Summary
- Life in Reterra by Hasbro offers engaging gameplay for adults with stunning packaging and high-quality components.
- The game is easy to learn with strategic depth, quick gameplay, and endless replayability, appealing to a wide range of players.
- With an affordable price point of $30, Life in Reterra is a must-have addition to any tabletop collection for family events or game nights.
Although Hasbro is one of the most recognizable board game brands in the world, its name is synonymous with family-friendly board games rather than ones for avid adult gamers. Now, they’re trying to appeal to an older audience (with some help from Avalon Hill) and seem to have succeeded with their latest board game, Life in Reterra.
This tile-placement strategy game is the brainchild of two excellent designers. Ken Gruhl is best known for his quick, aesthetic party games, such as cartoonist Matthew Inman's Mantis and the rebooted Cahoots card game. Eric M. Lang is known for his much more strategic work on games such as Bloodborne: The Card Game, Victorian Masterminds, and Cthulhu: Death May Die.
Together, they’ve developed a seriously approachable game that promises plenty of fun for everyone. Does Life in Reterra really live up to its potential, though? The Best War Games got some hands-on experience with the tabletop game to see whether Hasbro is truly ready to get serious about gaming.
Packaging & Box Contents
The packaging for Life in Reterra is stunning. Hasbro is clearly aware of the uphill battle they have as they enter the tabletop sphere, and their high-quality design definitely works as a way to garner favor among gamers.
Four boxes contain the majority of the game’s cards and tokens, each embossed with highly detailed, leafy borders, the three tile shapes, and a number. The plastic boxes are also indented along the sides so that each top snaps shut, preventing any pieces from spilling out and eliminating the need to spend extra money on board game organizers. There are even thick cardboard dividers to prevent the boxes from getting damaged or making horrible scratching noises when being removed.
The land tiles, of which there are 104, are also made of very thick, durable cardboard with impressive (if simple) artistic designs. Meanwhile, the meeples (or “inhabitant pawns”) are made of wood and stamped with an incredibly detailed character illustration. Even the included scorepad is worth mentioning, as it comes with about 50 double-sided sheets that succinctly remind you of how to score each game. The handbook gets the royal treatment as well, offering thick, almost fabric-like pages, plus extra pages at the back for you and your tablemates to create your own tile sets, which will be discussed more later.
Throughout all of this are Hugo Cuellar's vibrant and endearing illustrations, which accurately capture the game’s vibe. The cover is, of course, the best illustration, showing off a reclaimed world with things such as makeshift farms, dilapidated windmills, and houses made of old rockets, but the style is carried through on cards, tokens, and the rulebook.
The bright color palette and prevalence of life in the form of humans, cows, and birds make the game’s setting feel like a bustling, hopeful place where the community is working together to not only survive but thrive. Overall, the artwork perfectly encapsulates the theme of “a community (re)building game.” The rulebook adds a few more illustrations to the mix and also incorporates several photos of the game to help ensure everyone understands how to play.
The rulebook is only 15 pages long and, using a plethora of images, extremely easy to follow. Even someone who has only ever played Monopoly can pick up Life in Reterra and get playing within a few minutes. The rules are very clearly laid out, and two sections can be left open during the game that will help players keep track of what they need to do each turn, just in case.
Setup & Gameplay
The goal of Life in Reterra is to build a “cozy, thriving community” in a world where civilization has long been reclaimed by nature. Players accomplish this by placing land tiles in a four-by-four grid, placing buildings on those tiles, collecting “relics,” and recruiting people to live in their space. This may sound overly simple to some experienced board game enthusiasts, but given the number of cards and tiles available, the gameplay can get surprisingly complex.
Life in Reterra is so easy to begin though, largely thanks to their use of the embossed boxes, which are numbered. The first time you play, the rulebook instructs you to use box one, which contains the “essentials” set of cards and tiles. The land tiles and tokens will be used every game, along with the board, but all of the other parts can come from one of the three set boxes. The game is far from overwhelming, offering tangible accessibility. Additionally, the entire game can fit on a coffee table, a rare feat among strategy games in 2024.
The board is a neutral color, albeit with fine, leafy illustrations, and is quite literally fool-proof. The building tiles in each box match up with the provided spaces on the board, and a player count indicates how many tiles to use in each game. At the top right, the steps for each turn are again shown, complete with relic icons and an example of how your community should look at the end of the game.
