Living Forest is a competitive strategy game where players take on the roles of nature spirits, vying to save the sacred tree from the evil flames of Onibi. Players utilize push-your-luck and deck-building mechanisms, drafting Guardian Animal Cards and managing resources to achieve victory through one of three different conditions. It requires strategic depth and multiple plays to master.
The Verdict
based on 13 reviews
Living Forest is praised as a surprisingly solid, thinky, and puzzly deckbuilding game. The reviewer highly recommends its engaging mechanics, charming art, and overall accessibility, finding it a lovely and beautiful experience.
GamesRadar+ highly praises Living Forest as a rare achievement in board game design, successfully blending push-your-luck, deck-building, and tile placement into an excellent and fun experience, despite acknowledging its potentially niche appeal.
The reviewer found Living Forest to be a game that 'just feels good,' appreciating its push-your-luck deckbuilding, multiple paths to victory, fast gameplay, and beautiful artwork.
The reviewer highly recommends 'Living Forest,' praising its engaging gameplay, solid design, and surprising depth that appeals to both families and experienced gamers, noting the stunning artwork is surpassed only by its excellent design.
This video from Board Game Dad evaluates 'Living Forest', exploring its mechanics and highlighting what new elements it introduces to the deck-building genre.
This video offers an overview and review of the physical board game Living Forest, detailing its push-your-luck and deck-building mechanics, and explaining the three different paths to victory.
The reviewer rates Living Forest an 8, acknowledging its Kenner Spiel award win. They particularly praise the game's varied and straightforward victory conditions as a strong design choice.
Living Forest is a charming and fast-paced game, blending multiple mechanics without feeling convoluted. The reviewer praises its lovely production, beautiful art, and generous gameplay that encourages quick replays.
Living Forest offers interesting gameplay with appealing art and unique push-your-luck mechanics across three distinct win conditions. While generally positive, some reviewers found it a bit clunky with upkeep steps and questioned its long-term replayability.
This video provides a comprehensive review of the board game Living Forest. It explores the game's mechanics, evaluates its overall quality, and discusses whether it was a deserving winner of the Kennerspiel award, offering the reviewer's perspective.
The reviewer found Living Forest a thought-provoking game with strategic depth, where initial concerns about a dominant strategy were dispelled by varied player experiences and the need for adaptive play. It offers multiple viable paths to victory, making it engaging despite its perceived 'fragility'.
The reviewer praises Living Forest as a beautifully produced game with engaging push-your-luck mechanics and multiple victory paths, making it deeper than a typical gateway game but still accessible. They particularly enjoy the tree-planting strategy and note the importance of balancing actions against the risk of escalating fires.
The reviewer finds 'Living Forest' to be an enjoyable push-your-luck game with appealing artwork and simultaneous play, recommending it for those who appreciate the genre, despite it feeling a bit lighter than desired and losing some replayability over time.
Lists to explore
View all lists & features
Top 25Best 2 player-only board games
Find out which games to play with your loved ones, siblings, friends, kids or parents.
Top 25The 25 best card games
Their components fits nicely in the palm of hands yet the possibilities are endless.
RankedJamey Stegmaier board games, ranked
From Wingspan to Scythe — see how Jamey Stegmaier's games stack up.
Top 25Best Cooperative board games
Win together or lose together — co-op games worth rallying your table around.