New 7 Wonders board game Architects has players building a replica wonder

The newest entry in the 7 Wonders board game series has been revealed as Architects and has players building replicas of the ancient wonders.

7 Wonders: Architects is an upcoming board game for two to seven players that takes place during the same unspecified historical era as the previous series’ entries are set in. As with the original 7 Wonders, the players are competing against one another to become the most powerful leader of the Ancient World. However, the focus of Architects is to provide players with a more accessible experience than those offered by its predecessors, with streamlined pathways to victory and a more straightforward set of rules.

A board game for beginners, 7 Wonders: Architects sees players gradually collecting the resources they need to grow their individual civilisations, whether that’s advancing their technology, improving trade or expanding their military. By contributing to the various elements of their civilisations, players will open up more opportunities for growth and for gaining those all important victory points needed to win the game. With a variety of different strategies to choose from - whether more aggressive or diplomatic - players will have to think carefully about their options.

Besides the more accessible gameplay and ruleset, Architects differs from the original game by providing players with physical pieces to build their chosen wonder with. In the first 7 Wonders, players mark whenever they successfully further the construction of their wonder - which are each inspired by one of the real seven wonders of the world - but in Architects, players will be able to use actual components to represent the building progress of their wonder, offering a visual addition to the experience.

7 Wonders: Architects was created by Antoine Bauza, the designer behind the original 7 Wonders and the co-creator of the two-player game variant, 7 Wonders: Duel, as well as other tabletop titles such as the co-op card game Hanabi - that has players working together to arrange the best fireworks display possible - and Takenoko, a board game about tending to bamboo gardens in ancient Japan.

Repos Production - the publisher behind the 7 Wonders series - will be developing Architects alongside the game’s publisher Asmodee, a tabletop gaming company that owns studios such as Arkham Horror Files publisher Fantasy Flight Games and Atomic Mass Games, the company responsible for Star Wars X-Wing.

7 Wonders: Architects is set to be released sometime this autumn at a retail price of $49.99 (£36).