I won this game through SteamGifts.

I got Charterstone: Digital Edition as a giveaway win on Steamgifts through the playing appreciated group, and I was pretty excited to try it out. It’s based on a real-life board game, which I’ve never played, but I’m always down for a good turn-based, board game-style experience.

Going in, I’ll admit I felt a bit lost. The game does offer a tutorial, but since I had no background with the physical board game, some of the mechanics felt confusing. There’s a lot of resource management, building, and strategizing involved, but I struggled to understand how it all tied together. I kept wondering if I was missing some crucial context that veterans of this board game already knew about.

I played through the campaign, but if I’m honest, I didn’t really enjoy it much. The gameplay loop didn’t click for me, and I felt like I was just going through the motions rather than making meaningful decisions. It’s not a bad game by any means—it seems like there’s a solid strategy game under the surface—but I just couldn’t get into it. Visually, the game is nice enough. It has a clean, cartoony art style that fits the board game vibe. The interface does its job, but it felt a bit cluttered at times, especially when trying to track all the different mechanics and options.

I think Charterstone is probably best suited for people who have played the physical version or are really into board games and don’t mind a bit of a learning curve. For someone like me, who went in blind, it felt a little overwhelming and not very engaging. Still, I’m glad I won it and was able to give it a shot, and maybe if you’re more familiar with the genre, you’ll have a better time. As for me, I’d say it was a meh experience.