Some say that Shallow Sea is like Calico, Cascadia and Verdant combined with aquatic theme. Those 3 games came from the same game developer and publisher while this next one came from different publisher.
Like in Calico and Verdant, you have a board to fill in Shallow Sea. While Cascadia introduced the idea of drafting a set of 2 things, Shallow Sea took the idea from Verdant. You have 4 columns of 3 things each and from each you can choose to draw 2 of them. One of those two things must be the fish token which is one of the selling points of this game.
In Calico, there are 3 pattern tokens in the middle that if you can follow its rule, you get more points. Shallow Sea took that idea but gives you the freedom to place it in anywhere you want on the board.
If you manage to follow and complete the pattern, not only you get points but also shell tokens. These tokens work similarly like pine tokens in Cascadia. You can spend them to manipulate the market. Get different sets from different column or refresh them.
But that is not all. In this one, you can also use them to move Fish tokens. The purpose of fish tokens is to complete Coral tiles by placing the fish at one corner of the tile with the matching color. After you complete one coral tile, you want to move the fish to help complete the other coral you have taken and placed.
Completed Coral is how you complete the pattern. So, not only you need to take and place 2 different tiles, Coral and Pattern / Sealife, you need to complete them by placing the fishes. Shallow Sea is definitely a more challenging game than those 3 other tile placement games.
Can you manage to create the best ecosystem in the sea?
Title: Shallow Sea
Year Released: 2025
Designer: Yeom.C.W.
Publisher: Bad Comet
Artist: Sophia Kang
Genre: Tile Placement, Animal, Aquatic, Pattern Building, Competitive, Official Solo Mode, Solo Achievement Scenario, 1-4 players
:strip_icc()/pic9752583.jpg)
Overview
In the game of Shallow Sea, you are trying to build aquatic ecosystem involving fishes and other Sealife species. On your turn, you have 10 possible pairs to draft. One part of the pair has to be a fish with one of 4 different colors while the other is either Sealife Tile or Coral Tile. Like in Calico, you will then use them to fill your player board with 20 or so possible spaces. Actually, you need to place the next tile adjacent to the existing one. But you get up to 8 options as it not only counts orthogonal space but diagonal as well.
Sealife tiles are scoring tiles. They will tell you to create a pattern with certain requirement of completed Coral Tiles with fish on each. As an example, one SeaLife tile will tell you to surround that tile with 3 completed corals either with the same color or all different. Another Sealife tile may as you to surround it with any Coral but the fishes on it has to be either different or the same. Once you have fulfilled the requirement, you flip the Sealife tile and it will show the higher score value with the beautiful sea creatures like Hammerhead shark.
Coral tile will give you points only if you complete them. To complete them, you need to have 4 fishes at all 4 corners. Then you flip the tile and put one of the surrounding fish on it. Just like fish, the Coral has one of 4 colors. There is a challenge though. These Coral tiles has requirement or restrictions as the fish that you can place at the corners.
All 4 corners may require different kind of fishes for one tile. Another tile may ask maybe only at 2 corners with different colors or only 3 but 2 of them have the same color requirements. The restriction of a tile itself is not a problem. But when then the adjacent tile must share the same color at the corners pointing at the same bubble space where you place the fish.
The challenge is that from the market, we cannot tell what kind of color combination that the coral tile might have. While it may work for one corner but the other 3 corners might need other colors. In addition to that, you also need to take fish that is paired with.
Usually, in that case, you can also choose to take the scoring tiles or Sealife tile instead of more corals. Sealife tiles doesn’t have color requirements.
In Cascadia, you have pine tokens that you can use to take different pairing of tiles and animals. Similar to that, Shallow Sea has Seashell so you can get better pairs. You can also spend 2 of these tokens to move one fish.
Once you complete a coral, a fish will occupy that coral. This means, the adjacent coral has one empty corner that needs a fish. Moving fishes from one place to another to prioritize completing certain corals is one part of the game.
You do that for 17 turns and the game ends. Whoever score the most points wins. Beside scoring from completed Coral and Sealife tiles, you also gain score from the 2 public objectives. Another points from having unique SeaLife tiles and fishes not on Coral but adjacent to completed Coral tiles.
The game also has its solo variant, with almost similar play as in multiplayer where they allow you to keep moving fish but you lose points. Like those Flatout Games, the rulebook has a lot of solo achievement scenarios.
:strip_icc()/pic9608810.jpg)
Session Reports
August 2026 session and more pictures of that session on Instagram and Tumblr.
I finally tried the first solo achievement scenario in the rulebook. The final score was 173. 15 of them from the Blue card, the Bountiful Caves, 16 of them from the orange card, Cryptic Coloration. Got 6 unique Sea Life tiles out of 9 total completed Sea Life Tiles. All 9 coral tiles were completed and with the matching fish color. Got total of 114 points from those tiles. There were 7 fishes left and most of them were adjacent to at least 2 completed corals with 2 adjacent to 3.
