Last modified June 10, 2025 by jarjar

Overview
In Wondrous Creatures, players take on the role of explorers on a journey to discover a mysterious island populated by countless fantastical creatures. The game combines original mechanics of worker placement on a hexagonal map with card tableau construction, where each worker interacts with adjacent icons to collect resources or activate special effects. With over 100 creature cards with unique abilities to collect and combine, Wondrous Creatures offers a rich and immersive experience combining management, exploration, and discovery in a universe populated by fantastical creatures.

First impressions
Reminiscent of Everdell in some ways, this game first captivates with its beautiful components and superb cards. It's a board-building game, where you collect symbols to maximize available actions and create effective sequences to generate maximum points.

The worker placement here offers a touch of originality with this collection of adjacent symbols and the option to use your net to execute an adjacent bonus. Despite its accessible rules, the game is far from being as simple as it seems. You have to know how to choose your cards carefully to set up a points machine. Every choice, whether it's where to place your workers or the objectives to aim for, can directly influence the other players. It often happens that an opponent steals a card you had spotted.

The game offers some very satisfying combos, and it's not uncommon to string together a long series of combos at the end of the game. The intensity increases crescendo as the game progresses, even if it can feel a bit long at times. I also question the relevance of taking a full turn to mark the success of an objective, It makes the game unnecessarily longer. On BGG, some suggest removing 4 trophies to shorten the length while maintaining the essence of the game. Usually, I'm not a fan of changing the rules, knowing how much the authors and developers refine these details... but I must admit that in this case, the idea appeals to me.

The components are good quality, the captain with his magnet, very well thought out! The game is less subtle than Everdell, less narrative, less tense in terms of resources and competitiveness, but more precise, and crazier in terms of combos.

GAME FACT
Bad Comet, the publisher, explains: "We are a company that can be described as a "publisher" of board games, but we believe that the word "developer" describes us better. Indeed, unlike other traditional board game publishers who outsource their games, we control the entire creation and release process in-house. We do everything ourselves, from designing the mechanisms to the illustrations, designing the components, and even producing the trailers."

TECHNICAL SHEET
Number of games played: 2
Best player configuration: 2-3
Price paid: CAD 97
Level: experienced player (BGG complexity: 2.98/5)
My best score: 148

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS
  I loved :
>> Beautiful theme: The world of fantastic creatures and ecosystems is original, immersive and very well illustrated.
>> Accessibility: Simple rules to understand, ideal for a family audience or casual players, but who are not afraid to get involved, still a lot of text to read on the cards.
>> Replayability: Thanks to the variety of maps, creatures and objectives, each game offers a different experience.
>> Balance between strategy and luck: The game requires planning, but remains fluid and dynamic thanks to well-balanced random elements.
>> Quality Materials: Carefully crafted components, attractive illustrations, and ergonomic design. Special mention goes to the magnets on the meeple.

I liked less :
>> Little depth for expert players: The mechanics may seem too simple or lightweight for those looking for a more complex strategic challenge.
>> Part that seems to be dragging on a bit, we suggest removing 4 trophies in the community to reduce the length.
>> Draw Dependence: Although the luck is balanced, a bad draw can sometimes frustrate or even block your strategies.

NO RULES
Be careful to sort your immediate action cards in order, because some cards allow you to replay the last immediate card you played.

"It's a beautiful game, set in a fantasy world. An accessible game but with a little touch of complexity thanks to all its available cards. If you like worker placements that add a little touch of originality, coupled with card collection, you'll be delighted!"

FUN FACTOR 🙂 🙂 🙂