Everdell is a lush valley, full of cute woodland critters who are looking to settle and create prosperous cities. Players take on the task of leading their groups of critters to build the foundations of their new homes. From buildings to constructions, characters to meet and events to host, you will look to fill out your city through the seasons of a year.

Strictly looking at visuals, Everdell, delivers a striking impression on players. Every component is treated with complete care and thoughtfulness. The card art looks like it’s straight from a fantasy children’s book. The towering Evertree serves as the set piece to tie it all together. And for a game that has a lot of moving parts, the cards do a good job of delivering information to the player in a simple, yet effective way.

To gather resources required to draft cards, the game uses worker placement with a combination of basic locations and randomized Forest locations. Players begin the game with just 3 workers. The game takes place over three seasons (Spring, Summer and Fall). As players progress into each season, they gain more workers which allows for more gameplay options. Events, which score points, are available for players to achieve depending on if they can meet the necessary requirements. This gives players a way to identify paths to victory even early on in the game.

The primary game mechanic revolves around tableau building; using cards drafted from a shared pool or in a player’s hand. Cards are divided into Constructions and Critters. Constructions can be substituted as the cost to draft Critters of a matching type, allowing for combo plays. Some Constructions can even be used as additional locations.

Initially, the game starts out quite fast-paced. There aren’t much choices, and resource building feels slow. But as you enter Summer, the game picks up and you begin to see how certain cards can be used to maximize scoring. The different parts of the game that change from play-to-play, feel varied enough to give strong replay value. After my first play-through, I was already thinking about how I would adjust my strategies the next time. And it’s always a good sign when you’re thinking about playing the game again.

Despite it's family-friendly appearance, I would find it tough to recommend for all ages. It may look cute and kid-friendly but with all of the moving pieces the game can get complex and even a little cutthroat. Everdell is a great game for enthusiastic gamers to pick up as their first strategic endeavour. The mechanics are common in many other strategy games, so it’s a great starting-off point. For experienced gamers, they should have no trouble jumping into it. With Everdell, a little goes a long way. A little effort and attention can bring bountiful enjoyment, like a critter building a home from twigs and stones.