and are straightforward.

1. Determine the adversity. Roll the adversity die and move it the appropriate number of spaces on its track. It will land on chronicle (turn over the next card in the chronicle stack and perform its instructions), incident, problem, or event. For incident and problem cards, roll the location die to put the card on the corresponding area (there are eight, each adjacent to the central fortress), plus any other actions as indicated in the rules. For event cards, flip the top one over and perform its effect (either one-time or enduring as indicated on the card).

2. Perform two different actions. I won't cover these in detail, but you can move, rest, call on the community (gain a resource particular to your ranger's location if there isn't a problem card there), handle a problem (flip over the problem card at your ranger's location and handle it), experience an incident (flip over the topmost incident card at your ranger's location and do what it says), build or repair buildings or towers (in the fortress only), or do unique or temporary actions.

game in progress; image from here

Many chronicle cards, incidents, and problems will have you doing profession checks, wherein you roll a number of dice equal to your ranger's value in that area. Buildings in the fortress (constructed using resources) can give all rangers additional dice, increasing odds of success. Building towers (and clearing incidents) is key to securing areas, which helps complete assignments and accomplish the chronicle's ultimate goal. If you survive to the end (complete the chronicle goal + keep your prestige and fortification levels about zero), you win!

 

Review

This is a fun game; I liked it a lot (we played the short chronicle on moderate difficulty and won by the skin of our teeth). The artwork is great, and mechanics are solid, and there is a nice range of meaningful decisions. I can't speak to its replayability—once you go through all six chronicles, it might get boring—but all other decks are shuffled and random, so I think it would be okay each time. This is a winner.

Rating: A