The classic board game brought to Steam. It’s a fun, if frustrating experience. After a steep learning curve I started to get a handle on the game, but I’ve still a ways to go. It’s a game that is fun to play, but leaves me with a lot of questions about the actual rules.

RISK opens well with a good introductory tutorial to the basic mechanics of the game. The gameplay loop is simple. Deploy your troops, attack enemy territories, then move troops from one territory to another. It’s very easy to grasp and get into the game right away.

Of course, it’s not so simple to learn how to play well.

My first few games were against the AI of course. These games are easy to win, and even if you are struggling there is an AI helper to give advice on the best moves. After playing for a while it was time to go online and play against some actual humans.

My first few games went as well as you would expect. I kept losing. Badly. In playing the game I ended up with a lot of questions, questions that weren’t answered by the game’s tutorials. How does dice rolling actually work? Why do I sometimes only get 10 armies from cards and my opponents get 30? Why did I only draft 3 armies when I have 12 territories, and my opponent got 9 when they only have 3 territories?

A lot of the game doesn’t make sense and you will find yourself googling a lot to try and understand what is going on. I still don’t have a full grasp on the rules. I am learning a few strategies though, and some things which seem to make the game unfair. If you happen to be first, you are more likely to be able to trade cards earlier, giving you more troops before other players get a chance. Also, starting in Australia on the default map can be a HUGE advantage.

I also don’t like the time limit on rounds. I get why there is one, waiting for other players can be a pain. But it feels a bit too short; I’m always rushing to do everything I want to do in a single turn. Maybe making the time a bit longer, or providing some small bonus time (with a cap) after each action would help the game flow a bit smoother.

Still, I persisted. After a good amount of losing, and some frustrations at watching my territories slowly being dismantled, I managed to get a win. I did use a decent strategy – uniting my territories, not advancing too fast, building up armies in the right places. Then I managed to get 30 armies from trading cards. I still don’t know how that happened, but after that my win was in the bag. Especially when I got 40 armies from the cards after defeating one of my opponents.

I was happy to get a win, but I still don’t understand how drafting works. The number of armies you get seems inconsistent. It’s a gap in my knowledge I still need to fix if I want to be good at this game.

The game has a monetisation model in it. I can advance in rank by playing the game and unlock new models for my army and dice. You can also purchase these cosmetics using in-game currency. You will gain a small amount every day, but in reality you’ll need to use real money to buy the in-game currency, then you can buy the cosmetics, and not fully understand how much money you actually spent.

These cosmetics are supposed to allow players to customise themselves, but given that they don’t seem to be following a standard art direction, what you end up with is a lot of art that clashes, and I don’t like the way it makes the game look so garish. The frames that go around each player’s avatar are especially ugly.

You need to spend tokens to play a game. These will replenish slowly each day, which means you’ll always be able to play again at some point. If you don’t like this you can buy the Premium Pack. The thing is, doing this costs in-game currency, meaning that you don’t actually know how much it actually costs. Technically you can earn this in game, but in reality it costs so much you will be dipping into your wallet.

Now, I don’t have an issue with paying for the game. But I’d rather just spend a few bucks on Steam to get the game rather than have to deal with in-game currency. Still, the base game is free, so for a more casual player like myself who isn’t interested in cosmetics it’s a gift. If you want to play this game a lot and actually get good, however, the Premium Pack is a must.

Despite the monetisation model, RISK at its core is an extremely fun game. I had never played the board game before, so I’m glad to have finally gotten to play it. I’ll probably keep dipping my toes into the game every now and then, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever be good enough to go Premium.