Review: Catan: New Energies

Not everyone will appreciate a side of existential threat with their board game, but that is exactly what you get with Catan: New Energies. It drags the beloved classic Catan into the modern day with fossil fuels and renewable energy, an inventive climate crisis mechanic, and a clever illustration of the consequences if we fail to work toward a greener world. This stand-alone board game for two to four players doesn’t require the original, though experienced players will grasp it more easily.

While the message is clear, the makers did not forget about flow or fun. The addictive hook of Catan, the deals, the room for multiple strategies, and the variation in playthroughs are all present and correct. It is familiar enough to entice old fans and fresh enough to demand a look for newcomers. New Energies also succeeds in making its point, and our first game provoked a long and interesting conversation with my kids about why climate change is happening and why some folks are not on board with fighting it.

New Age Catan

If you are unfamiliar, The Settlers of Catan was first published in 1995. The game takes place on a fictional medieval island with hexagonal tiles placed randomly, ensuring plenty of replay value. Players must build roads, towns, and cities by spending resources like lumber and grain. Resources are collected and traded after dice rolls to determine which tiles pay out each turn. A robber mechanic spices things up when anyone rolls a seven, and some additional achievements and cards provide victory points. The winner is the first person to amass 10 victory points.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Five editions and various expansions were released over the years, and the game was rebranded as simply Catan for the 20th-anniversary edition in 2015. It has sold more than 45 million copies in all its various forms. Catan: New Energies is a stand-alone game rather than an expansion, and it was first conceived over a decade ago, then shelved until creator Klaus Teuber and his sons decided to resurrect it during lockdown.

All the basic mechanics are still there: the randomly generated map of hexagonal tiles, the resource harvesting and trading, and the race for 10 victory points. But there are several additions and a modern-day makeover. Energy is a new resource, and you harvest it by building power plants; towns can support one, and cities up to three. The energy you generate can be spent on resources, including the new science cards needed to build power plants.

Fossil fuel power plants cost one science card, while renewable plants cost three, and cards are scarce at the beginning of the game. The catch is that building fossil fuel plants accelerates the risk of climate disasters and increases what’s called your local footprint. Each player must draw brown event tokens from a bag at the beginning of their turn, and these add up to trigger climate events. Most have a negative impact, such as hazards that block cities from earning resources for a turn, and they tend to punish the player with the highest local footprint.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Conversely, as you build renewable plants, you free up green event tokens to go into the bag. Pull enough green tokens out, and you trigger positive events that tend to reward the player with the lowest local footprint. This new bag and token mechanic also serves as a kind of timer, because an empty bag triggers the catastrophic end of the game. When that happens, only players with more renewable plants than fossil fuel plants can win, but it still feels like a collective failure.

This may sound like a lot, but Catan players will likely need just one game to grasp the new mechanics. As part of the makeover, the robber has become an environmental inspector, and the knights are now cleanup cards. There’s still the longest road (now trade route) worth two victory points, and a cleanest environment card replaces the largest army card from the original. These changes are cosmetically clunky but surprisingly seamless in gameplay.

Power Play

Catan is undoubtedly one of the best family board games of all time, and we have played it a ton, so the prospect of a fresh twist was enticing. What we liked best about New Energies is that it allows for different strategies and also adds a cooperative vibe. Most folks will want to work together to ensure that the game does not end early because of climate crises. I say most folks because my eldest is intent on winning with fossil fuels and a Mr. Burns-esque cavalier attitude to pollution.

While most players build fossil fuel plants to get started, you can begin to shut them down and replace them with renewables in the mid-game, but this does require some sacrifice. Some people will prefer to race for those victory points, hoping to hit 10 before the world burns, and it is possible to do so. But, as we found in our playthroughs, a polluting player is a thorn in everyone’s side and can cause frustration and even arguments.

The clever thing about this is that it invites comparisons with the real world. The nations and politicians who continue to deny climate change and pollute the planet demand greater sacrifice from those trying to redress the balance, and there’s a tipping point where it can’t be done without consensus. This may sound like heavy-handed moralizing from a board game, but it never feels like the game is hammering the message. It simply becomes clear as you play.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Because Catan: New Energies plays much like the original, dice rolls are crucial, and luck plays a big role. There is always a player (usually me) grousing about how their numbers never come up or complaining they get blocked more than everyone else. For this version, the counters that trigger events blend in with the board a little too easily (it would be nice if they stood out). It also feels too tough to get science cards early on, and if folks don’t get on board with renewables, it can start to feel like a race to the end of the world.

The original Catan usually takes us 45 to 75 minutes to finish. Catan: New Energies is generally longer, at around 90 minutes. It is harder to get to 10 victory points, and while the climate event mechanic puts a kind of clock on things, the game can be extended if folks pull together to remove pollution. This can make for some exciting endgames that feel very different from the original, but it is a massive bummer when you fail (like a disease winning in Pandemic).

Ultimately, we must remember to ask the most important question: Is it fun? Catan: New Energies can be a lot of fun. Polling my opponents from the last few games, almost everyone enjoyed it. (My youngest did not, but the original is not her bag either.) Fans of Catan will probably like it. If you did not like Catan, give it a miss. I don’t think it improves on the original, but Catan veterans ready for a new challenge should give New Energies a go for game night. Just don’t invite Mr. Burns.