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 23 reviews
The reviewer highly praises Living Forest as a lovely and forgiving deckbuilding game with a charming aesthetic and clever mechanics, offering a smoother and more refined experience than similar titles.
The reviewer absolutely adores Living Forest, praising its beautiful artwork, engaging mechanics, and easy-to-learn gameplay, despite personally struggling with its push-your-luck element. They highly recommend the game, stating players will not be disappointed.
The reviewer enthusiastically praises Living Forest as a wonderful game, highlighting its excellent push-your-luck mechanics, engaging gameplay, and absolutely stunning animal artwork. They particularly adore the game for being easy to teach and understand.
The reviewer likely had a very positive opinion of 'Living Forest', an acclaimed game known for its engaging push-your-luck and engine-building mechanics, suggesting it is a strong recommendation for players.
“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.
The reviewer, initially hesitant about its deck-building mechanics, found Living Forest to be a surprisingly engaging and accessible game with more depth than expected, ultimately recommending it as a personal favorite family game.
“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 highlights 'Living Forest' as a rewarding game, effectively blending push-your-luck, deck-building, and engine-building mechanics, which led to its Kennerspiel des Jahres win. While acknowledging initial setup, the game is described as a relatively simple process once started and offers engaging strategic decisions for enthusiasts.
The reviewer highly recommends "Living Forest," praising it as a visually appealing, fast-paced, and easy-to-learn push-your-luck deck-building game with engaging win conditions and enjoyable mitigation strategies. Despite minor criticisms regarding the lack of a rules reference and the limitation of one or two actions per turn, the game is enthusiastically recommended for fans of its mechanics.
The reviewer thoroughly enjoyed Living Forest, praising its simultaneous play, multiple victory conditions, impactful player interaction, and excellent components, though they noted it shines best at higher player counts rather than two players.
“We like Living Forest Duel so much that we recommend it in the following board game recommendation lists.”
Similar games
Similar theme
Lists to explore
View all lists & features
Top 25Best Cooperative board games
Our definitive ranking of the Best Cooperative board games, based on aggregated critic scores from multiple trusted review sources.
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.
Top 25Best party board games
Add laughs to your board game night with these party games.










