Challenges in The Isle of Cats Digital

Digital board games can give players many new ways to enjoy their favorite tabletop classics, with a fan-favorite being Challenges — Challenges are unique scenarios which provide a set of objectives and scenarios to tackle, allowing players to hone their skills and strategies against AI opponents under pre-set conditions. 

As we sail closer to the Steam release date of The Isle of Cats Digital on March 26th, let’s take a sneak peek at some of the Challenges that await players on their mission to rescue furry feline friends!

What to Know About Challenges

Challenges will be familiar to players who have dived into other Dire Wolf games, but for the uninitiated, here are some important things to know about them:

• Challenges are Played Against AI Opponents: You’re not alone in these Challenges – you’ll have to outwit AI opponents to win!
• Each Challenge has a More Difficult Variant: You’ll unlock an Advanced version of each Challenge after you beat it for the first time! These variants include further tweaks to the rules, as well as more difficult AI opponents.
• There are 10 Challenges: There are 10 base Challenges, which means there are 20 Challenges total when including the hard mode variants. Can you beat them all?
• Challenges Can be Saved and Continued Later: Don’t sweat it if you can’t complete a Challenge in a single sitting — you can always save your progress and come back to it later!
• Challenges Can Make You a Better Player: Don’t be fooled by the word “Challenge” — they’re for new players just as much as experienced ones! Challenges quite often encourage you to explore specific game mechanics through their unique rules, and in doing so, you can learn a lot about the game and discover strategies you may not have thought of otherwise!

Challenges in The Isle of Cats Digital

Here are some of the Challenges you’ll find waiting for you when you sail to The Isle of Cats Digital on March 26th!

Treasure Trove – Fill Your Boat With Booty!

With Treasure scoring the same as Cat families, you’ll want to make sure you’re grabbing it every chance you get. Grab those Treasure Maps!

Gold, or Cats? This is truly a question that there’s no easy answer to, unless you’re playing the Treasure Trove Challenge. The Treasure Trove Challenge rewards players four grouping treasure together, scoring points in the same way as Cat Families. This makes Treasure far more valuable than usual!

That being said, Treasure still has its own advantages and utilities outside of this Challenge. You won’t get all those extra points in a normal game, but this scenario is nonetheless instructive in demonstrating the value of Treasure tiles. Play it well, and you might just discover some new strategies!

Early Bird – Gotta go Fast!

Snag the first position in Turn Order, and you’ll have the first pick of the litter — no Fish required! There’s no better price than free.

In a normal game of The Isle of Cats, going first comes at a cost. Buying Boots at the beginning of each round prioritizes you in the turn order, but you pay for them with Fish, the same valuable resource you’ll be using to rescue Cats. Is going first worth the opportunity cost?

The Early Bird Challenge relieves you of that question by offering a special incentive — the fastest player gets their first Cat for free each round! Suddenly, Boots become very valuable; not only do they give you the proverbial early bird’s “worm” of having the first pick of the litter, but you can also pick up your first Cat for free — even the expensive ones on the right side of the island! If you’re a player who usually doesn’t prioritize Speed, you might just find out how advantageous those Boots can really be!

Freeform – Cats and Rats All About!

You can place your tiles anywhere you want in this Challenge — but yikes, that’s a lot of rats! It’s time to put those cats to work.

Some Challenges, like the two mentioned above, can be valuable learning exercises, emphasizing certain mechanics and encouraging players to explore new strategies. Other Challenges are there simply to mix things up from what you’re used to, and Freeform is one such scenario!

Freeform allows you to place tiles anywhere on your boat, regardless of adjacency. This provides a level of freedom uncharacteristic of the usual gameplay of The Isle of Cats and will allow you to explore fun strategies that aren’t possible in normal games! Watch out though, your boat has 10 extra rats, so you’ll have to make sure your Cats are working double time to take care of those pests!

Lesson Learned – Play to the Objective!

You’ll need to be judicious about which Lessons you choose in this Challenge, as you’ll be penalized for each one you don’t complete. Try to pick Lessons that work well with each other!

In The Isle of Cats, the way you score points differs from game to game, because it’s something that the players themselves decide in the form of Lesson cards! Lessons offer endgame scoring criteria, giving you direction for your game, and they cost precious Fish to play. Overspending on Lessons you can’t realistically fulfill is unwise, but so too is undervaluing them.

If you want to get better at that balancing act, Lesson Learned is the Challenge for you. In this mission, you’re rewarded with extra points for Private Lessons that you successfully fulfill, but penalized for the ones that you fail to score from. With the AI opponents playing by the same rules, you can’t afford to ignore Lessons in this Challenge. You’ll have to manage them well and play to their objectives to win

Roomy – Cats Galore!

This player just received a free Rare Treasure tile for completing a Room. But there’s still a whole lot of boat left, and you’ll need to fill the whole thing to win this one!

In a game against skilled players (or AI opponents), every action counts, and victory often comes within the margins of just a few points. Optimization is the key to success, and the Roomy Challenge defies you to fill up your entire boat, requiring you to capitalize on every opportunity if you want to have a shot at victory.

Don’t worry, you’ll get some help — every time you fill up a Room, you’ll get a random tile for free! But that doesn’t mean it will be easy; in order to fill your entire boat, you can’t be wasteful with your Fish, and you’ll need to be picking up tiles every chance you get. Choose your Cats wisely, grab as much Treasure as you can, and don’t forget about your Oshax friends to help you fill up as much space as you can!

Rat Bounty – Strategic Extermination!

This player has already collected two First Mate’s Caps with their rat-catching. That amounts to a full Basket, which can save you valuable Fish later on in the Explore Phase!

Rat Bounty shakes things up by rewarding players with a First Mate’s Cap every time they cover up 3 or more Rats with a single Cat. A First Mate’s Cap is a free Half-Basket, and as experienced Isle of Cats players know, the more Baskets you have, the more Cats you can rescue! 

Rat Bounty, like the Roomy Challenge mentioned above, is a lesson in optimization. Between the 19 Rats on board each ship, there are three Baskets for the taking, but you’ll need to be tactical with your tile placement in order to score them, all while still juggling other aspects of the game such as filling up Rooms and completing Lessons. But the more free Baskets you have, the fewer Fish you have to spend on them in the Explore Phase — what kinds of opportunities could you open up for yourself with those extra Fish?

Set Sail for the Isle of Cats

These are just some of the Challenges awaiting on the Isle of Cats, and we’re excited for players to discover the rest of them when the game releases on Steam on March 26th (with mobile platforms soon to follow). 

It’s cat mania over at the Dire Wolf Bluesky — leave a comment over there about the Challenge you’re most excited about for the chance to win a free Steam Key for The Isle of Cats, and be sure to wishlist the game today!