Fantasy Flight Games lost the right to publish board games based on the cult series. This, in turn, closed the way for reprinting both the basic version of the game and its add-ons. In this situation, the publisher had two options – to abandon the hugely popular project or create a completely new title. Fortunately, the second solution was decided and the action was moved to the world created by Lovecraft, loved by the crowd of fans.
Bewildered horroris a cooperative game with a traitor theme. Its action takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. During this period, large steamboats, such as the SS Atlantica heading into Boston, were a popular means of transportation. During the game we will play the role of passengers of a ship attacked by monsters inhabiting the ocean. The chrysalises will try to sink it, and humans will try to survive and reach their destination. To get out of the death trap, travelers will have to confront Mother Hydra and Father Dagon, as well as their offspring. Thus, they will face many difficult decisions, skill tests and duels with the inhabitants of the ocean. Only efficient cooperation can save people from imminent death. Unfortunately, not everyone on board is who they say they are. Among the passengers there are hybrids that, although they look like mere mortals, sabotage their actions.
The game ends with the success of the people when the sum of the value of the navigation cards equals 12 and the travel token is on the last space of their track. This will mean that the passengers have reached their destination. They can fail in three ways: one of the resources (fuel, food, sanity, number of souls) will run out, you will have to add a figure of a creature from the deep, and their pool will be empty, or the ship will be destroyed as a result of a sixth card appearing on the board. damage.
The appearance and execution of the game
A mighty box of Dread Chipsis decorated with a dark, atmospheric illustration. It depicts SS Atlantic as it flows through a rough ocean. Its interior hides a large board and lots of good quality components. We will be using cards in two sizes in the game. They are all adequately thick and legible. In terms of looks, I like the myth deck the most. The cards describing the heroes in which we can play, character tokens and passengers are equally well made. In addition, the box includes an instruction, a compendium of knowledge, and what arouses great interest among many players – figures. The largest of them represent the powerful first parents – Father Dagon and Mother Hydra. Smaller monsters are the so-called creatures from the deep. The figurines make a great impression. They are solid and very detailed.
Preparation for the cruise
Prepare your resource indicators before playing your first game. Their initial value is 8. After unfolding the board, place the travel and ritual tokens on the first spaces of the appropriate tracks. Place the figures of the creatures from the deep, facedown passenger tokens, the die and traitor markers near the play area. Father Dagon and Mother Hydra begin the game in The Odor. Meanwhile, six descendants of the Monarchs, as well as two passengers, end up on the ship. Before we set sail, we also need to build the Skill, Betrayal, Myth, and Damage decks. Shuffle the sorted cards and put them in the bottom part of the board. Prepare the chaos deck as well. To do this, we draw 2 cards of each skill, shuffle them and place them on the appropriate space on the board.
After the initial preparation of the SS Atlantica deck, we select the heroes who will embark on a journey to Boston. We randomly select characters and receive all the components assigned to them – a sheet with a description, a pawn, a feat, an item and a help card. Place the pawns in the designated place on the ship’s deck. Everyone except the first player draws the cards indicated on their Hero sheet. Using the instructions on the Succession cards, we assign the Captain and Keeper of the Book and distribute the Navigation and Myth decks to the appropriate people. The final step in setting up the game is determining the character’s loyalty. Each player randomly draws a card with the role he will play during the voyage.
Time to go on a journey
When everything is ready, we can start the journey. Each passenger takes its turn in turn. It is divided into 4 phases. First, Skill Cards are drawn. Then we perform two actions. We can move our pawn, attack the monster in the room we are in, save the passenger, perform the action described on the feat, item or skill card, activate the ability of the place where we are staying, repair the ship, exchange items with other players in the given location, or also, if we are a traitor, reveal ourselves. After taking the action, reveal the top myth card and resolve it. At the end of your turn, discard cards from your hand so that you have a maximum of 10. The game continues until the win condition or one of the defeat requirements is met.
Anything can happen
Many adventures await us during the SS Atlantica journey. We will reveal a myth card each turn. Some of them force us to make a decision, others to conduct a skill test, others combine these two features, making us choose between a test or a specific action. After resolving the story, we must activate the monsters shown on the card and then advance the travel or ritual token.
Conquer the waves and prepare the ritual
The ship’s movement is shown on the travel track. Each time an Atlantica token reaches its end, one of the two randomly drawn navigation cards is resolved. This task is performed in secret by the ship’s captain. I really like the fact that the movement of the ship has a real influence on the position of the monsters surrounding it. Each time you move the travel token, the monsters are placed back or sent to the Drain.
The ritual track is no less important for the game. If the token on it reaches its end, the destructive spell is activated. It sweeps away every creature that is there. Characters go to the field hospital, monsters go to the Vultures or the reserves, and passengers die, which means that the value of “souls” has to be reduced.
