by drewhauge
Uwe Rosenberg's 2008 hit game Le Havre takes place in a tranquil French harbor town. For many players, that's all they need to know. However, if you take the time to dig deeper, you'll find that there's more to the theme of Le Havre than meets the eye.Le Havre offers a commentary on wealth and corruption, as players take on the role of spoiled real estate heirs and heiresses, terrorizing a small harbor town by continually drag racing through the 'no wake' zone. The citizens are forced to just watch helplessly, as the brats keep getting free handouts from their parents and begin buying up every building in sight. Let's take a closer look at the mechanics and see how they inform this theme.
The rounds in Le Havre are tracked by players moving their ships rapidly through the harbor, constantly overtaking one another. This is a compulsory action, done without thought for why you feel the need to constantly show off, or how your reckless driving affects the citizens of the town. For all of the property damage and public menace you cause, you merely pay an occasional bribe and get off without punishment.
As you wile away the hours zipping through the water, your wealth continues to increase at a rate far more rapidly than the hard-working citizens of the town. If you want money, or food, or basic resources, there are ever-growing piles of free handouts from mommy and daddy. This is a stark contrast from Agricola, where a family member must spend their entire round toiling to gather resources. In Le Havre, you don't have to even slow down your boat - you just take what you want and continue to motor along.
If you're tired of getting freebies, you can also send out your assistant to various buildings around town to do your bidding. Sometimes your lackey must pay a small entry fee to use a building, if it is owned by the townspeople or another player. If you don't want to pay an entry fee to the townspeople anymore, or if someone else's assistant is occupying a building? Just buy it! Money solves everything.
Throwing around so much cash, it's possible that you might run out at some point. But not to worry, if you ever can't afford to pay a bribe for excessive speeding, you can just take out a loan. The interest rate on your first loan is an exorbitant 25% per round, but what do you care? If you can't afford the interest, you can just take out another loan!
For a normal person, these compounding loans might get overwhelming quickly. Luckily, some anonymous benefactors (your parents) will pay the interest for any subsequent loans you take, so you only have to pay interest on one loan at a time. And if you want to get rid of those loans? Just buy the local courthouse, which you can then use to discharge loans for free! Hooray!
Hopefully you never have to worry about debt at all, because there are so many ways to make money in this little town. You can upgrade the free resources you've been collecting, spend resources to erect buildings and generate income, and even buy and sell real estate. Very quickly, you'll see this boring little seaside village transform into a booming industrial center. Just think about how many factory jobs you're creating for all these old fishermen - they should be grateful!
Of course, your ever-growing industrial empire requires more and more energy to run. To complete some of the biggest projects, you need a little extra boost - it's time to start using coke. That's right, coke. And it's not just for your own consumption, either - you can make a pretty penny selling it!
At the end of the game, everyone counts up their fortunes and the richest player declares themselves the winner. But really, everyone finishes the game better off than they started - except maybe the townspeople. This is the final lesson in Uwe Rosenberg's story of Le Havre (and Le Havre-Not).
If you want more satirical reviews dissecting the secret themes behind the mechanics of Uwe Rosenberg games (a very specific niche, I know), check out the following Geeklist:
Uwe Got Some 'Splaining To Do: Uncovering The Secret Meaning Behind Rosenberg Classics