You should really check out the solo/coop mode! It's actually a good replication of playing against another human and there's plenty of tension there every time you flip over a card in the servant deck. As a primary solo gamer, I actually would still fully recommend the game for solo. 🙂
ive played the solo 30+ times. most played game of the year. the solo is fantastic. the tension of where the machine will go next is still present. occasionally you can predict where it will go based on the cards already drawn, but overall it can crush you into dust if you arent paying attention. in particular the central square servant card puts that servant in the central square. if your map layout has that tile in the center of the city its next move can basically be anywhere. ive found another way to manipulate and adjust difficulty is where the grand citadel and the central square tiles start. towards the outskirts together and its a bit easier but if those are towards the center it can get tough. ive only played with the additional characters once. the base game really is that good.
The solo/coop mode is really well done. Currently on BGG, solo is listed as "best." The AI is well designed and many people don't like the one vs many mechanism. Also some don't like playing as the machine in general. Solo/coop is our preferred way to play. Give it a try.
Great review! But if you're not going to try the solo mode I suggest not telling people to skip the solo mode. 😉. It's not bad. There is a lot to it to groc, but the scenarios are interesting and the tension still holds for the most part. It's a nice option, if you want to play the game but you don't have 3 people at the moment.
Thanks for putting this game on my radar. I don't have much experience with hidden movement games yet. Beast caught my interest earlier this year, but after playing it a couple times on TTS, I was less jazzed about it. I can't quite put my finger on why my interest diminished, and I'd still be up for trying it out in-person if I get the chance, but it's not really on my radar anymore. City of the Great Machine, though, does seem much more engaging.
Keep in mind that it's a misnomer to label this a hidden movement game. If anything, it's a "secret programming" game. That's because unlike any other hidden movement game, the movement of the heroes isn't hidden. Their moves are in plain view for all to see. Plus, their current location is always in plain view. No other hidden movement game has those characteristics. But as like with other programming games, the location where the heroes are PROGRAMMED to go to is secret (OK, "hidden", if you must). But only the programming is secret, the movement itself is not.
It really is a hidden gem... the theme and mechanics blend in so well. However, I feel that it is mostly a 2-player game for me. Adding more players just create more indecision and difficulty for the revolutionaries, who I feel were already at a disadvantage to the great machine to begin with.
It's not that much of a shift in player experience from 4 in my opinion, it's just two people on the team instead of three, so you still have someone to communicate with. Maybe it's because people don't enjoy managing the third revolutionary together but in any team game I find it to be a collective decision either way. The larger shift in how it plays is from 2 players to 3-4 players because you lose that person to communicate with verbally and so the great machine loses some of that listening in.