Monsters won’t wait forever
A Myth Card activates Dagon, Hydra, or their descendants. In the first case, more monsters appear on the ship. In the second – the ship is damaged. If the creatures from the deep are awakened, each of the monsters on board attacks a person from the room in which he is located, damages that place, defeats a passenger or moves.
Passengers can be different
Each of the characters in The Dazed Horror game has a different set of skills. They can have influence, knowledge, perception, strength, or will. We can spend these types of cards to pass the test or to use the actions described on them.
How can a traitor work?
Definitely a dazzled horrorthey gain if we play the role of a hybrid or a cultist. Then we don’t have to focus on what other players are up to, just lead them by the nose ourselves. However, this should be done subtly, because otherwise, we will certainly be pacified by passengers. So what actions can we take? First of all, we can just play it badly. Another option is to sabotage the efforts of other characters by adding non-supporting cards to the test (when resolving it, we draw cards from the chaos deck, and what we play from our hand is classified information, so no one will know what we have done directly). If we are a captain or a book keeper, we have more room for action. We can then choose a worse card or a less advantageous option. Finally, we can mix, quarrel and spread the chaos.
What if we find we’re fed up with hiding in corners? We can then reveal ourselves. This allows us, among others attack others directly, draw and use betrayal cards, and even … make someone a hybrid (having two traitor cards, you can pass one to someone else as a result of an action). Of course, if we come out, we will attract the attention of all people, we will also participate in the myth phase to a limited extent and we will no longer be able to use the rooms.
A ship full of nooks and crannies
Moving through the SS Atlantica, we can find, among others to the engine room, cargo hold or chapel. Each room allows you to perform a different action. Their description can be found on the help card. During the game, we can also land in an arrest or hospital. The first is where fellow passengers move us when they think we’re probably traitors. If we really sabotage the group’s activities and reveal ourselves, we will definitely end up there. Prison limits our actions, but it is not final. There are ways to get out of it. The Lazaret is the location where we recover after losing a duel.
Impressions of the cruise
Dull Terror is a very atmospheric game that was created for 3-6 players. Works best with a larger composition when two hybrids appear on the ship. Whether the game will be full of emotions depends largely on the people participating in it. Playing above the table is extremely important in the case of this title. Making decisions together, convincing yourself of your innocence, sharing doubts about other players, lying, bluffing – all this can, and even should be, done during the voyage. Thanks to this, a game with relatively simple rules gains depth. This means that Dazzled Horror has a lot of potential to charm people who reach for it.
Replayability
During the game, we can play one of ten characters. They include, among others a mathematician intrigued by the story of an underwater city, a man who received a “lucky” ring that turns his life into a series of misfortunes, or a sailor following in the footsteps of his father. The heroes scattered around the deck have individual skills, they choose different types of cards, and they also start with different equipment. All this means that if we play a new character, we have a chance for a slightly different gameplay experience. There are more of them than people who can take the cruise, so the set of passengers can always differ.
Depending on who we play, we have a different goal to achieve. People want to survive and travel safely to Boston. The hybrids are about to sink the ship. The cultist, on the other hand, wins if the passengers are defeated just before reaching their destination.
In addition to the variety of heroes, the replayability of Chains of Horror is also influenced by the role and function assigned to us. Personally, I love being the “bad guy” in traitor games, so I enjoyed playing hybrid or cultist games immensely. The role of a regular passenger is a bit less exciting, although the role of a captain or book keeper can be a diversion. Interestingly, it may happen that we start the game without a traitor. The loyalty cards are dealt twice – at the beginning of the game and when the value of the navigation cards is 6. Even if you do not have any of them, you will not be bored aboard the SS Atlantica. Fighting for life and trying to see the traitors will surely provide a lot of excitement.
The variety of individual games is also influenced by cards and unpredictable duels, which are resolved with dice. They introduce randomness that I do not like. Rolling the dice, for example, decides which room you damage, but also determines fights with monsters or people. In the game, we have several options for influencing fate, so in the case of Chromes of Horror , having to rely on it was not too burdensome for me.
The more the better
It is worth playing at least 4 people in Decay of Horror. Due to the need to constantly observe the actions of opponents, plan their moves and observe the value of resources, their turns do not get too long. Even with the full squad, the gameplay is quite smooth. That’s when there is the most combining, bluffing and convincing innocence, which is why it is, in my opinion, the optimal line-up of players. What about the leader syndrome that cooperative games often suffer from? In the case of Bleak of Terror , it is effectively counteracted by the traitor. On board the SS Atlantica, no one can be trusted completely, much less uncritically following his orders.
Hazy with horror is a great proposition for a large group of at least intermediate players. When you go on a cruise on the SS Atlantica, you need to reserve about three hours and prepare a lot of space. On board, you will experience unexpected events, learn dark secrets and search the recesses full of dangers. Trust no one and be careful not to fall into the water over which the vapors of madness are rising. This is because the inhabitants of the underwater waters are waiting for you there. Meeting them will be an unusual, but also the last moment of your life. So how do you dare to go out into the great waters?
