The worker placement genre is a crowded one, and many of us were introduced to the resource gather - spend resource - get worker cycle through the classic Agricola. Many (MANY) worker placement games later, you see the creaky folds and paths to victory through the classic game, and rarely do you have a desire to return to it.
Enter Caverna.
Caverna is classic pub grub but served by a Michelin star chef. The game has much more depth, more options to victory, more opportunities to allow for additional workers (my analogy is falling apart) and it removes any random elements caused by the random job card system.
With job removal, the game introduces a more substantial caving mechanic, where the player is tasked with first digging out the necessary paths and rooms then furnishing those rooms-often generating the same job mechanics as were available in Agricola.
Also introduced is a expedition action, which allows for more ways to generate resources using an ever growing axe; but with it comes an ordering complication as those equipped must be played last in the round.
So, if you have warm fuzzy feelings of those early days of worker placement but feel like you have grown up since those days, Caverna is an absolute must.
