The co-operative boardgame Beacon Patrol, released in 2023, attracted some attention for its combination of simple, cute illustrations and fairly challenging tile-placement gameplay. So it made complete sense to me when I learned the game would be coming to Steam: the newly released digital version lets you play solo or with friends to slowly explore a map of the ocean one tile at a time, hoping to circumnavigate the islands you encounter and prove your cartography prowess.
Tile-placement is nothing new in the tabletop world, but one element that sets Beacon Patrol apart from some of the popular games in the genre is the tight restriction on what and where you can place. You have a couple tiles to choose from on your turn, but you must use your ship to explore them: you're limited to expanding the seas and islands in cardinal directions around your current location, which makes perfecting the arrangement a whole lot harder.
Your coast guard team will score points at the end of the game based on clusters of "fully explored" tiles that are surrounded on all sides, so leaving gaps in your map is a big detriment. You'll also get some bonus points for lighthouses and some other optional scoring tiles you can include.
I've enjoyed Beacon Patrol a lot in physical form: the game technically plays from 1-4 players (and it definitely does make a great solo puzzle experience) but I've had the most fun playing it as a duo, either as a couples game or with one friend. Co-operative experiences can be great for people who'd maybe prefer to avoid the intensity of a one-on-one competition, and this one is both calm and thinky while also being much more challenging to figure out than I expected from the looks of it.
The videogame adaptation advertises some new additional goodies like decorative collectible seagulls and a progression of unlocking new ships and tiles, with a mention of "digitally exclusive content and game modes." It also includes the Ships & Shores expansion out of the gate, which was an additional boxed purchase for the physical edition.
You can get Beacon Patrol on Steam now to play with up to 4 people either locally or on Steam Remote Play. I spotted a nifty bundle which also includes the classic Carcassonne, one of the original kings of the tile-placement genre, for just about the same price that Beacon Patrol will cost once the launch discount has run its course.
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