Cool game, love the art, theme, and the book layouts.
The issues I ran into:
It seems too easy to plan out a safe exit. Without randomized oxygen loss you can just do some simple math to see if you can make it to the exit still or not. I wish the game had a little more luck in it, I testing just rolling a d6 whenever I move and if it comes up as 1 losing 2 air instead of 1.
I haven't played all the scenarios or maybe I missed a rule, so I could be wrong in this. Are you somehow not meant to know what events are coming or how much air it takes to complete a room?
Also the fact that you do not need to place a corridor at the start of the game seems odd. In my first playthrough I didn't do this and I drew the vault as my very first card which ended my game then and there as I need more rooms to actually complete my contract. I don't know if this was intentional, but showing up to a wreck and then turning around and leaving I didn't feel made for a compelling story.
All that said the rules themselves state the player can do whatever they like to improve the experience, which I always appreciate.
Little inside knowledge, but the very first draft used a pool of D6s! In the end, playtesting found that the right balance of strategy and luck was in randomising the rooms, not your oxygen expenditure.
If you want to add some randomness back in, try this ID Card Skill:
Skill: Running on Adrenaline. Each time you spend Oxygen, roll a D6. On a 1, spend twice as much, rounded up. On a 2 through 5, spend the normal amount. On a 6, spend half as much, rounded down (minimum 0).
Are you somehow not meant to know what events are coming or how much air it takes to complete a room?
You can see "everything" in the books, but don't worry. As a solo-journaling game, you tell your own story through a combination of different prompts and contexts. Even the same questions will tell a different story when posed in a different order. Being able to see different prompts makes the game more functional, but won't lessen your storytelling or replayability.
Furthermore, being able to see the length of each room track is also intended, as it allows for a little more "strategizing" during play :)
showing up to a wreck and then turning around and leaving I didn't feel made for a compelling story
Oops! That isn't intended. We'll try to address in a future revision. Perhaps an extra rule under valid and invalid ways to place rooms:
If you draw and place a room that would leave you with no available doorways, you can choose to: place the room at the bottom of the deck and draw again; place the room on the top of the deck play a corridor instead; or place it anyway.
Ironically I came to the same rules change as you more or less. I roll a d6 on every action and spend +1 air if I roll a 1. This makes useless items like the condenser valve more useful as it reduces risk of moving three times with 3 rolls into 1 time with 1 roll. I found this made the game just tense enough that I could still play it safe and be fine, but made taking risks actually risky.
After playing some more, a few more notes. Page numbers are wrong in the table of contents in books 1. Specifically tools are on page 14 not 13.
Also I for the life of me can't figure out what the spectromagnetic camera does? It just lets you get all the rewards from a room each time you visit? so when I set it up in the toolshed I can just get infinite items by walking back and forth?
A few tips for the Condenser Valve. Its primary use is in giving you better tactical choices about where you'll be when a Peril Event hits; you can move through several rooms, and then spend the Oxygen (and so move past the Peril Event's trigger).
It also allows greater movement when you're at your Last Gasp. The valve allows you to move X spaces and then spend X Oxygen in a single transaction; you therefore only have to discard once for a large move.
As you've identified, with the addition of rolling for extra oxygen expenditure, the condenser valve becomes even more useful!
Tool Page Number. Thanks catching the typo! I'll get that corrected in the next digital update :)
The Spectromagnetic Camera fills up a room's track while you're exploring, essentially investigating it for you while you go move elsewhere, e.g. to explore or investigate a different room. You will need to go back to the room to benefit from any Milestones it unlocks.
You could use it to essentially double the speed of your investigation in a single room, spending 1 Oxygen to Investigate and then adding 1 Tick from the Camera, e.g. to brute-force your way into the Vault.
Room Tracks don't reset during a Wreck, so you can't keep unlocking the same Milestones by walking in and out of a room.
We'll work on a more explicit version of this phrasing for the next edition. Perhaps something like:
DISCARD. Mark your current Room. When you spend any Oxygen, add an equal amount of ticks to this Room's Investigation Track. If you leave this Room, you can only benefit from an unlocked Milestone once you have returned to this Room.
First playthrough was a big success. I love the versatility of the different character choices, missions and ships. Very thematical and the sense of suspense you get while you are exploring the ship and story with your oxigen level dwindling is very well done. 10/10 would recommend. Athmosphere/ambient music makes this even better.
