Concordia introduces a twist on the normal deck building script. Whereas most games in the genre have the victory condition cards make your deck worse for executing your strategy, Concordia's cards are both the core of your engine, and give you the victory points required to win in the game's final scoring phase. This level of generosity is present throughout the game's systems; players alternately find their coffers overflowing, and their inventories clogged with more goods than they know what to do with, as every card played dumps piles of money or resources into their hands.
On top of all this, some of your opponents's actions will inevitably end up handing you even more resources, giving the competition in the game a surprisingly friendly feel. The game's insistence on presenting opportunities for players, along with the amazing amount of interconnectedness between its systems, is what makes Concordia stand out from the hordes of other euro games. Instead of being heavily restricted in what they can do, players are presented with heaps of good choices to make, and the tools to execute the strategy they want to employ.
Make no mistake though, this game is far from light and fluffy. Every choice may give you something, but playing well will get you even more. Planning ahead for the most efficient ways to use cards whilst staying flexible to react to obstacles and opportunties is vital to success, making the game sharply competitive. Good players will regularly pull off moves like activating an opponent's best province when they have no inventory space to reap the benefits, sliding into already developed areas just before they are activated for a free payoff from someone else's play, or snatching powerful cards the turn after an opponent gathered the resources required to buy it, all of which are immensely satisfying, and will elicit appreciative nodding around the table.
Interestingly, even when these actions are (possibly severely) harmful for an opponent, they will often be amongst the most fervent nodders, sporting an expression which somehow combines disappointment with the feverish focus required to find an alternative route through the game's economic puzzle. It's simply not possible to be upset upon seeing someone expertly puppeteering Concordia's brilliant systems, and, besides, there are always other good options to choose from instead.
Also important to note is that this game plays fast. Even with four or more players, the turn will very often come back around before your plan for the next one is fully formed. The perfectly paced ending conditions for the game, combined with its slightly unusual choice to do all scoring in a single, final round, always manage to avoid anti-climatic endings, and leaves players itching to have another go. The game also has a team mode which adds an entire new dimension to the puzzle, somewhat akin to how bughouse changes the entire feel of chess. And finally, the maps - the Concordia Venus box comes with two beautiful, double-sided boards, along with several available expansion maps, each of which feels distinct to play on, and let the game scale fantastically through the entirety of its stated player count.
I suppose I'll stop gushing there. This game is incredible, and if you have even a passing interest in euros, economic games, or just the theory of game design, you should absolutely give it a go. Concordia - an elegant board game, for a more civilized age.