Review
The Shadow Planet: The Board Game
The Shadow Planet: The Board Game is a relaxed semi-co-op deduction game with handsome pulp art and a few genuinely fresh ideas. Its first play is spent finding the edges of the rules, but there is a pleasingly suspicious game waiting on the other side.
The Shadow Planet: The Board Game
- Published
- 2022
- Designer
- Giacomo Santopietro, Gianluca Santopietro
- Publisher
- Galakta, Sir Chester Cobblepot
- Players
- 3–5
- Playing time
- 90 min
The Shadow Planet: The Board Game has a little of Nemesis and Galactica in its bloodstream, without asking the table to put on a helmet and brace itself. It is lighter, pulpier, and its artwork does a fine job of putting that bright, cheap science-fiction serial on the table.
At heart, it is a semi-co-op deduction game: you work together as far as necessary while trying to work out what is happening and who is really where. Looking at the result is not enough; you watch who gained from it, who let it happen, and who is suddenly acting innocent.
You will accuse the wrong person with tremendous confidence.
TheCuttlefish
Its neatest trick is that players change characters every round. By the end, nobody is entirely sure who is what, and that movement keeps the information loose and the conversation alive. You will accuse the wrong person with tremendous confidence. You will enjoy it.
The first game will probably pay the tuition fee, because it is not immediately clear what you can actually do and the rules could be written more cleanly. Give it a few plays, though, and it seems to find its rhythm: not earth-shaking, but a pleasant, well-made dose of suspicion.
Give it a few plays, though, and it seems to find its rhythm: not earth-shaking, but a pleasant, well-made dose of suspicion.
TheCuttlefish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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