Not played yet: this article is based on announcements and the sources listed below. We'll review the games once they've been on our table.
At our house, Cascadia is the slow Sunday morning game: lay tiles, place animals, barely any arguing. Now there’s Cascadia: Alpine Lakes, and it adds something the original never had: height.
The facts
- Publishers: Flatout Games and AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group)
- Designer: Randy Flynn, art by Beth Sobel
- 1–4 players, ages 10+, 30–45 minutes
- Standalone game, everything you need is in the box
- In US stores from October 30, 2026; the first copies reached UK shops in early October; US price $49.99
- Funded on Kickstarter: about 7,900 backers and roughly $365,000 against an $8,000 goal
- On show at SPIEL Essen 2026 in Hall 3, booth B200
What’s new
Instead of single hexes, you draft double tiles showing three alpine habitats. Tiles can be stacked, so your landscape grows upward as well as outward. Elevation matters, and lakes and the landscape itself score points. Environment cards change what’s worth how much from game to game. The five wildlife species keep their own scoring goals.
Our take
We haven’t played Alpine Lakes yet. We like the original as a peaceful puzzle. Stacking and elevation sound like an extra layer to think about without losing the calm. Whether that works, we’ll only know once it has been on our table. Here’s what we think of the original: our Cascadia review.
