Rolling in the Reef

Simple and fun

Very good tutorial but plenty to be discovered.

Excellent dice with FISH grid defense strategy game with rounds as the limiting factor, but you can take plenty of turns, only when being attacked is there urgency/ Different fish types have different # of pips range.

Earn your way through levels that will add more stuff and weekly challenge is also different then the normally available game variants.

Medium learning curve I suppose, but I highly recommend it!

As you play it will adjust difficulty after each game so if you keep losing it will get easier, and you still get experience points when you lose.

You lose if you don't make the minimum points required by the end of all the allotted rounds OR your main center fish gets destroyed.

I recommend this game to fans of euro board games looking for a very nice digital single player take on them.

Similar vibes to Solar Settlers but the soundtrack feels less on point/theme than Solar Settlers and the gameplay while similar is also pretty different. I enjoy both but the soundtrack and visuals of Solar Settlers is superior. I'd love to see this game revisited by the dev someday with a soundtrack that has a more cohesive feel to it and more of an underwater vibe and possibly tweak the visuals just a little.

No control over the difficulty - the game decides for you. Automatic thumbs-down.

This game doesn't stand out too much in BrainGoodGames' library, being much like their other games, and I almost gave it a thumbs down for that reason. But I kept playing and it's growing on me. I still recommend checking out their other offerings first, especially Solar Settlers and Axes & Acres, but this is still a pretty good game for the money, especially on sale.

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EDIT: Oh boy did this game grow on me. I wrote the above 2.3 hours in and now I've got ten times that. Definitely NOT a thumbs down. My only complaint is that it's far too easy, even with all the different schools of fish; I didn't lose a single game until I hit 85 wins or so. So I definitely recommend using placement matches to skip the easy levels unless you're very new to this kind of game. I still recommend Solar Settlers first, but this would be a fine second game. This game also seems a bit more casual-friendly than Solar Settlers (my mom, who's not a gamer, would probably like this game much more).

You roll several different kinds of dice and place them on the board next to dice that show one more or less pip than the one you are currently placing. If you place on arrows you get more fish (dice) to place. You're limited in how my moves you can make in a turn (I think 8), and carnivores will come and attack your dice which you want to have happen because defeating them with pairs or straights or the current "team up" ability gets you the most points. You have a limited number of rounds to make quite a predetermined number of points based on your rank. There are four or five different sets of dice you can play with, which start out easy (3 sided or 6 sided with all the numbers) and get more complicated (one set has odd numbers on one kind of dice and even on another. I hope you're keeping balanced between the two types). The complicated sets are compensated by have more special faces on the dice (usually the 1 or the 6) which do useful things when placed.

Every new game you play the game gets easier or harder based on whether you lost or won. The difficulty curb is gradual to say the least. Nearly four hours in and I haven't lost a game yet. I think there maybe a way to skip levels, which I might do. But it's pleasant enough even if it remains too easy.

While you could say that each new BrainGoodGame is "just" an iteration on the same core principles, they always take a fresh approach to the same kind of mechanics and just keep getting better. This is clearly the best yet, looking forward to the next "installments".

If you like puzzle games, card games, dice games or placement games, this is a no-brainer buy.

Very amusing little time killer for when you only have 10 minutes or so. (just be careful, 3 hours later you may have missed what you meant to do in 10 minutes). Very good if you love board games (euros). Easy to learn, lots of unlocks. Weekly challenge can be tough to beat.

I give it 9.5/10. Might drop some after I've played it a few days and it starts getting old...

Another great and brilliant game from BrainGoodGames. If you like puzzle games (kinda chess-like in style but based on placement and with random elements) and you don't have the full BrainGoodGames corpus in your library, you are missing out. This is a good one to start with, but be sure to also check out Solar Settlers (similar) and Axes and Acres (kinda similar).

One downside of this one compared to the others is the shape of the learning curve (for me, anyway -- I am sure it is different for others). I went from cruising to appx level 20 in each of the four versions without a single loss, to struggling to get appx 4 more levels up, to stuck (unable to advance except when I lost games and thus dropped back a level to where it was easier before advancing again). I see it is possible to advance because there are a half dozen people on the global leaderboards with up to ten more levels than I have, but I am baffled about how they are doing it. So, having reached the "one step forward and one step back" point, and having gotten the final achievement (win 100 games; I was the first to get it among those appearing in the global leaderboards [takes bow]), I may be done.

