Newcomers to the series should be fine beginning with either game. The original is a hair simpler to understand since all tasks are basically the same, but in both cases, the logbook helps ease players in scenario by scenario, so either version can be a good starting point. Dan : I agree, this is a lot more interesting than the original. I have played the earlier missions of the original and the final dozen or so, but not most of the ones in the middle because honestly I started getting bored after a few hands. I don’t want to play marathon sessions of the new one but it definitely holds my interest longer and I would like to play it more. Come with us. You are about to take your first step into a larger world,” one of the cloaked figures said to me and the fact that he was quoting Obi-Wan Kenobi made it clear that it was Andrew Smith under that particular hood. I was hesitant to comply, but if I’m being honest this wasn’t even the strangest experience I’d had to start a Tuesday morning at Board Game Quest. I shrugged and followed. Each player may then pass one of their cards to one of their neighbours. Submarine cards cannot be passed. All cards must be passed in the same direction; the players may agree upon the direction to pass.

One of the real twists in the game—and what makes it a really great game—is that players may not, ever, discuss the contents of their hands. Instead, once per round, they may communicate something using the sonar token. But, they are limited in what they can communicate. They are allowed the place one card face up in front of them and place the sonar token on it. If they place it on the top of the card (furthest away from them), they are saying that the placed card is the highest card they have in that suit. If they place the token closest to them, they are saying that card is the lowest that they have in that suit. And if they place the token in the center of the card, they are saying that it is the only card they have in the suit. When you do communicate, you take one of the reminder cards into your hand as a reminder that you have a card laying on the table that you can still play at some point. You have to wait for the timer to start before playing any cards or communicating. If the time runs out before the mission is completed, you have failed.Some missions may be difficult or impossible to complete due to the random nature of both the tasks and the cards themselves.

The other difference in Mission Deep Sea is the way tasks are distributed. In the original game, a specified number of tasks are distributed each round, but in the new version, each task has a difficulty rating, according to the number of players. Players draw task cards until the total difficulty equals the mission’s difficulty level (e.g. a level 5 mission might use tasks with difficulties 3, 1, and 1, or with 2 and 3, etc.). This means that a given scenario might involve 2 tasks during the first run-through and 3 during the second; it’s not that the scenario got harder, it’s that the task difficulties changed.

About Dale Yu

A different guide turned in my direction and there was enough light in the hallway to illuminate the strong jawline underneath his hood. The jawline clearly belonged to Dylan St. Clair. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea was designed by Thomas Sing and published by Kosmos, with illustrations by Marco Armbruster. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea Components The game’s components. Image by Rob Huddleston