Catan: Console Edition – Review

Catan: Console Edition is the digital recreation of the popular board game Catan (originally called Settlers of Catan) which was released back in 1995.
Many will be aware of the original, or even the Xbox 360 title released back in 2007, but for newcomers here’s a lowdown of the rules, which I highly recommend checking, but if you always know the ins and outs, you can skip the next two sections.

The Catan board is made up of 19 hexagonal titles in hexagon 5 tiles wide, 1 is the desert where the robber starts (more on him later) while the other 18 tiles each represent one of 5 resources, lumbar, brick, wool, grain and ore. Upon each of the tiles is also a number between 2 and 12 (excluding 7).
Players take it in turns rolling the dice, with the amount on the dice, awarding the appropriate resource, to anyone who has a settlement on a corner of that tile.
The game starts with each player taking it in turns to place 2 settlements and two roads, further settlements can only be built on a road, and can’t be placed directly connected (1 tile) to another settlement. So, players need to keep collecting resources, such as 1 lumbar and 1 brick to build a road, or 1 each of lumbar, brick, wool and grain, to build a settlement, players can also use 2 grain and 3 ore to convert a settlement to a city (which doubles awarded resources for connected tiles) and finally 1 each of wool, grain and ore for a development card.

Development cards come in a variety of flavours, Year of plenty gives two free resources, Road building gives you two free roads, Monopoly allows you to take all resources of one type from the other players, and some award a victory point which you’ll want to save, finally the Knight works towards the largest army bonus, while also allowing you to move the robber.

The Robber (also activated when rolling a 7) can be moved to any tile, and stops any resources being gathered from that tile while the robber is in place, it also allows the player who move dhim, to steal one card from a player who has a settlement touching that tile.
The aim of the game is to reach 10 victory points, Firstly you get 1 point per settlement, 2 per city, and then there’s bonus points, 2 for the largest army (most knight cards after playing 3+) and a point for the longest road (5+) and any extras from Development cards.

And finally, to help achieve all the resources needed, you can also trade with any willing players, or “maritime” which allows you to trade at higher ratios, which can be softened if you have a settlement on the coast, connected to the ports which each show the ratio.

If you’ve skipped this far, you’ll understand the necessity of trying to explain to newcomers and you’ll also appreciate that, while I’ve probably made it sound far more complicated than it is, it’s incredibly easy to grasp and once you do, it’s undoubtedly one of the most fun, tactical and rewarding games available, which is why it’s still going strong after almost 30 years.

So, with the long introduction out of the way, let’s see how the 2023 release Catan: console Edition does, and why I feel it’s even better than the real thing.

Firstly as fans of Monopoly and other games on the Xbox will be aware, a digital recreation means there’s no lost pieces, no losing the dice down the back of the sofa, and best of all, you don’t even need friends or family to understand the game, because there’s some pretty good AI and full online play, but if you are looking for local play, there’s also a smart “second screen” option, that allows players to scan a QR code to show their hands on a mobile phone, to keep their cards secret from other players.

The entire game is well presented, with colourful and detailed tiles including small animated characters that helps bring the game to life, each tile is easily recognizable and the numbers even show a number of dots to easily signify which numbers are “better” and have a higher chance of being rolled with two dice.

Audio, as you might imagine with a board game, certainly isn’t the strongest part, but there’s enough activity to keep your eardrums occupied, without resorting to droning and repetitive music and soundbites.

of 18 characters to choose from (6 initially locked), 7 colours which represent the background and the colour of your roads and buildings and there’s also 4 frames (2 locked) and 6 dice variations to help customise things a little.
With pre-orders rewarding early-adopters with a frame and dice skin, there’s no doubt we’ll see similar additions as DLC in the future, I really hope Catan also consider the Uno route adding licensed variations, because I don’t know about you, but I’d love to see something like a Pokémon version where you collect different Pokémon types rather than resources and build Poke Mart’s and Gym’s on your road to victory.

But at the moment, what you see if what you get, so while I hope they add in other board variations, maybe a classic version, or some alternate animations, at the moment, these screenshots explain exactly what you’re getting.

One area to address is AI, the computer-controlled characters don’t have a difficulty level, so if like me you find them fairly easy to outsmart, you’ll be pleased to know there’s thousands of gamers in the same position, and on-line play, allowing cross-platform players to come together over Catan, means you’ll never be short of a challenge.

Unfortunately, there’s always some negatives, so let’s explore where Catan: Console Edition falls a little short. AI controlled turns seem a little delayed, so I’d love to see an option to speed that up and around launch there’s a few server issues, meaning online games aren’t always working well, sometimes you’re loaded into a game as the 5th player so you have to spectate and then there’s the persistent issue of online gamers deciding to rage quite as soon as someone’s a few points away from victory.
Locally while the Screen-Share function is a fantastic idea, there’s a few bugs to iron out and the screens aren’t always updating as they should and when I checked the screenshare didn’t show a single card. While I’ve not experienced any performance issues at all (Xbox Series X), I have also heard reports of people having unresponsive buttons.

As always, I like to give a little lee-way on small bugs which might already be fixed by the time you’re reading this, and it’s worth remembering there’s really nothing critical which is unlikely to be fixed with a single patch.

One saving grace which will give your wallets a warm and fuzzy feeling while you wait for a patch to aid multiplayer action, is the price. £16.99 is already a reasonable price, but considering the actual board game is currently on Amazon for £40 with a recommended retail price of £50, so not only is the Console Edition considerably cheaper, it will (once those few bugs are squished) make it far easier to play with others than having to go to the hassle of providing wine and pizza for a game night.

Catan: Console Edition is a fantastic digital recreation of the popular board game with a few bugs to squish. With a small patch, this could well become the best version of Catan for anyone who doesn’t want the hassle of organising game-nights and having to meet face to face.

About Author