Nemesis: Aftermath & Void Seeders

We returned to the USS Nemesis with a larger group and the right chemistry, which may be the most important component in the box. The game is very good at creating that familiar, slightly uncomfortable tension around the table: you watch the others, they watch you, and nobody is entirely sure the group is still a group.

With the Void Seeders, the threat is less up close and personal than it is with the classic aliens. Rather than leaning chiefly on obvious physical horror, they hand out panic attacks. It is an interesting shift: the USS Nemesis is not any safer; the danger has simply changed its address.

In play, though, I found the mechanism noticeably weaker than the one in the base game, especially when the group includes a Medic. The pressure is there, but it does not bite as hard, and that matters in a game built on making you wonder who will leave you behind. Would you board the ship again?

Still, we had a very good time, and Nemesis has the odd habit of making me expect disappointment before I sit down, then ask for another game once it is over. The Void Seeders are not the version I would choose over the classic aliens, but Nemesis remains that annoyingly effective game which throws you off the USS Nemesis and makes you ask to come back.