Rise

At first glance, this game looks a lot more complicated than it actually is. The board is packed with tracks and information, and the presentation feels pretty old-fashioned. Once I got into a few rounds, though, the gameplay started to click. I like the balance between building income and managing the satisfaction track. It gives you more to think about than simply maximizing one resource. The theme and visuals won't be for everyone, but the underlying mechanics are solid and have kept me interested after multiple plays.

This is a very fun and fairly quick to learn board game with interesting chaining effects without being so overly complex that it leads to analysis paralysis. It is pretty fast to teach and create lots of interesting choices and so while not exceedingly deep in terms of thematic content or richness, there is a lot of interesting connections and tie-ins between industrial production and environmental factors and when to trigger what events and how to chain stuff together. Enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting!

Excellent game. Despite the many tracks and icons, you can feel the theme: if you rise on the industry then you need to take care of the environment too, if you rise on the bank and taxes then people will get angry. Many decisions to take and replayability at high levels, with a simple and original action choice system.

It’s a solid game. Rise is like a burger, you know what to expect most people will enjoy it, but it’s not haute cuisine.

Very fun resource collector. I would recommend doing a themed game night for this one but would still keep it at a 9 regardless.