I’m Not So Sure About Nestlings

As GamesReviews grows and our readership of board game content grows with it, we have been given more and more opportunities to review games. As such, it’s not often anymore that I have time to play the games I actually do purchase, and yes I do purchase games! Nestlings was one of those games. I could have gotten it for review through Lucky Duck Games, but ultimately decided to just purchase it myself for a fairly reasonable cost, around $30 from Board Game Bliss.

I first saw Nestlings on display at the Canada Plays event in 2024. Lucky Duck Games was at the event showcasing their games for members of the retail industry, and myself and a few other media/influencer members got to tag along and check it out as well. Nestlings looked really cool, with little bags for tokens, a number of custom dice, lots of tokens, and some interesting looking player boards. It was definitely on my radar.

After a few plays of Nestlings, I’m not really sure how I feel about it. It was interesting enough that I put my money down on the table and said, “I want that game.” The concept seemed pretty interesting as well, rolling and placing dice into biomes to attempt at getting resources that would help you fill out your resource wheel, feed your nestlings for some sweet sweet points, and more.

And yet after a few games, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve actually had fun playing it. Friends who have played with me enjoyed it enough, but something wasn’t clicking with me and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I’ve won a few times, lost a few times, but overall I never found the moment-to-moment actions I was taking all that satisfying. On top of that, every game felt oddly the same, which isn’t a bad thing if you are having fun, but a terrible thing if you aren’t sure, or you downright hate an experience.

Nestlings looked like something I should enjoy, but it falls flat again and again, and while it’s still living on my shelves in the game room, I have to wonder how much longer it will stay there for. I had really high hopes for Nestlings, so I’m so very disappointed to be over it already. The one (terrible) thought I keep coming back to is, “Maybe I just need to play it more!?” I don’t – this one isn’t for me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be for you. Be sure to check out some playthroughs and review on YouTube, and see if it hits.

Great production, disappointing gameplay. That sums it up for me.