Cooper Island
For me, the best game released in 2021 is Primeval Forest . A beautiful, well-made and fun family game won my heart. My editorial colleague also thinks so, which confirms that this title is very good. Unfortunately, for this reason I had to choose second place, and with that I had a bigger problem, the more that there are still a few unplayed this year’s positions in the queue.
Ultimately my choice fell on Cooper Island. I have the impression that a lot of people were waiting for it, but when it was released, it wasn’t too loud about it. It is an offer for more advanced players, so it certainly did not have a chance to break through the enormity of family and party titles on store shelves, but eurogame enthusiasts should reach for it. A well-tailored “short quilt”, fun in arranging your own peninsula and some interesting ideas that I have not come across before – all this ensures a good, though demanding gameplay. And although there are not many rules for this difficulty, creating a good strategy that can bring you victory is a challenge. In addition, the manual is well written, which is rarely the case with Portal publishing house, so you don’t have to worry about not understanding the rules.