So, the score was just slightly higher than my previous play which was more than enough to complete that solo scenario. I definitely took more of those Sea Life tiles than the Coral compared to my previous plays. In this one, I think I reset the market a couple of times and not just because there were 4 of the same.
Playing time was about 48 minutes.
May 2026 session and more pictures of that session on Instagram, Tumblr and TikTok. Solo play again and instead of using the predetermined solo achievement setup, I made my own using the guide on the back of the rulebook.
Final score was 170, which was still 3rd from the top threshold, not even better than the previous play. I think I did refresh the fish market once by spending the shell. Got and completed 6 unique Sealife tiles but 2 were not part of the Radiant Caves. Only got 4 purple fishes for Symphony of Fins. Lost 2 points from the Lionfish.
Playing time was about 58 minutes.
March 2026 session and more pictures of that session on Instagram, Tumblr and TikTok. This was another solo play and still using the same set of Sealife tiles but different public cards.
I just realized an error I made during my previous learning session which made the game harder for me. Apparently, you don’t always need 4 fishes in order to complete a Coral Tile. If the Coral tile has empty corner, that corner doesn’t require a fish while I thought I still needed one but with any color. Not sure the rulebook actually specified it and most pictures where kind of obscure. Except the one on the last few pages where they show bigger pictures of it.
Also, this time I definitely paid more attention with long term plan right from the start involving more Sealife tiles. In the end I scored 171, which was still not the highest threshold from the scoring chart, the 3rd one actually. There were times that I accidentally put a coral tile where I already made a plan for Sealife tiles. I managed to complete every tile I took and I only needed to discard one fish to the Lionfish, so no penalty for me.
Playing time was about 55 minutes.
:strip_icc()/pic9461262.jpg)
December 2025 session and more pictures of that session on Instagram, Tumblr and TikTok. Playing time was about 44 minutes.
This was my first time playing the game and I got 2 solo sessions and this is my initial impression. Definitely looks beautiful. You even get insert that works for the expansion as well and 3 draw bags.
As for the gameplay, I didn’t have trouble learning and immediately got to the game in first play. Is it easy to score well? I don’t think so. Not for me apparently. The solo chart in the rulebook suggests that players can score over 190. I think in my 2nd play I got less about 130 which was the lowest in the chart.
Since you have to fill all 4 corners to complete a Coral tile, maybe it is better to place them in the middle. Sealife tile then could get into the outer spaces while pointing the coral to the middle. This way, the fishes can work for multiple tiles.
I do think this is more challenging than Cascadia and even Calico. Mainly because you need to plan ahead right from the start and it is dictated by what is available from the Sealife tiles. Ideally you also want to do long term planning involving multiple Sealife tiles to create bigger ecosystem instead of one by one fulfilling them individually.
It seems knowing what is included in the game can help you plan better. There are always 10 types regardless of player counts and there is a copy of each tile equal to the number of players. While one player can take the same, the scoring encourages players to pick differently.
:strip_icc()/pic9292949.jpg)
With multiplayer, maybe you can expect the other players to help you find specific Sealife tiles. In solo, there is only you, so you have to work with what you see initially, even if they are duplicates.
Compared to those 2, I think Shallow Sea is also significantly punishing. One part is like in Calico, for poor planning, you can end up getting stuck unable to complete one of the Sealife tiles. Then the 2nd reason is it is also punishing when trying to complete the Coral tiles using fishes. You can end up pointing multiple colors to the same bubble space. By doing so you need to do a lot more steps before you can complete all of those involved tiles.
Choosing which fish to occupy the Coral without losing the chance to complete the neighboring tile while completing the objective is the main part of the game. In addition to that you also want to consider having flexibility. Instead of picking coral with highest value but with colors at all corners, maybe try different tiles with less value but blank in one or more corners.
I think the fun part of the game is when you are able to do combo. This happens when you can complete a Coral that can lead to you complete the other Coral and eventually the Sealife tile. You get a Seashell token everytime you complete a tile. Spending 2 of them allows you to move fish which then can complete the other tile.
Unfortunately, unlike Cascadia, that combo is not going to present themselves. Even with proper planning, who knows when you can get a good pairing or even the item you need. Usually the fish. In that case, you may not have a satisfying experience, In fact, this could be worse than Cascadia or Calico if you just play casually.
While you have Seashell tokens to refresh market or pick different pairing but at the same tiles, you need those to move fishes later for more combo. It’s not like Cascadia where you can just get more tokens by choosing the corresponding tile and place the right animal. In this one, you need to work harder just to get one token by completing a tile.
Again, this is just my initial impression. Maybe with more play I can get better and see more potential for better aquatic ecosystem. For now, it feels like if you play even just casually, it is very limiting and punishing.
While the theme might suggest something cozy, I think Shallow Sea is really for gamers, not just casual gamers. Especially for gamers who love and have explored different kind of tile laying games with restrictions. If you want something more challenging, then Shallow Sea might be for you.
Who knows? maybe eventually you can get good at it and find this becomes a cozy game like in Cascadia. I definitely need to play more.