If you already enjoy the village-building dynamics of Keyflower, get ready, because 'The Merchants' arrives to provide a much-needed upgrade. While the Farmers expansion focused on adding breadth, the Merchants expansion is all about depth. It introduces extra layers of strategy that will make you think twice before every single bid.

The biggest highlight is the introduction of lucrative contracts. These aren't just for stacking victory points; you can actually trade them for the items they depict, such as workers (keyples), resources, or those essential skill tiles. This kind of flexibility makes the gameplay feel more organic and less predictable. Additionally, we have extensions and cabins. Extensions are fantastic because they double the fixed point scores of tiles you already own, turning ordinary buildings into gold mines. Meanwhile, cabins provide more opportunities for upgrades, allowing your village to grow more efficiently.

Another interesting point is the boats, which now bring brand new item combinations, forcing players to adapt their strategies as the tide turns. If you play mostly with two people, this expansion is almost a must-have, as it significantly enhances the two-player experience, filling gaps and making the competition much tighter.

Regarding how to implement it: you have total freedom. You can simply mix the new tiles with the base game to spice things up, or go for the 'Merchant's variant', where you use all the tiles from this expansion and fill the remaining deck by randomly drawing tiles from the base game. Either way, the result is a denser game where resource management and auction timing become even more crucial for anyone wanting to dominate the region.