After demand from fans, Century: Spice Road sequel Eastern Wonders finally gets its own Golem Edition

Century: Spice Road follow-up Century: Eastern Wonders is being re-released with a fantasy theme and artwork, after publisher Plan B reversed its previous decision to make Spice Road’s Golem Edition a standalone game.

Century: Golem Edition was released as an alternative version of Century: Spice Road in 2017, replacing the drier historical setting of trading spices in the 15th century with the manga-inspired cartoon world of Carvania, populated by golems, magic-casters and more. The wooden cubes representing spices became plastic gems, but the game’s central gameplay remained untouched.

The Golem Edition arose from designer Emerson Matsuuchi’s creation of two separate versions of Century: Spice Road during the game’s long development: one with a “typical trading in the Mediterranean theme” and a second influenced by the “whimsical” style of Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli and film-maker Hayao Miyazaki, Matsuuchi told Tabletop Gaming earlier this year.

Century: Golem Edition was initially offered only at conventions or via Plan B’s online store, with the publisher saying at the time that it had no plans to bring a retail version to shops or release the other two planned games in the Century trilogy in a similar style.

Demand for Golem Edition soon saw Plan B regress on the limited availability of the game, releasing it in UK shops last year. It continued to say that Eastern Wonders and A New World, the other two Century games, would not receive Golem Editions.

Now the studio has reversed that decision, too, announcing Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains, a retheming of Eastern Wonders that brings the game into the Golem series, in response to fan demand for more Golem games.

Eastern Mountains is described as a ‘reimplementation’ of Eastern Wonders, retaining the Century game’s more board-based focus compared to Spice Road’s card-driven action. In Eastern Mountains, players are crystal traders making their way across the ranges and valleys to build a trade network.

Just as Eastern Wonders could be combined with Spice Road to play the separate ’From Sand to Sea’ game mode, Eastern Mountains and the original Golem Edition can be mixed to create an alternate way to play, now titled The Call for Adventure.

Eastern Mountains will be released on August 1st at the Gen Con convention in the US, while Plan B is also taking pre-orders through its online store, where it’s also offering a playmat. The game will remain exclusive to conventions and Plan B’s store until August 2020, when it could see a wider release in shops.

Next year will also see a conclusion to the Golem trilogy with a Golem version of A New World, the third and final instalment in the Century trilogy released this summer. Like the other games, it will be fully mixable with the previous titles in the series.