Hans im Glück probably is my favourite publisher and I enjoy their midweight line of games. But Paleo is a disappointment. It’s a cooperative game that sets out tell a story in multiple episodes and fails to deliver.

Never during my two plays did I have a feeling of being a stone age human battling nature. I always saw it for a mechanical exercise of collecting enough symbols of a certain type to match the requirements for a round and ultimately fulfil the victory conditions.

The decision making is lacklustre. Choosing one of your first three cards to play in coordination with the other player(s) is more of a crapshoot than an interesting decision based on incomplete information. Choosing which card effects to use quickly becomes an unremarkable exercise in linear engine building. I have no interest to dive deeper and I’m honestly surprised by the exceptional rating of Paleo.