Forbidden Desert

If you’ve ever dreamed of navigating treacherous deserts while laughing in the face of adversity, then Gamewright Forbidden Desert is your ticket to a mirthful and thrilling adventure! This cooperative board game is a delightful blend of strategy, teamwork, and desert drama that will keep you on your toes and rolling with laughter. First off, let’s talk about the game’s design. The vibrant multi-colored artwork is a feast for the eyes, transforming your table into a sun-soaked desert landscape that is both mesmerizing and slightly mischievous. The components are sturdy and well-crafted, from the detailed desert tiles to the nifty player pieces that make you feel like you’re truly embarking on an epic journey. The gameplay is where the real fun begins. As you and your fellow adventurers work together to survive the scorching heat and unearth the hidden treasures of the Forbidden Desert, you’ll find yourselves in the midst of a thrilling challenge. Each turn brings a new twist, and the cooperative nature of the game means that every victory feels like a team triumph, and every setback becomes a shared adventure. But here’s the whimsical twist: despite the intensity of the desert sun and the cunning sandstorms, you’ll be surprised at how much fun you can have in this arid wasteland. The game’s blend of strategy and chance ensures that no two games are ever the same, and the laughter you’ll share with your fellow explorers will make every setback feel like a minor hiccup in an otherwise glorious quest. One thing to note is that this game does not come with a complimentary camel or magical oasis—but if it did, it would make the experience even more enchanting! Instead, you’ll have to rely on your wits, teamwork, and a sprinkle of good humor to make it through the desert unscathed. In summary, Gamewright Forbidden Desert is a whimsical, cooperative adventure that will make your game nights memorable and your desert escapades unforgettable. Whether you’re strategizing with friends or working together as a family, this game offers endless fun and laughter. So gather your fellow adventurers, brace yourselves for the heat, and let the desert adventure begin!

Great game for the grandkids- friendly competition, engaging, strategizing. Recommend for the kids and adults.

Forbidden Desert is a thrilling cooperative board game that’s perfect for playing with friends. From the very first turn, it pulls everyone into a tense, strategic struggle for survival as you work together to escape a deadly desert before it’s too late. What really makes Forbidden Desert shine is its teamwork. Every player has a unique role with special abilities, and success depends on smart communication and planning. Each decision feels meaningful—do you dig for parts, shield teammates from the blazing sun, or race against the sandstorms closing in? The game constantly keeps you on your toes, and the difficulty feels challenging without being frustrating. The theme is incredibly immersive. The shifting sands, limited water, and relentless storm create real pressure, making every victory feel earned. Even when you lose (and you probably will at first), it just makes you want to try again with a better strategy. Overall, Forbidden Desert is a fantastic strategic co-op game and an excellent choice for friends who enjoy working together under pressure. I loved it—from the tension to the teamwork to the sense of accomplishment when you finally escape. Highly recommended for game nights with friends.

I'm a big fan of the "Pandemic Light" game of Forbidden Island. It's a beautiful game that fun to play and helps people like how cooperative board games are played. Coming off my high from Forbidden Island I snatched up the sequel game Forbidden Desert. After purchasing it I realized it might be a mistake. Why have two slightly different versions of the same game? It sat on my shelf for a long time. I kept meaning to play it but never got around to it. Until now. This game may be similar to Forbidden Island, but it is not the same game. Forbidden Island had one thing out out to kill you (the slowly sinking island). Forbidden Island required you to collect and exchange cards in order to get the artifacts needed to win the game. Forbidden Island have a couple of "powers" to use to prevent disaster or press your advantage. This game on the other hand, has TWO things trying to kill you (you're slowly being buried in sand, and you're quickly dying of thirst). Forbidden Desert does away with card collecting and exchanging for artifacts and instead gives you mission to hunt for coordinates for said artifacts, shelters from the sun, precious water, and gear that again gives you powers to help keep you alive and win the game. All of this means... A Worthy Sequel When I finally got to play this game with just one other player, I enjoyed it very much. The artwork is fantastic. The gameplay is actually much simpler than it sounds, and its easy to get going right away. The "treasure hunting" mechanic works extremely well and makes the game exciting, as does the moving storm and draining water levels. I actually like this game better than Forbidden Island, because it seems to be more "action" oriented as you are dune-blasting, jet-packing, and digging for treasure, water, and clues, rather than just collecting cards and passing them around most of the time. This game is an outstanding value and whole lot of fun. If you enjoyed Forbidden Desert and want to try something new I highly recommend it. It's similar enough to feel familiar, and different enough to feel fresh and fun. Highly recommended to fan of Forbidden Island and Newcomers alike! Here's hoping for a sequel called (wait for it) Forbidden Planet! :)

This game is great and very challenging. We have played it 3 times since buying it and have yet to be successful, but we have been so close each time! It really makes you have to strategize and work together as a team. Seemingly small decisions can have a big impact especially as the storm picks up and starts to bury your tiles and consume your sand pile. I have played this with my 3 kids (10, 8 and 6) and they all enjoy it and it was easy for them to pick up. Definitely recommend for a fun family game night.