That said, I *really* enjoyed the game and got my money's worth of lots of great gameplay out of it (about 30 hours - my stats reflect a bunch of time afk). So do buy it if you like card-puzzle or chess-like puzzle games!

(Update: Tried to come back to it. Found it too hard to be fun. Definitely a finite game. Still, it was a great run.)

Another very nice strategy game, by B.G.G. I am loving this guy's work, of taking modern boardgame mechanics and applying them to a video game interface, without making the experience overburdened with animations. There are also legacy-unlocks and daily challenges that keep the game fresh and interesting. I play these games for hours at a time, and they do not get old for me.

I enjoyed this game on ubuntu linux 18.10, with radeon mesa drivers. This is an entirely mouse-driven game, running the Unity Game Engine, with a 200MB install size. I had no technical problems at all. I highly recommend these games to all boardgame fans.

Another great game from the developer that should be called: "TheProminentBrainSupplierWithinSteamCommunity" - if only more ppl knew His works. :( What's more, it's one of his better designs from what I can tell RN... One can easily see resemblance to domino kind of game, but with many mechanics. Aqua-realm is very wise setting for such-game - relaxing. Game doesn't care if ur rich/poor or anything - 'cause u just play with ur CPU - that's the point of these games. Like it or not. One thing 4sho: As long a u own any amount of grey-matter in ur head ...( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)... then you are SET!

Visually it's better than MinosStrategos, but worse than SolarSettlers, but no-one cares anyway - i personally like all these games.

I could write more, but my fellow "BrainGood" cultists done it already (check other reviews for in-depth gameplay description) or if u understand English, u can as well read those within game. Cheers.

Fantastic game, as are all of BrainGoodGames. Think solitaire board game and you are not very far off from what these games are. They start off easy, and then just up the challenge in incremental layers.

To keep things fresh, the game adds new pieces of the puzzle as you play. Each new dice set will play slightly differently than the last. New abilities will slowly unlock.

This specific game may not be as strategic as some of the past games, but don't worry, it still has strategy a plenty.

Definitely pick this up if you are looking for a solo challenge. Plenty of unique bang for your buck.

This is yet another amazing game by BrainGoodGames. I have loved almost every game they've made, and this one does not disappoint.

It is a simple concept. Basically, it is a dice game, where the dice represent different kinds of fish. Each type of fish is a different kind of die (such as three-sided dice, or six-sided dice, and so on). You will start each board with one fish in the center. This fish has an asterix on it, which can count as any number. You will have a pool of rolled fish that you are going to try to put onto the board. The trick is that each fish placed must be placed next to a fish that is either one higher or one lower in number than itself. (So a three can only be placed next to either a two or a four.)

As you place the fish you are either gaining points (by placing them onto blank squares) or collecting power ups that you can use to help you (by placing a fish onto a square with the power up in it). The power ups can be used whenever you feel like it.

The game is played in rounds and each round has a set number of suns that can be spent before the round ends. Placing fish onto the board costs suns, as does using an always available ablility to add or subtract one from any of the dice in your pool before using them.

You are trying to reach a specific score before you run out of rounds, which can be done in more ways than just placing fish. There are also goals available during the game which is a specific combination of dice that you play from your pool, and there are enemies which need different dice combinations to kill. These can end the game if they destroy your center square. A really cool concept is that you can finish a goal instead of trying to kill individual enemies and the goal will clear the board for you.

Of all of the amazing BrainGoodGames, this one might be the most relaxing. I especially like the graphics. I prefer the older BrainGoodGames with their really simple icons and flat colors to the graphics of their more colorful games (such as Solar Settlers, which is also great) and this one seems to be the perfect balance between a colorful and active background, while still having a simple and clear playing field with easy to read icons.

BrainGoodGames has quite the cult following, and for good reason - they carved out an interesting niche of making video game/Euro-board game hybrids that play well. With that being said, I've bought nearly every one of their titles and refunded most of them for various reasons. As an avid board gamer, I just don't see anything really new. I don't really get the 'wow factor' that many others do, and I think it's because of spending a good bit of time studying board game mechanics.

