Unfathomable

I came to Unfathomable with low expectations, because the original game has never really been mine, and found a remarkably well-made production instead. There are cards everywhere, a proper amount of tabletop clutter, and none of that unpleasant sense that the components were saved from a cost-cutting meeting. It is better than I expected. You open the box and the evening has already acquired a tone.

The central structure is still very close to Galactica, only a little more streamlined. The humans try to keep moving while the cultists work to bring the whole effort down, with cards threaded through every part of the process. Items give players more things to do on their turns, which at least gives the human side some tools with which to answer back.

The significant change is the split of the jump track into a travel track and a ritual track. That makes life noticeably harder for the humans, especially when cultists act back to back and have time to build pressure. Then the familiar problem arrives: once it becomes too obvious who the toaster is—an octopus person in this case—the suspicion drains away, and so does much of the mischief. The game loses a tentacle there.

I would not buy it, but anyone wanting a Galactica-like game can pick it up without fear or hesitation.