Governor of the West bills itself as a resource management sim, and giving the game a quick glance, you might think that it’s something of a city builder or 4x game, which is exactly what I thought. This, however, is not the case. Rather, I’d argue that Governor of the West plays more like a board game, with mechanics and general match length that remind me of something you’d play around the table at a game store.
While I was certainly expecting something different, I won’t say that I was disappointed by Governor of the West. It was just not what I was expecting.
I think the best way to explain how Governor of the West plays like a board game rather than a resource management or 4x game would be to simply explain the mechanics.
You begin a match in Governor of the West by selecting your starting character. Characters in Governor of the West can be considered “cards,” with their own unique ways of being played. This starting card is sort of like the hero in your deck that determines how you’re going to play.
The main difference between how you play is determined by whether your cards are better at gathering Fame or Dread.
See, the goal of a match in Governor of the West is to become, well, the Governor of the West. This is done through a two-fold objective: Your first step is to build a governor’s mansion, which requires a certain amount of a specific resource and will be attacked by soldiers once it’s set up. Your second goal is to win the election by leveraging one of two currencies, Fame or Dread, with large amounts of either increasing your chances of winning.
You have to become a Governor before your time runs out, with each turn progressing you forward by a year. You have two player resources called age and health; at a certain age, each turn (or year) will subtract health. If it reaches zero, you lose.
A match of Governor of the West plays like this: You load into a randomly generated map with your starting card and are tasked with interacting with the environment to achieve the end goal of becoming Governor. I called the characters ‘cards’ because that’s how they function and are presented. Each card can be used once per turn to explore the map or increase your supply of any of the game’s resources, from fame and dread to health and building material or money. Each card does something different, and each building provides a different set of actions you can take.
That is where the building in the game comes in. At the start of the match, you have to hope you stumble upon the resource-providing structures that you need; you can trade materials and gold to build them yourself. Put up a ranch, and your cards can work to produce gold. Put up a mine, you can work it for building materials, and so on and so forth. You are not so much building a city like you would in, say, Anno 1800, but are smacking down tokens that help you gather what you need to win the game.
Matches of Governor of the West do not take very long at all, coming in around ten or so minutes before you win or die of old age.
Governor of the West may not be a 4x title like I thought, but it is not a bad experience whatsoever. I enjoyed the several matches I played once I understood the game, as well as the handfuls I played trying to figure it out. However, it’s not without a few flaws that should be pointed out.
The main determining factor to winning a game seems to be luck, as the procedurally generated map is not always giving with settlers (providing you with new cards) or mines to be worked for the building material you NEED to build your mansion. It is 100% possible to just have bad luck and explore in the wrong direction, yielding nothing but empty tiles and a lost match.
The game also gives unfinished vibes. This is mostly due to the fact that the loading screens all say “tip #2” or “tip #6” or something close to those lines.
I would say the biggest thing lacking in Governor of the West, however, is a multiplayer mode. The game’s core, single-player action, is fun; again, it’s a board game. The only thing I can see that keeps the game from becoming repetitive, besides the different starting rules, would be allowing you to play against others. In fact, I would go so far as to say that making Governor of the West multiplayer would be an easy way to turn this game from a 7 to an 8 and extend its playtime exponentially.
Governor of the West is a satisfying little game, even if it wasn’t at all what I expected it to be. However, as it exists in its single-player-only status right now, I can’t imagine it being a game that gathers a whole lot of playtime. This is certainly fine, of course, and you can easily get 2-5 hours out of this game, which is well worth its modest price.
The Final Word
Governor of the West is a clever, strategically satisfying board-game-type title that is food for killing ten to twenty minutes fast. However, the game would shine with the addition of multiplayer, which it sorely lacks at the moment.
7
Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Governor of the West is available on Steam.