In the Footsteps of Darwin was one of my surprise hits of 2023. It’s a light tile drafting game that is not only easy to get to the table, but a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed this one quite a bit since my original review, so obviously, I was excited for more content for the game.
This happened this year with the release of In the Footsteps of Darwin: Correspondence, an expansion that adds not only more content for the game but also a few new mechanics.
Expansion Overview:
If you haven’t played the original In the Footsteps of Darwin, you can check out my review of it here for a primer on the base game. But in addition to some new animal and people tiles, the Correspondence expansion adds a small sideboard. The key parts of this sideboard are the Darwin track and Publications.
A new icon/token also appears in the expansion, aptly named envelopes. These appear on new animal tiles and also along the Darwin track. This track reimplements the use of crowns in the game. Instead of just moving the Darwin token to a new player whenever someone places a crown tile, it moves around the Darwin track instead. The spot it lands on will grant the player envelopes and/or classification tokens. Envelopes can be cashed in for a bonus animal or person. Note: people are no longer mixed up among the animals.
Classifications tokens are kind of like bounties. You put them on your player board and when you get an animal of that type, you flip it over for bonus VPs.
Finally, there are now Publications. The first player to fill up a row or column takes the matching publication token. In addition to being worth a variable amount of VPs, they also provide a nice bonus, such as a theory tile, envelope, compass token, etc…
Game Experience with the Expansion:
In the Footsteps of Darwin was a really streamlined game, which is one of the things I liked about it. So when I heard there was a new expansion, I figured it would just be more animals and people. More variety without added complexity (yea!). Instead, game designers Grégory Grard and Matthieu Verdier not only added more variety but also took some of the criticism from the original game and improved it.
The use of Darwin in the base game was almost an afterthought. He moved around like a hot potato, and whoever had him at the end scored a few bonus points. Overall he was kind of meh. But now, he’s a tracker that moves around and grants really nice bonuses. Players have extra ways to fill up their player board with extra animals and people. This is a great change as it makes the crowns MUCH more interesting to take.
The other complaint on the game was that the theory tiles were more powerful than the publication ones. Publications were a flat 5vps, and you could earn a lot more from theory tiles (especially if you were able to double up on them). Now, publications have increased in value as the first player to get a specific row or column not only scores some VPS, but gets a nice bonus too. I tried a game where I focused strictly on getting these and they definitely can get you some solid points.
Finally, there are the classification tokens. Overall, I’d say these are fine, but probably the least interesting part of the expansion. You gain them (mostly) from the Darwin track and when you do, you pull a token from the bag. If you don’t have that animal type yet, you place it on the empty spot. If you fill it, you flip the token and gain 2 bonus points. If you already have the animal, you can flip it immediately. The bonus points are nice, but don’t really see anyone focusing on these as a strategy.
Final Thoughts:
The In the Footsteps of Darwin: Correspondence expansion is a must-own for fans of the game. Despite the fact that it adds in a few new mechanics, it still slides in nicely with the base game. I’ve used it for players in their first game of In the Footsteps of Darwin and have not had any issues. The mental overhead of adding this one is minimal compared to the benefits it offers. Overall, this makes a great game even better, and one I’ll never play without again.
Hits:
• Darwin is useful now
• Publications got a boost
• People are easier to get
Misses:
• Classification tokens are kind of meh
