Maracaibo – Digital Coming Soon!

(Edit: 12/6/21 – We have a release date! It’s coming on December 20. So soon!!!

Here’s another screenshot.

(Edit: 10/7/21 – Spiralburst Studio has released a couple more screenshots and a preview video!

Here’s the video

And here are a couple of screenshots.

No word on a release date yet, but it’s getting closer!

Now back to the original post.)

A few months back, I mentioned that Alexander Pfister’s Maracaibo game was going to be coming to digital soon, developed by Spiralburst Studio.

It was originally supposed to be coming in early 2021 (or maybe even late 2020), but Spiralburst wants to get this right so they have pushed back the launch date.

They were even hoping to get it done for April 2021, but in an email from yesterday, they announced that it wasn’t going to happen then either.

However, it’s not all bad news.

From the email:

“We’ve made a ton of progress on the app since December and are close to a release-ready state. We were targeting April for this, but we still need a couple more months to add some finishing touches. Beta testers have been giving us incredible feedback, and we want to take this extra time to address all of it. We want to make sure we’re providing you with the best possible experience on day 1.”

I can certainly support that kind of dedication. You don’t want to release a crap game just because you announced a release date.

Too many video game developers used to do that (though now they aren’t afraid to push announced dates back).

In the meantime, the email also provided some pretty cool screen shots.

I haven’t played the game on the table yet, but I’m anxiously awaiting my chance to give it a try when it’s available.

It looks like it’s coming along nicely.

What is Maracaibo?

Let’s blurb the description from BGG (stop me before I blurb again!)

“Maracaibo, the new strategy game for 1-4 players by Alexander Pfister, is set in the Caribbean during the 17th century. The players try to increase their influence in three nations in four rounds with a play time of 40 minutes per player.

The players sail on a round course through the Caribbean, e.g., you have city tiles where you are able to perform various actions or deliver goods to. One special feature is an implemented quest mode over more and various tiles, which tells the player, who chase after it, a little story.

As a player, you move with your ship around the course, managing it by using cards like in other games from Alexander Pfister.“

Doesn’t it look amazing?

Hopefully Spiralburst will come through with the gameplay like they seem to be doing with the graphics.

Granted, it’s not high-end graphics requiring an extensive video card, but since I don’t have one, I like how this looks!

I’ve heard good things about the game in general and I can’t wait to actually give it a spin.

Maybe as a review? (hint hint).

Or not. I’ll probably buy it anyway (probably shouldn’t admit that).

You can sign up for their mailing list on their web site if you want further updates on how the game is going.

There will hopefully be a trailer soon!

Have you played this one on the table? What do you think of it?

Let me know in the comments.