The First Mine

Tile placement game with a western theme. It reminds me of playing board games like harmonies. Your goal is to make complete ecosystems of trees, plains, forest, and settlements while resources endlessly build and fall. There might have been some things in the background happening with the resources but I didn't really notice what was happening. Completed the game on normal and felt that there was no need to try hard. Not sure if I missed any content but the game felt a little barren in terms of mechanics. You really just place tiles and sometimes a random event will happen that has you go "oh well, anyway" and then you keep placing more tiles. I recommend me this game if you enjoy placing tiles but like in the desert.

I have never played Carcassone, but I was immediately told this is similar to it. So, if you know that game, you'll probably find yourself at home with this title. The First Mine feels a lot like a resource builder and matching game, with some foresight required in your part while balancing the amounts of undos, previews, and shuffles you have on hand. Ideally, you want to pause and consider your next move. Do I have the patience for that? [i]Hell no![/i] But, I still enjoyed the game when I took chances and didn't think too heavily on the achievements. As a puzzle game, this should win an award. It's structured very well with resource management and allocation of funds to really make you consider where each piece serves your mining community. I do wish there was a way to make the grids more aesthetically pleasing, or if there were power-ups or similar to allow you to place tiles without having them linking next to previously laid tiles, or even allow you to turn tiles a different way if you mess up. However, those are not options so you have to treat this like a rogue game where you either succeed or you don't. Overall impression is that the game is fun, interesting and definitely worth being in my collection.

The First Mine surprend par sa simplicité redoutable et le défi qu’il impose, rappelant par bien des aspects un excellent jeu de société de placement de tuiles. Il a un bon goût de « Reviens-y » avec le départ asymétrique proposé par chacun des personnages. Le jeu est plus subtil qu'il en a l'air. Pour aller loin, il ne suffit pas de développer les tuiles dans tous les sens dès qu'on le peut. Il faut savoir où investir et quand s'arrêter de dépenser ses précieuses ressources. J'apprécie l'ambiance graphique du jeu, certes épurée, mais mignonne, ce qui colle bien avec le côté chill du jeu. Deux petits bémols : Le chrono qui met un peu la pression quand on veut jouer chill. (Chrono qui a peut être disparu depuis.) Et le fait que le jeu ne soit pas en français. (Mais ça, ce n'est pas gravissime, le vocabulaire reste abordable.) Rien de bien vilain, et puis bon, vu le prix du jeu, c'est cadeau ! :-) Pour un premier jeu de ce "one man studio", c'est prometteur.

Really fun puzzle game that I won in a giveaway, very quick to pick up and play but harder to master. There is a tutorial but it doesn't cover everything (such as the configuration needed for the three pieces together or the reshuffle option at the bottom of the screen) so I played a few of the short games to get used to the mechanics before tackling a longer game. Seems to work fine on the steam deck with the default controls, although the text is very small.