As the game is meant for a wide variety of player skill levels, each session typically takes less than half an hour to complete, though the first four-player game with two somewhat inexperienced players ended with a game time of just under an hour, including scoring. Among veteran players, some games were completed in as little as 15 minutes. This short gameplay makes Life in Reterra a perfect choice for family events or a warm-up on any group’s game night. To go along with this, the rule of deciding who goes first is a bit of an ice-breaker, ideal for starting an engaging yet light-hearted conversation while you play.
The easy gameplay can be a bit misleading, as you do need to employ some strategy, particularly when playing against experienced gamers. Some of the rules could be clearer, such as what “every turn” means and whether diagonal spaces count as being “next to” another piece. An updated version of the rules is already available through Hasbro to address things such as tie-breakers, while the community on Board Game Geek has also come to a sensible consensus on other rulings.
Aside from overly strict rules lawyers, most people will have a ton of fun with Life in Reterra. Plus, it’s very easy to score, thanks both to the clear language on the scorepads and the limited ways to score points.
Balance & Replayability
One of the most notable elements of Life in Reterra is the fact that the game is as simple or complex as you make it. It’s easy to play a cut-throat game where every turn someone is gaining points while taking points away from another, depending on which building set you choose and the experience level of the players. At the same time, it’s entirely possible to play a game where each player is peacefully creating their own little community to win on merit alone. While these two playstyles are certainly meant for two very different types of players, both are fun to play over and over again.
It feels natural to end a game and start fresh immediately afterward, especially when playing with more experienced players, since the game can be over very quickly. With the three pre-built sets, players are given a wide variety of playstyles, but once you’re used to those, you can easily mix and match building tiles to create new levels of difficulty or aggressive play. The game even encourages this with some blank pages ready to be filled with your favorite custom sets. You can jump right into creating custom sets if you like, though it is a bit easy to have redundant buildings if you aren’t careful.
One thing that should be noted is that it is extremely difficult to claim the four-space buildings. You essentially have to plan on it from the first move and act quickly; then it may not even be a boon to you at the end if you don’t capitalize on it efficiently. However, this is just another way that Life in Reterra offers incredible replay value. In addition to the different sets changing the difficulty, it’s a lot of fun to set personal challenges, such as getting that four-space building, collecting the most relics, or even simply aiming for an aesthetic community.
The game offers an impressive balance that honestly may not be for everyone. About two-thirds of the games played during testing ended in a tie, with most of the other sessions being decided by just one or two points. Although there are now rules for tie-breaking, the game’s propensity for ties seems to fit well with its focus on the importance of community building over competition, which is a cute little touch that some will enjoy, while others lament their frequent ties.
Overall Impression
Life in Reterra is a shocking addition to Hasbro’s board game lineup, as it promises engaging gameplay far beyond what Monopoly or Scrabble offers, and it delivers on every front. The game has incredible replayability and is balanced almost to a fault. Sure, Hasbro still has some things to work out, such as clarifying rules and avoiding ties, but they have already shown that they’re more than willing to release updates.
The amazing art and easy-to-follow instructions make the game enticing to anyone, regardless of their skill level, while the various mechanics allow players to be as strategic or laid-back as they’d like. As Hasbro continues to invest in more serious tabletop games, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an expansion for Life in Reterra announced at GenCon or soon after, either.
With broad appeal, quick game times, a variety of available setups, and a price tag of only $30, Life in Reterra is a must-have board game for any tabletop players!
Life in Reterra
- Type of Game
- Strategy
- Age Recommendation
- 10+
- Game Duration
- 35 minutes
- Brand
- Hasbro
- What's Included
- Cards, tiles, tokens, board
- Number of Players
- 2-4
Life in Reterra is a community (re)building game, set in the near future when the world as we know it is an overgrown memory. Civilization continues though, using scraps of the old world and natural resources. Each player is tasked with building their own community by laying tiles representing diverse terrain and filling them with buildings and inhabitants. This strategic tile game features an engaging story, mental depth, incredible custom artwork, and endless replayability. It’s a fun game for family events and friendly game nights. And tile-laying games for adults and families make great gifts for kids ages 10 and up and gamers.
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info- Designer
- Eric Lang & Ken Gruhl
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More Complex |
Catan |
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|
More Portable |
Munchkin |
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|
Less Complex |
Tsuro |
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FAQ
Q: Who made Life in Reterra?
Hasbro is the publisher of Life in Reterra, though the game was designed by Ken Gruhl and Eric M. Lang.
Q: Is Life in Reterra a good board game for couples?
Yes, Life in Reterra is ideal for two players.
Q: Is Life in Reterra difficult?
It depends. There are different ways to set up Life in Reterra, and many more ways to play and strategize. The difficulty level can be easy enough for children to join in or high enough to challenge veteran board gamers.