Daybreak (2023)

“What surprised us is how hopeful it feels for a game about a grim subject. It’s not a lecture. It’s a tight engine-builder where your local choices ripple into a shared global track, and the cooperation is real — one region racing ahead doesn’t win, you all cross the line together or not at all.”

Matt Lees praises Daybreak as a surprisingly clever cooperative game about climate action, noting that its strategic depth becomes more apparent with repeated plays and that it successfully creates an engaging engine for players to manage carbon and global temperatures.

The reviewer highly recommends Daybreak as one of the best board games releasing in January 2024, highlighting it as a notable title worth seeking out among the month's new retail offerings.

Rahdo highly praises Daybreak, calling it an absolutely phenomenal cooperative game that brilliantly blends satisfying multi-use card play with a resonant theme. He considers it a potential masterpiece from co-designer Matt Leacock and a strong contender for one of the best games of the year due to its innovative cooperative gameplay and quick, simultaneous play.

The reviewer enthusiastically praises Daybreak, calling it a fantastic board game that breaks new ground in both setting and gameplay. They highlight its gorgeous artwork, zero-plastic production, accessibility features, modular difficulty, and solo mode, concluding that they cannot find a single fault with the game.

The reviewer highly praises Daybreak, calling it a really fun game that is a significant step up from Pandemic, particularly highlighting its superb card play and the adored tableau building effect.

The reviewer highly praises Daybreak as a fantastic cooperative game that excels with its card-driven combo mechanics and difficulty balance, considering it among the best cooperative games of 2023 and noting its absence of 'quarterbacking' issues.

“Co-op Board Games enthusiastically recommends Daybreak, calling it one of their favorite cooperative board games in recent years due to its unique experience and a nearly perfect blend of theme and mechanics that provides a rewarding sense of accomplishment.”

“The big news with Daybreak (known in Germany as e-Mission) is that it finally gives Matt Leacock his first win in an SdJ category. Gamers around the world are delighted to see Mr. Leacock finally walk away with a pöppel.”

The reviewer, through the video's title, highly commends Daybreak, recognizing its victory as the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2024, signaling its high quality as a cooperative board game focused on climate change.

“We consider Daybreak to be a Must Play game. A worthy but also entertaining achievement by Matt Leacock and Matteo Menapace, which might even give you hope that the world’s biggest problem is a solvable one.”

“Daybreak est un jeu coopératif intelligent qui mêle stratégie, construction de moteur et coordination entre joueurs pour lutter contre le changement climatique. Porté par un thème fort, un matériel soigné et une production écoresponsable, il offre une expérience engageante, exigeante et profondément actuelle.”