Nemesis

It is hard not to have noticed Nemesis, even if you belong to the “Awaken Realms? Keep well away” school of thought. It is an impressive object on the table: the production is very good, and the miniatures have exactly the level of detail I want from this kind of space thriller. I went all-in during lockdown, so I picked up the older material too, and compared with other lavish productions of this sort it did not strike me as unreasonably expensive. Above all, though, the game sells its look and its atmosphere: a crew wakes up and has to figure out what the hell is happening aboard their ship.

In play, the crew wakes into this crisis, searching and exploring for items and possible solutions. The mechanisms support the theme well enough that you feel the pressure of the situation, but as pure gameplay I find it middling to unremarkable, especially next to Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. The fixed deck does its job, but it is not one of those systems you will go home and enthusiastically dissect.

Player interaction, on the other hand, is where Nemesis finds its real pulse. Players can betray players, send someone through an airlock, or get annoyed when their own space Dexter hoards food items to gain four extra actions and turn the ship into Kungi. Luck can also end you abruptly: one bad first tile, a nest, a queen, and goodbye horses. I do not see this as a game asking for cold, competitive optimization; it asks you to accept that things may become unfair and very, very funny.

With the right group mood, Nemesis brings its theme to life wonderfully and even leaves room for a little fake role-play. In our game, a perforated scientist in a wheelchair, carrying 14 infections, zig-zagged between four adult invaders to blow up the ship and take revenge on the soldier who had betrayed him—while the pilot had already betrayed both the soldier and the scientist. Those are not merely game results; they are material for at least two rounds of beers afterwards. It needs a light approach, everyone knowing roughly what they are doing so the pace stays brisk, and a willingness to laugh at the chaos. As for me, I am eagerly awaiting the next game, with Void Seeders, a crew losing its mind, and refreshed lines from Pitch Black.