Gricha German’s Biomos is a game with an important point on its mind. Could have fooled me. Let me propose a rule: if you intend for your game to make an important point, consider leveraging the medium’s unique strengths rather than squirreling that point away in the back of the rulebook. To be sure, the point is a sobering one that deserves widespread attention: over the past half-century, our planet has witnessed a 70% decline in monitored wild animal populations. That’s hard to fathom. If only somebody had modeled it in, say, a board game so we could visualize such a catastrophe.

Instead, Biomos moves in almost the exact opposite direction. You are a planet attempting to gather disparate biomes in order to sustain life. Even as a plaything with nothing on its mind but the accumulation of victory points, it fumbles the essentials.

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