I got in two games of Endeavour yesterday. It's ... fast. It's hard to dislike a fast game, especially one that gleefully steals from titles I like.
I'd lustily hate Endeavour if my first game took two hours, like some reviewers claim. But we played a 3 player game in about an hour (with rules), and then a five player game in less than 1.5 hours.
At the time I didn't particularly love it. The good:
It's fast,
You have some long term strategy,
Quite distinct feel, based on # of players
Not many false choices (that I saw).
The bad: Endeavour doesn't differ enough from other Euros to excite me.
Although I was still thinking about it this morning; that's something. I suspect that there isn't enough variability. I mean, you only have fifteen buildings, and only seven builds (turns), not as many as in Puerto Rico, and not as fluid. Endeavour will need to be deeper than my initial impression of it, I think. Worth playing a few times.
I will mention that setting it up is kind of boring. If I got to shuffle the cards then place them, I'd be happier, but you have to organize the cards as well as lay out all the chits? Ugh. In my last play, three times I thought I lost a chit, but then I'd recover it somewhere else on the table.
I'm hoping Rise of Empires satisfied the deeper strategy itch.