Base price: $20.
1 – 4 players.
Play time: ~25 minutes.
BGG Link
Buy on Amazon (via What’s Eric Playing?)
Logged plays: 31
Full disclosure: A review copy of Next Station: Tokyo was provided by Blue Orange Games.
Within the ebb and flow of all things, there is me being behind or ahead on reviews. You just kind of get used to it after a while. Finished a rewatch of Steven Universe with my friend who hadn’t seen it, planning to get through work this week before a busy weekend, and I think I have some more games to try. It’s how it is, I suppose. But we’re keeping up a good clip and a good pace, so let’s check out another game! This time it’s Next Station: Tokyo!
In Next Station: Tokyo, players are building transit systems to connect different districts within the bustling metropolitan area. Unlike its predecessor, Next Station: London, Tokyo boasts that they already have some infrastructure, and unfortunately, you’re just going to have to deal with it. That said, rumor has it that the local government is trying to incentivize tourism around town, so having multiple lines meet up outside of the city center might be worth even more points. Either way, each round you’ll flip a card, connect your route to the indicated station, and try again until you switch to a new color with the next player. Who will build the best transit network?
Overall: 8.5 / 10
Overall, I think Next Station: Tokyo is an elegant next step up from Next Station: London! It’s pretty interesting in the sense that it’s definitely a more complex title than London (but not as challenging as, say, MetroX), primarily on two fronts. The first is that there’s now a huge, pre-existing line running around the center, so you’re not getting to town unless you can create an interchange station at one of its stops. That can throw you off a bit, given how free(ish) movement was in Next Station: London. The other (and in my opinion, the more interesting one) is the addition of Tourist Stamps. You’re going to be creating a lot of interchange stations by the nature of the game, so Tokyo is taking things a step further and rewarding you for making interchange stations on the periphery of town. This can focus you along different routes and make certain plays more or less rewarding, which is pretty cool! It’s wise to add some things to differentiate Tokyo from London beyond just a different map, even if there are parts of Tokyo that can be played with London (and vice-versa).
Where things get even more interesting is with some of the new stuff that’s been added to change things up! Now the wild cards let you follow along an existing line. That’s both useful for advancing on or around the green loop, but it also lets you potentially salvage poor previous moves by following an otherwise unnavigable line out of the hole you dug for yourself. Additionally, instead of London’s Pencil Powers, Tokyo adds in the nifty Station Powers, allowing you to take certain bonus actions whenever a station of a certain symbol is drawn. Like I said, it’s neat. I think that Tokyo runs the risk of being a bit more complex than someone might initially expect, but it’s a great progressive iteration for fans of London who want a little bit more from the game, especially with Paris on the way, soon.
That said, the core mechanic of the Next Station series doesn’t really change from Tokyo to London; just the maps and some of the scoring periphery, and I think that’s nice. It means that, yes, if you didn’t like London, you’ll probably still have the same problem with Tokyo (unless your issue is that you wanted a more challenging game), but if you did like London, Tokyo has a lot of the same familiar trappings that made the original so good. I’m currently playing Paris while writing this review, and I can say that there’s a real desire to make these cities feel distinct while you play and add new interesting strategies each time. For me, that makes Next Station: Tokyo a great time and a lot of fun to play, and if you’re a fan of flip-and-write games, you enjoy transit as a theme, or you just liked Next Station: London and you’re ready to move up, Next Station: Tokyo will give you a nice challenge! I like it a lot.
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