Underwater Cities

Underwater Cities asks players to build and develop underwater metropolises, constructing farms, desalination plants, laboratories, and the tunnel networks that connect them. Designed by Vladimir Suchy and published by Delicious Games in 2018, with an English edition from Rio Grande Games, it combines worker placement with a card-play system that creates a distinctive double tension throughout the game. Community reception has been broadly positive, particularly among players who enjoy engine-building games with significant strategic depth.

It arrived during a period crowded with strong euro releases and managed to carve out a loyal following. Praise centers on the clever interaction between card colors and action spaces, while criticism tends to focus on the game’s length, the influence of card draw luck, and a theme that many players find underdeveloped despite the intriguing premise.

Underwater Cities’ Pacing Shines

The color-matching system is the centerpiece, and it’s what makes Underwater Cities feel fresh within a familiar genre. Players place workers on action spaces, each of which has a color. Playing a card that matches the color of your chosen space gives you both the space’s action and the card’s effect. A mismatch means you only get one or the other. This creates a constant push and pull between taking the action you need and playing the card you want, producing tough, interesting decisions that persist from the first turn to the last.

Engine building is deeply satisfying across the game’s three eras. You start with almost nothing and gradually construct a sprawling underwater network of cities and supporting infrastructure. Production phases convert your built-up infrastructure into resources, and watching your engine grow from generating almost nothing to producing massive outputs is one of the game’s core pleasures. The progression feels earned because every piece of your network represents a specific decision you made earlier.

Multiple viable strategic paths keep the game fresh. You can focus on building a wide network of connected cities, invest heavily in upgraded buildings that produce more resources, chase special project cards for end-game scoring, or pursue a balanced approach. Different card draws push you toward different strategies, and the best players adapt their plans based on what becomes available.

Replayability holds up well over many sessions. The combination of randomized card draws, different action space competition depending on player count, and the variety of building combinations means the puzzle reconfigures itself each game. You’ll develop preferred strategies, but the game resists formulaic play.

Where Underwater Cities Stumbles

Game length is the most common complaint. Underwater Cities routinely exceeds its box estimate, especially at three and four players. The decision space is wide enough that even experienced players need time to evaluate their options, and the game’s structure of three eras with multiple rounds each means sessions can stretch toward three hours with a full table. For a game that’s fundamentally about optimizing an engine, that’s a significant time commitment.

Card draw luck introduces a randomness element that frustrates some players. Drawing a hand full of cards in one color when you need another can limit your options in ways that feel outside your control. The game mitigates this somewhat by allowing you to play cards for their action regardless of color matching, but losing the bonus action hurts enough that a bad draw sequence can put you behind players who got luckier.

Thematically, Underwater Cities doesn’t fully deliver on its promise. Building underwater cities is a compelling concept, but the game’s implementation keeps the setting at a distance. The player boards are functional rather than evocative, and the gameplay itself feels more like an abstract optimization exercise than a thematic exploration of deep-sea colonization. Players who need strong thematic immersion may find the disconnect disappointing.

Player interaction is mostly indirect. Competition for action spaces provides some tension, but beyond that, players are largely focused on their own networks. There’s little reason to pay close attention to what opponents are building, and the game can feel like parallel puzzles played at the same table. Groups that value direct interaction or aggressive competition will find Underwater Cities too isolated.

The Efficiency Trap in Underwater Cities

Here’s what matters most about Underwater Cities is that it rewards efficient play above all else. With only three actions per round and a limited number of rounds per era, every placement matters. Wasting an action on a suboptimal pairing between your card and your chosen space creates a deficit that compounds over the course of the game. This is the source of both the game’s greatest satisfaction and its greatest frustration. When you string together a sequence of perfectly matched plays, it feels brilliant. When the cards don’t cooperate, it can feel punishing.

Should You Play Underwater Cities?

Underwater Cities works best for two to three players who enjoy heavy engine-building games and don’t mind lengthy sessions. The solo mode offers a solid challenge with a target score to beat, and two-player games hit a nice balance of competition and manageable play time. At four, the game runs long enough that it’s only recommended for groups who don’t mind extended sessions.

Skip it if you’re sensitive to card luck in strategy games, if you need strong thematic immersion, or if your group finds games over two hours to be a hard stop. Underwater Cities asks for your time and attention and rewards careful planning, but it won’t apologize for how long it takes.

The Verdict on Underwater Cities

Underwater Cities builds a compelling strategic experience around its color-matching card and worker placement system. The tension of choosing between the action you need and the card you want to play creates difficult, interesting decisions every turn. It runs long and the theme stays at arm’s length, but the mechanical puzzle underneath is strong enough to carry the experience. For engine-building fans who enjoy brain-burning optimization, it’s a rewarding addition to any collection.