This symbol means you must roll an additional chapter die for each member of the crew and add them to the row. For example, with two members of the crew you would roll two additional chapter dice when you see this symbol. Members of the crew are free to exchange items between chapters, but must ensure that before the next chapter card is turned no member of the crew has more than four slots’ worth of items in their inventory.

Escape the Dark Castle sparks an odd kind of pleasure in me. I have no personal experiences of tabletop gaming in the 1970s and ‘80s, yet I find myself feeling nostalgic about that period of gaming all the same. It’s possibly a result of having grown up watching countless episodes of Knightmare, a television game show inspired by Dungeons & Dragons that ran from 1987 to 1998. Either way, there’s something about the concept of Escape the Dark Castle that I find compelling. It feels like something from another era, when the seeds of board games like HeroQuest and roleplaying games like Call of Cthulhu were just being planted. It feels like something from another era, when the seeds of games like HeroQuest and Call of Cthulhu were just being planted. Escape the Dark Sector plays over a series of chapter cards. Each card has an encounter on it, and the players must decide who will flip each card. The player who flips the card will be the primary target for the main effect of the encounter.Escape the Dark Sector is a good adventure game. With two types of combat, the gameplay is engaging with decisions to make such as being able to choose your type of combat and what weapon to use. With so much combat in the game, it’s important that this is well-polished and a good mechanism. This action involves popping out of cover to exchange fire with the enemy – you will SHOOT, hoping to inflict wounds and remove chapter dice, and you will be shot at, risking a loss of HP. For a crewmember to take this action, they must have a ranged weapon loaded with at least enough ammo to match the lowest Fire Rate of that weapon (see example below).

As these i mmersive chapter cards are revealed one by one, players must make decisions about what to do, before using a combination of tactical dice combat and the timely play of item cards to complete them. The second game in the Escape the Dark series, Escape the Dark Sector is a simple, sci-fi adventure game with a focus on atmosphere, storytelling and player cooperation. This Game is perfect for newcomers to table-top gaming. It takes about 2 minutes to set up, lasts around 45 minutes, and no two games are ever the same. As in Dark Castle, Dark Sector sees players attempting to find their way out of a terrible prison by turning over a series of chapter cards, making both decisions and dice rolls to progress to the next encounter between them and freedom.

Review Summary

You may take one item from the inventory of one other crewmember. That crewmember may still perform one action this round, so long as the action does not involve use of the item being taken. Final Score: 2.5 stars – Escape the Dark Sector is a good game, but issues with replay value and hard to understand rules make for a less fun escape. After activating either function, you must turn over the drone card to its Drone Recharging side as usual to end your action. There are three things in life that I love, apart from my children of course: science-fiction, evocative art, and solitaire games. The idea then to be able to combine these individual elements into a holy trinity is an alluring proposition to say the least. This is the premise for Escape the Dark Sector, the spiritual sequel to Escape the Dark Castle from publisher Themeborne. Designed by Alex Crispin, Thomas Pike, and James Shelton this space themed game design caught my interest for two reasons: the artwork and the promise of a heavy emphasis on story, two things that makes me purr like a kitten. Let us take a closer look to see if Escape the Dark Sector manages to deliver on these vows. Each player must now choose one crewmember and one cybernetic, placing these cards in front of them, and taking the crew die bearing their crewmember’s name.

When Ranged Combat begins, all members of the crew are assumed to dive into cover where they are safe from enemy fire. Then, you must choose one Ranged Combat action for each member of the crew before simultaneously carrying them out. Ranged Combat ActionsWith Escape the Dark castle the main choices given to the players were about who goes into the next room first, as they are likely to get wounded, and about taking turns resting in combat. In Dark Sector you feel like you have much more control over your destiny. In doing this the game feels less arbitrary than its predecessor, the wins more meaningful, the losses more understandable. The clearest change in Escape the Dark Sector is its setting. Featuring mangled cyborgs, oozing orifices and space mercenaries getting aggro in a bar, Dark Sector takes its cues from grimy science-fiction films from the late ‘70s and ‘80s - think Alien, The Thing and Videodrome. There’s nothing especially unique here; if you have any interest in sci-fi horror then you’ve probably seen it all before. But it doesn’t stop the illustration of a space prison guard dropping a cigarette from their gawping mouth feel any less charming in an old-school kind of way. Dark Sector isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it captures the imagination in small ways that make it worth sharing with others.

Games of Escape the Dark Sector are pretty brutal. There's not much opportunity for healing, so you simply attempt to protect the crew members who are the most badly hurt while you work from encounter to encounter, trying to make sure you're in the best shape for the final battle. The final battle usually doesn't care what shape you're in though and provides a solid challenge. Once you're familiar with the rules, which takes a single game, you can complete a mission in around 45 - 60 mins, which gives plenty of time to try again. And usually again.If Close Combat follows Ranged Combat, any remaining chapter dice carry over. If not, simply follow the steps for setting up combat described earlier. The players win if all of the chapter cards are completed, and they reach The Equinox. However, if even one player dies, the game ends and all the players lose. This game is all about budgeting your health to make sure you can survive each and every card. Strategizing who draws each card is a good idea because the player who draws the card usually takes the most damage. Each story card has a random encounter for players to deal with. The more symbols at the bottom, the harder the encounter. Game Experience: With its focus on storytelling and player cooperation, Sector provides an atmospheric gaming experience that immerses you in the unfolding story. Playing Sector is fun. You may not win often, but when you do, you’ll feel like you’ve earned it. Even in defeat, you’ll have enjoyed creating a story unique to that play through. After completing a chapter and before turning the next chapter card, ensure both tactical action cards are flipped to their ready sides.