Like all of BrainGoodGames titles, this game surely is fun enough to merit the asking price. No question about it. It has an easy to learn tutorial and you can pick it all up fairly quickly. The 'just one more round' addiction is high. Plus the devs are very helpful on the forums to field any questions you may have. The artwork is par for the course with the BrainGoodGames library in that it is one notch above programmer art. There is a weekly challenge and a good bit of unlockables.

Pros:
+Mildly interesting gameplay with an addicting 'one more round' loop based on leveling up and unlocking stuff
+Like all of BrainGoodGames titles, this does well to play as a video game/board game hybrid
+Price-point is more than fair

Cons:
-Overall I find it a bit too easy, but I hear after many hours this changes; I'm not sure I will be compelled to slog through it - we'll see
-The mechanics are fresh for a video game (maybe), but certainly not for board games proper
-While opinions differ, the artwork really isn't for me
-What can I say - after about 3 hours I'm just not driven to load it back up at this point

This game is well received for good reason. Is this the freshest thing out there? No. Is it fun enough for less than ten bucks? Sure.

Another winner from BrainGoodGames. This developer just knows how to make VERY GOOD euro-style boardgames as PC games. Each one of his games are very unique to each other, and all of them are easy to learn, but definitely hard to master.

There is a lot to unlock, artifacts, different map layouts, and as you level up, the requirements for victory become much tighter and harder to achieve. These games really get you thinking.

So, another wonderful boardgame on the PC by my favorite indie strategy game developer. Highly recommended again!

I am a huge Solar Settlers fan, so that was an easy day one buy for me, and I have not been disappointed. The dice placement is reminiscent of the board game Sagrada, but as with Solar Settlers there are a large number of twists, with different dice having special faces or rules for placement or modifying them. There are also a large number of different "artifacts" that you can discover and use to your advantage.

Overall, a very fun solitaire experience that feels like playing a board game!

Starting to sound like a broken record - another great game from BrainGoodGames.

All the great features from Solar Settlers are here, weekly challenge and lot of variety through multiple schools of fish (more of which will be added later).

At first the game seemed a bit simple to me but as I went up in levels the challenge and enjoyment ramped up. BrainGoodGames are the only games I buy when they are first released and I've never been disappointed yet.

I've been playing since early beta, and it's been a pleasure watching this come together. Most of BGG's games are amazing, but borrow heavily from existing games - Minos Strategos owes a lot to Tash Kalar, Militia owes a lot to Chess, Solar Settlers owes a lot to worker placement boardgames, and so on. As far as I can tell, Rolling in the Reef is a completely original idea. As a result, it was probably the one of the hardest games to make, but the final result speaks for itself.

Gameplay is a completely engrossing mix of spatial strategy, resource management, and risk management. As others here have mentioned, the game seems simple but eventually you find yourself lost in the possibilities to explore. Moreover, it provides it in an absolutely adorable theme of tropical fish. Having just dragged myself through the brownscale drudgery of Slay the Spire, it's refreshing to play games that aren't all doom and gloom.

In the current version, games run a little long. If you play all 8 rounds and think through your actions, it's hard to get a game in under the 15 minute target that BGG usually shoots for. In strategy games there's always an interesting tension between wanting to play games at a fast clip and wanting a deep, involving experience - I'll be curious to see how BrainGoodGames navigates this issue in future patches.

Otherwise, I don't have any major complaints. Rolling in the Reef is another excellent game from BGG, and I'm thrilled to see what crazy Schools of fish get added next. Time will tell how the game stacks up compared to his best games, Minos Strategos and Solar Settlers, but right now it looks like a real contender.

Don't be fooled. I own every Braingood Games title, and my first reaction was "too casual". Once I got about half a dozen levels in, I realized how wrong I was.

Another deviously clever strategy game from Brett. If I have any complints, it's the re-use of assets from previous titles. Other than that, it's the epitome of the old cliche, "easy to learn, hard to master".

Well worth the $.

I've only scratched the surface, but this is great fun so far. Easy to get into, but not as simple as it seems at first glance. The theme is fun and light, the music is catchy but unobtrusive. Quick to play, with that "just one more" feeling.

It reminds me of the best elements of Solar Settlers, Axes and Acres, and Solitaire Golf all in 1!