New CATAN Game Announced

CATAN Studios has announced a new game that will focus on the earliest eras of human history. Earlier this month, CATAN Studios released a teaser for CATAN: Dawn of Humankind. Little information was released about the game, but a summary stated that the game would be set in the prehistoric era.  "Experience the Dawn of Humankind, as you guide the journey of the human family tree from its roots in Africa to the far reaches of the globe," states the teaser for the upcoming board game. CATAN: Dawn of Humankind will be released at some point in 2022. See below for a brief teaser of the new CATAN game.

Originally published in 1995, CATAN (or Settlers of CATAN as it was originally titled) is one of the most popular board games of all time, having sold over 30 million copies. The rules of the game are relatively simple – at the beginning of each turn, players receive various resources based on the location of their settlements and the roll of two six-sided dice. Those resources are then used to build more settlements, roads, or buy additional cards. A common aspect of the game is the bartering of resources, as each game typically has a rare resource determined at random based on the board set-up. The first player to accumulate 10 victory points win, with players achieving victory points by accomplishing certain tasks.

Based on the fact that CATAN: Dawn of Humankind is set in the real world instead of the fictional island of Catan, it appears that this new game is a continuation of the CATAN Histories line of games. The first of those games - Settlers of the Stone Age – was released in 2002 and was also set in prehistoric times, with players collecting meat, hides, bones and flint. The game board of Settlers of the Stone Age also used a map inspired by the modern continents, although it did retain the familiar hexagonal spaces of the original CATAN game. 

CATAN: Dawn of Humankind will be the first new CATAN game released since 2019, when the game studio released CATAN: Starfarers. A deluxe CATAN 3D version of the original board game was released in 2021 featuring hand-sculpted pieces by the original game designer.