This is the first truly co-operative table top game I've owned. I bought it after seeing a few other co-operative board games played in seasons 1 and 2 of the popular YouTube-hosted series "TableTop", hosted by Wil Wheaton. Other reviewers have described the game play itself so I will write my review based on how it fits into our game collection. <b>Forbidden Desert vs other Co-op games</b> I bought "Forbidden Desert" because of its cheaper price point, solid reviews, build-quality, and because it is a modular game. It's predecessor "Forbidden Island" was more simplistic in comparison and I wanted something a bit meatier. Other co-op games seem to use a fixed board and "Desert" is modular AND the tiles are always on the move so that made it stand out as unique compared to any other game I own. <b>Forbidden Desert as a co-op game</b> "Forbidden Desert" has been a very welcome addition to my game collection because not everyone I play with enjoys being competitive. If I'm playing with casual gamers, there's no pressure to be aggressive or be "the best" at anything because everyone is part of the same team and everyone gets to pitch in with ideas on how the team should go about each round surviving and collecting ship pieces. I think the majority of our play-time is spent with everyone hovering over the board and deciding what steps each player will take for the next 4 rounds. ;) Sure, arguments can break out when two people have opposing ideas that they are strongly sure of but hopefully a democratic vote can take place as a tie breaker. Win or lose, players generally come away with a stronger sense of camaraderie than they had going in. This can be useful to use as an "end of the day" game for the group to play if we just had a particularly cut-throat session of "Ticket to Ride" or "Formula D", to kind of soothe any sore feelings. And with all the unique abilities each player gets, I've never had to fear that someone was going to feel left-out, useless, or "bad at games" - we win as a team or we lose as a team and if we lose, it's not anyone's fault because the desert is so "obviously hard to beat"! <b>Game Difficulty & Replay Value</b> I've found that we routinely win if everyone focuses on digging up clues as fast as possible. Also, the fewer players, the easier it is. Playing with just two, we always have to start the difficulty up a few notches. "Forbidden Desert" started out difficult through sheer intimidation, but once you learn to be aggressive in digging, the desert's deadly quirks become easier to deal with. Because of this, I fear the game not having as long of a replay life as some of my other games. There are only so many tiles in the game and the first time or two you play it's fun having the mystery of what you're going to dig up but that wears off after several plays. Then the newness lies in the random combination of "jobs" each player ends up with, as certain combinations work better than others and can add to the difficulty curve. When I bring in newbies, I let them make all the big decisions and lead the charge and just go along on the adventure and enjoy watching them freak out over the Sun Beats Down card coming up and having to deal with massive dunes of sand. After all, there's no satisfaction in bossing around everyone with "expert play knowledge". So there is replay value in using the game as a gateway game to introduce people to modern tabletop and Euro games. It's also probably great with a younger crowd (I've so far only played with adults!) <b>Conclusion</b> • Low cost-point • Very well-made: thick cards, metal tin box, wooden meeple, plastic (and one metal) ship pieces • Immediately accessible/easy to understand for any level of game player • Modular tiles, moving board, random jobs means a different game feel every time • Players Vs the Game really brings players together, win or lose For the cost, "Forbidden Desert" should be in everyone's game collection, even if it doesn't end up played as often, because it's a great gateway game or great to play if you have that "one friend" who can't stand doing anything remotely competitive. It's flavor is different from most popular tabletop/Euro games readily available today and so won't overlap with play style or feel of most other games.

I was first introduced to Forbidden Island when playing a friend's copy and found it to be a fun game with some unique mechanics. When I learned about Forbidden Desert I figured this would be similar but was surprised at the added twists this game has. It still relies on cooperation (though in my experience it seems like games tend to gravitate towards an overall "leader") but now literally adds the new layer of sand. It's a challenging game with replayability (winning is not easy and varies from game to game based on how the board is randomly pieced together). You and your fellow players find yourselves to have crash landed in the desert and are in a race against time to not only excavate the rumored sun powered aircraft but to also piece it together before the sand storm becomes too strong. Some fun game play differences when comparing with Forbidden Island: tunnels can be uncovered allowing you to move further along the playing field, there is a sand storm that has a mind of its own adding a level of unpredictability to the game (you do not know where the sand will pile up next or how many tiles the storm impacts), the way parts are unveiled adds a bit of uncertainty as you hope what lies beneath the sand will help save you (while in Forbidden Island you could come up with a plan on how to retrieve the different elements). The quality is high- with the game coming in a nice tin and pieces made of sturdy, thick cardboard as well as metal/plastic craft pieces. The only thing to be careful for is the propeller, it is rather fragile and can easily break. Cooperative games are not for everyone, as I have found when attempting to introduce others to the concept, and Forbidden Desert is no exception to some not understanding/enjoying these types of games. If you enjoy cooperative games then this is a fun time that I can see you playing again and again! If you have Forbidden Island, this is definitely a step up. The makers said that they were taking on the challenge of creating a completely new game play experience while leaving elements of Forbidden Island in tact and I believe they have succeeded.

When I first saw the format of the game I was unsure how difficult a game it would be since at first it seemed rather easy. After playing it though we quickly figured out that it was a rather difficult game! It's really fun and challenging to play. It's fun to play with any number of players, I've played it with 2, 3, and 5 players and it does get more difficult to beat as you get more players, but the challenge makes it all the more fun. It is a cooperative game so either everyone wins or losses - and losing can sometimes be just as fun as winning, most of the time it results in playing another game! The game was fairly easy to learn to play, out first play through it took us about 1-2hr to go through the instructions and play the game and once you get used to the game play a 2 player game can be as short as 30min or less depending on what happens. Each game has a unique setup of the game pieces so depending on which tiles end up as what locations a game can be completed in just a few turns or could end up requiring flipping all tiles before winning. The variability from game to game is what keeps the game exciting as well. Each game character has a unique special ability as well so it can be fun to mix and match what characters you play with. The game comes with 6 different characters so even in a 5 player game you can have variation for which character is left out. Overall it's an awesome game, is a great time killer, and is fun for both adults and children. The gameplay is very basic so kids can learn how to play fairly easily, the difficulty in the game comes with the strategy so depending on the age of the kids the adults playing might have to help them along.