Designer’s Favorite (Enoch Fryxelius):

When game mechanics fits convincingly into an exciting theme, you get an immersive game experience. The beautiful Lost Ruins of Arnak is one of those games. The 3 mechanics of deck building with items and artifacts, worker placement to mysterious sites, and climbing the lost temple, are balanced and interconnected in an interesting way. As designers we also realize how difficult it is to implement a good deck building mechanism into a game of just 5 rounds!
There seems to be a universal phenomenon that 2-4 player games are actually only good on 3-4 players. Playing on 2 is either less dynamic, or introduces tons of extra rules, like playing with 2 characters etc.

Lost Ruins is actually an excellent game for 2 players, as well as 3 and 4 players.
This has been my most played game over the last 3 years and I strongly recommend it!
I also recommend getting the Expedition Leaders expansion to get asymmetrical player powers.

On an uninhabited island in uncharted seas, explorers have found traces of a great civilization. Now you will lead an expedition to explore the island, find lost artifacts, and face fearsome guardians, all in a quest to learn the island’s secrets.

Lost Ruins of Arnak combines deck building and worker placement in a game of exploration, resource management, and discovery!