Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

Board games usually doesn't work well in PC, at least for me. This one is one of them. Not for me.

Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, developed by DIGIDICED and published by Twin Sails Interactive, is a digital adaptation of Uwe Rosenberg’s acclaimed two-player board game that distills the essence of his larger farming classic into a focused and elegantly compact experience. Unlike the original Agricola, which balances crop management, family growth, and a wide array of complex systems, this version concentrates entirely on animal husbandry and efficient use of space. The result is a game that trades sprawling depth for precision and clarity—a battle of strategy and foresight condensed into eight tense rounds. You are not here to build a grand estate or feed a growing family; you are here to craft the most efficient farmstead possible, one pasture and one herd at a time. The digital version captures that quiet tension beautifully, providing a relaxing yet intellectually engaging experience that feels both faithful to its tabletop roots and ideally suited for portable or quick online play. From the first turn, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small introduces a sense of gentle competition. You and your opponent share the same action pool—places to gather wood, stone, or reeds…

I picked this up on sale having played the physical board game before, and it's a decent enough port of the two-player animal husbandry version of Agricola — the worker placement mechanics translate well and the scoring is handled automatically, which is nice. The strategy is genuinely engaging for what it is: eight tight rounds of competing for actions and optimizing your farm layout. That said, the interface clearly started life as a mobile app and never fully made the jump to PC — seeing 'tap to continue' on the title screen says it all, and the menus are icon-heavy with little explanation. I ran into some frustrating bugs with the AI freezing mid-turn, and the multiplayer feels largely dead. If you know and love the board game and can grab it on a deep discount, it scratches the itch; otherwise the rough edges are hard to ignore.

I love the game itself. I've played the full version of Agricola, and was very excited to play a pared down version of the game on computer. All Creatures Big and Small is fun. The adaptation would be great... EXCEPT.. as at least one other person has mentioned, the expansion doesn't work AT ALL. When you select the additional buildings, it throws a big red text banner over your player claiming that you don't have the expansion. You cannot hit play. Exiting doesn't fix it. Resetting the game doesn't fix it. Verifying files doesn't fix it. Nothing you do fixes it. On certain, very rare occasions, you may get lucky and it will suddenly work, but the next time you play, it won't. 9 times out of 10, it won't. In my opinion, it's not worth the $1 it's on sale for. What good is a game if you can only play the tutorial version of it? Playing with the same layout and the same cards every time gets boring very quickly.

like it

A straightforward board game adaptation that for some reason did not grab me. I played it for 1 hour and that was enough.