Photosynthesis - A Photostory

Photosynthesis by Blue Orange Games is a vivid, beautiful-looking strategy game about trees. Yep, trees. Each of the players (up to 4) plays as a unique type of tree, trying to plant seeds and grow them into trees in the areas of the forest with the richest soil.

The game plays through a series of three rounds (with an optional fourth round). Each round consists of 6 sun rotations around the board. That is, within each round the position of the sun changes and sunlight reaches some trees, while other trees might find themselves in the shade.

When a tree receives the warm glow of the sun, it produces light points that can be used for various actions, such as purchasing seeds or additional trees, advancing your trees through their life cycle, and sowing new seeds in the forest.

As you take your tree through its life-cycle, from seedling to a small size tree, and all the way to a full-grown tree (the 3rd level) you gain certain abilities. A larger tree produces more light points, allows you to sow seeds in deeper parts of the forest, can overcome the shadow cast by smaller trees, and casts a larger shadow, which is strategically important when trying to block opponents’ trees from gaining light points.

When the time is right, a player may choose to advance his or her tree to its end-of-life stage. The tree is returned to the player’s board (where trees are stored for future use), and the player wins points that match the tree’s position in the forest. The deepest parts of the forest have richer soil and give more points.

Photosynthesis has stunning artwork and a unique theme. The game is very abstract, and surprisingly competitive (even though trees are quite Zen). While its table presence is highly impressive, I personally could not fully immerse myself in the theme, and thought that at least with two players, it did not shine bright (no pun intended).

Though a total of 18 turns (three rotations and 6 turns per rotation) seems sufficient at first, the game requires a lot of planning for future turns, otherwise players might find themselves with limited options in the final rotation. This can be mitigated with a higher player count (4 players) and with the addition of the 4th round, so if you are very excited to take over a forest, make sure your gaming group is ready.

A personal note: I would like to share a precious moment that happened during the photoshoot of this game. As you know, I try my best to bring the game I photograph to life, to explore its design and game play through the lens of the camera. When I was photographing Photosynthesis, I wandered into a forest and encountered this fellow, which summed things up: Photosynthesis art is a hoot (this pun was intended).