I’ll hold my hand up, be honest, and say I don’t have much time to play board games. As much as I love playing them with family and friends, it is sometimes challenging to find the time and place to get a good session on the go. There are plenty of board game titles that have been converted into video games such as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and RISK to name a few. I do feel though that sometimes they can often feel a little lacklustre if they aren’t done well but I am always willing to give them a go. CATAN – Console Edition is now available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and comes in two different versions. Does this iteration of the world-famous board game convert well to the big screen? Read on and find out.

Introduction

The last time we saw CATAN on Xbox was way back in 2007 when Xbox Live Arcade was a thing. It fared pretty well back then with good to great review scores but to be fair, the range of titles on consoles especially board game related as well as indie wasn’t as congested as it is to this day. CATAN – Console Edition is developed by Nomad Games and published by my friends over at Dovetail Games, the team who create the impressive Train Simulator games. The game has evolved somewhat since the version from 16 years ago. The game features cross-platform online multiplayer between the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S generations bringing longevity and replayability beyond the single and local multiplayer aspects. If you choose the deluxe edition of the game you’ll gain access to an additional 5 championship board layouts not featured in the base game.

Gameplay

Don’t know how to play CATAN? No, I didn’t either, but it’s not an issue whatsoever as there are some brilliantly constructed tutorials. There is a plethora of video tutorials, interactive guides and an easy-to-access ruleset to read at your leisure. If you have never played before then I highly recommend playing through the interactive guides. Working through these will guide you through the basics of the game, and how to set up and manage resources. Beyond this, it will show you how to trade, build and look into development cards and more.

Get Started

The aim of the game is to be the first with ten victory points. You’ll achieve this by using resources from the island to create roads, settlements and more in a bid to become the most successful settler on the board. Eventually, you’ll be able to upgrade your structures across the board in your bid to be the winner. Every player starts the game off by placing two roads and two settlements each onto the board. You can choose anywhere on the board and you’ll have to be aware of the numbered indicators surrounding your settlement and road as you’ll pick up resources based on various numbers of dice being rolled on nearby hex tiles.

Roll Those Dice

There are four main things to do on each turn. Firstly you will roll the dice, you can choose to trade resources with other players or the bank, build or purchase development cards and also play these cards. As you roll the dice, you’ll gather resources from tiles based on the number rolled based on what tile displays the same number of dots on the dice. You’ll notice almost straight away against AI players that you’ll receive trade offers, you’ll want to try and gear these trades to your own advantage in sight of the win. Be aware of the robber who can steal your resources if you stockpile them for too long and don’t utilise them with building or trades.

Use The Development Cards Wisely

Development cards will come into play shortly after the game begins and can give you several advantages over your opponents, for example, you could have a card that moves the robber, builds additional roads instantly or even grants you an extra victory point. I found that each game averaged around 30-40 minutes but could potentially last for longer based on how people across the board play.

Whilst I didn’t try local multiplayer, there is a system that allows people to use their smartphone to play which is amazing if you don’t have four controllers to hand. I’d imagine there is also a system to pass one controller around but I didn’t test this. Online multiplayer appeared to be fruitful with players and I wasn’t waiting around too long to find real people. This made the game far more competitive and way more strategic than playing against the computer.

Graphics & Audio

CATAN – Console Edition brings the board to life as it pops out of the ocean in all its animated glory. The UI isn’t overly complicated and easy to understand once you get through the tutorial elements of the game. I love the way each tile has a bit of life poured into it and you can see the humans wandering around almost like honey I shrunk the kids’ form. It gives the game a feeling of life and an atmosphere rather than having stagnant tiles. The ability to zoom in and out of the board and rotate it at any point during the game is excellent, not many boards game-based titles do this. Sound effects are punchy and the soft and gentle soundtrack is relaxing and sets a nice tone for the game.

In Conclusion

CATAN – Console Edition brings the classic base version of the board game to life and does a great adaptation of it on the big screen. It can be played casually against AI, at home with family and friends with the use of smartphones or with real live individuals online. Whilst I found it competitive, it is the perfect game to kick back and relax with at the same time. Visually it does a great job and brings the world of CATAN to life. Unfortunately, there aren’t any real-life expansions of CATAN that exist here, but hopefully, that may be something that could come along in the future.

For the price point, it is absolutely worth it if you have already sifted through the other board game adaptations on consoles. Considering it costs £50 to purchase the real version of the game to sit around the table at home with, £16.99 for the base version or £19.99 for the deluxe with 5 extra boards is a fantastic price. Enthusiasts of CATAN will be right at home with the console version which is also available on PlayStation 4/5.