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Amazing art and theme! Absolutely gorgeous design.
Thank you so much!
Cool game, love the art, theme, and the book layouts.
The issues I ran into:
It seems too easy to plan out a safe exit. Without randomized oxygen loss you can just do some simple math to see if you can make it to the exit still or not. I wish the game had a little more luck in it, I testing just rolling a d6 whenever I move and if it comes up as 1 losing 2 air instead of 1.
I haven't played all the scenarios or maybe I missed a rule, so I could be wrong in this. Are you somehow not meant to know what events are coming or how much air it takes to complete a room?
Also the fact that you do not need to place a corridor at the start of the game seems odd. In my first playthrough I didn't do this and I drew the vault as my very first card which ended my game then and there as I need more rooms to actually complete my contract. I don't know if this was intentional, but showing up to a wreck and then turning around and leaving I didn't feel made for a compelling story.
All that said the rules themselves state the player can do whatever they like to improve the experience, which I always appreciate.
Thanks for the feedback!
Little inside knowledge, but the very first draft used a pool of D6s! In the end, playtesting found that the right balance of strategy and luck was in randomising the rooms, not your oxygen expenditure.
If you want to add some randomness back in, try this ID Card Skill:
Skill: Running on Adrenaline. Each time you spend Oxygen, roll a D6. On a 1, spend twice as much, rounded up. On a 2 through 5, spend the normal amount. On a 6, spend half as much, rounded down (minimum 0).
You can see "everything" in the books, but don't worry. As a solo-journaling game, you tell your own story through a combination of different prompts and contexts. Even the same questions will tell a different story when posed in a different order. Being able to see different prompts makes the game more functional, but won't lessen your storytelling or replayability.
Furthermore, being able to see the length of each room track is also intended, as it allows for a little more "strategizing" during play :)
Oops! That isn't intended. We'll try to address in a future revision. Perhaps an extra rule under valid and invalid ways to place rooms:
If you draw and place a room that would leave you with no available doorways, you can choose to: place the room at the bottom of the deck and draw again; place the room on the top of the deck play a corridor instead; or place it anyway.
Thanks for playing :) Brian / SSP
Ironically I came to the same rules change as you more or less. I roll a d6 on every action and spend +1 air if I roll a 1. This makes useless items like the condenser valve more useful as it reduces risk of moving three times with 3 rolls into 1 time with 1 roll. I found this made the game just tense enough that I could still play it safe and be fine, but made taking risks actually risky.
After playing some more, a few more notes. Page numbers are wrong in the table of contents in books 1. Specifically tools are on page 14 not 13.
Also I for the life of me can't figure out what the spectromagnetic camera does? It just lets you get all the rewards from a room each time you visit? so when I set it up in the toolshed I can just get infinite items by walking back and forth?
A few tips for the Condenser Valve. Its primary use is in giving you better tactical choices about where you'll be when a Peril Event hits; you can move through several rooms, and then spend the Oxygen (and so move past the Peril Event's trigger).
It also allows greater movement when you're at your Last Gasp. The valve allows you to move X spaces and then spend X Oxygen in a single transaction; you therefore only have to discard once for a large move.
As you've identified, with the addition of rolling for extra oxygen expenditure, the condenser valve becomes even more useful!
Tool Page Number. Thanks catching the typo! I'll get that corrected in the next digital update :)
The Spectromagnetic Camera fills up a room's track while you're exploring, essentially investigating it for you while you go move elsewhere, e.g. to explore or investigate a different room. You will need to go back to the room to benefit from any Milestones it unlocks.
You could use it to essentially double the speed of your investigation in a single room, spending 1 Oxygen to Investigate and then adding 1 Tick from the Camera, e.g. to brute-force your way into the Vault.
Room Tracks don't reset during a Wreck, so you can't keep unlocking the same Milestones by walking in and out of a room.
We'll work on a more explicit version of this phrasing for the next edition. Perhaps something like:
First playthrough was a big success. I love the versatility of the different character choices, missions and ships. Very thematical and the sense of suspense you get while you are exploring the ship and story with your oxigen level dwindling is very well done. 10/10 would recommend. Athmosphere/ambient music makes this even better.
Thanks for the lovely review!!
This is amazing I’m super pumped to get started