Hello. So yesterday at a boardgame bar at work I got to try out the boardgame called Nemesis. A boardgame I also considered backing on kickstarter when it was shown off. You wake up from cryostasis, alarms are blaring, there are things out there in the hallways and the aesthetic is very much inspired by Alien of course. I got to spend some time with it, mind you I didnt actually complete a full game but I feel like 4 hours is enough time to at least get a feel for something.
And while it was interesting to play, I feel like it simply had too much stuff going on. I mean, every single layer or mechanic had to have some extra twist which is great and all, but I feel like it could use a downgrade, filter out some of the noice and keep the most central mechanics the important ones rather than having decks and tables for everything. For example here are some layers of mechanics, and again I dont think any of them are bad, I just think there are too many:
1. Each player has a secret objective, some of these run contrary to each other.
2. Each character class has its own deck of actions, from which you draw a hand and play cards to take class-specific actions, or discard cards to take general actions - like walking and shooting.
3. Getting contaminated by aliens add contamination cards to your action deck, meaning you'll end up drawing cards taking up space without being useful.
4. Players can end their own turns early to save cards, or burn through cards to do alot of things, but leave themselves open to ambush.
5. All rooms have different functions and ways to use them, and their locations are randomized.
6. You can search for supplies, which can be crafted into useful stuff, but certain supplies are linked to certain rooms. And of course how many supplies are in a given room is also randomized.
7. All character classes have specific items they can make, but they need to visit a certain room or find certain components to do so.
8. Aliens are attracted by noise, which you make when moving carelessly around. Adding noise tokens to a random corridor near your room, making noise and rolling the same corridor means something comes jumping out of it.
9. When they attack you flip a random attack card that determines what kind of injury you get, same goes for attacking them back. They get wounds when hit, and then you flip an attack card comparing its value, if its lower than the aliens wounds - woo! its dead!
10. Aliens also have vulnerabilities you can discover during play, by bringing bodies and eggs to a laboratory and research them, netting you permanent benefits.
11. Aliens are drawn from a bag, which during play is mixed up, removing tokens for dead ones, and adding new tokens as others mature.
And of course there is also event cards, special injuries and even a draft mechanic for picking your character class. I am just, phew. It quickly becomes a taxing emulator that you're just flipping and resolving cards for and there were several cases where foresight wasn't really a thing. I know what room I need to go to, and I know what my cards allow me to do, dont know where the room is, what is in there, wether it hits me or not, what kinda injury I recieve... and so forth. And well, I am all for some unknown variables, take XCOM for instance, it'd be a lot less interesting if you knew exactly where the aliens were hiding. And if a game becomes completely deterministic, it just becomes a puzzle. How long does it take you to compute the correct solution and move on? So of course there must be some unknowns to make your options interesting: There may be an alien in the room ahead, do you run in to save time and risk getting noticed, or sneak in but risk wasting time? And I just in the end feel that some of all these fancy decks and drafting and what not could be stripped down into a more, but not, completely deterministic gaming experience.
What if all rooms were pre-revealed? The experience would become more about chosing where to go, but also personal objectives would be more in the limelight, because if a guy wants to sabotage the escape pods and you can see him beelining for them from the start, something might be fishy.
What if action decks and individual objectives were removed? Now you're all a team on the same side struggling through the alien horde to fix up the ship, you know you can rely on each other and make plans together, but how the alien menace prowls and hunts is still unknown.
What if the aliens actions weren't randomized, and they were tougher? It would become more about fooling these overpowering foes, luring them into airlocks, hay-wiring doors and trying to delay and out maneuver this marauding threat, avoiding firefights and favoring using the terrain to your advantage.
What I am getting at is that it seems like Nemisis wants to be a lot of things, but due to the murkiness of all the blockbuster mechanics shoved in there it becomes unfocused, diffuse and sadly a moment to moment action thing. I am reminded about a programming assignment a friend of mine had, it was about making a de-master of an old civilisation game, and as I told them, its really a matter of priority and decluttering.
Find the things you find interesting, focus the design on those, and start cutting stuff that just take up space and time.
And while it was interesting to play, I feel like it simply had too much stuff going on. I mean, every single layer or mechanic had to have some extra twist which is great and all, but I feel like it could use a downgrade, filter out some of the noice and keep the most central mechanics the important ones rather than having decks and tables for everything. For example here are some layers of mechanics, and again I dont think any of them are bad, I just think there are too many:
1. Each player has a secret objective, some of these run contrary to each other.
2. Each character class has its own deck of actions, from which you draw a hand and play cards to take class-specific actions, or discard cards to take general actions - like walking and shooting.
3. Getting contaminated by aliens add contamination cards to your action deck, meaning you'll end up drawing cards taking up space without being useful.
4. Players can end their own turns early to save cards, or burn through cards to do alot of things, but leave themselves open to ambush.
5. All rooms have different functions and ways to use them, and their locations are randomized.
6. You can search for supplies, which can be crafted into useful stuff, but certain supplies are linked to certain rooms. And of course how many supplies are in a given room is also randomized.
7. All character classes have specific items they can make, but they need to visit a certain room or find certain components to do so.
8. Aliens are attracted by noise, which you make when moving carelessly around. Adding noise tokens to a random corridor near your room, making noise and rolling the same corridor means something comes jumping out of it.
9. When they attack you flip a random attack card that determines what kind of injury you get, same goes for attacking them back. They get wounds when hit, and then you flip an attack card comparing its value, if its lower than the aliens wounds - woo! its dead!
10. Aliens also have vulnerabilities you can discover during play, by bringing bodies and eggs to a laboratory and research them, netting you permanent benefits.
11. Aliens are drawn from a bag, which during play is mixed up, removing tokens for dead ones, and adding new tokens as others mature.
And of course there is also event cards, special injuries and even a draft mechanic for picking your character class. I am just, phew. It quickly becomes a taxing emulator that you're just flipping and resolving cards for and there were several cases where foresight wasn't really a thing. I know what room I need to go to, and I know what my cards allow me to do, dont know where the room is, what is in there, wether it hits me or not, what kinda injury I recieve... and so forth. And well, I am all for some unknown variables, take XCOM for instance, it'd be a lot less interesting if you knew exactly where the aliens were hiding. And if a game becomes completely deterministic, it just becomes a puzzle. How long does it take you to compute the correct solution and move on? So of course there must be some unknowns to make your options interesting: There may be an alien in the room ahead, do you run in to save time and risk getting noticed, or sneak in but risk wasting time? And I just in the end feel that some of all these fancy decks and drafting and what not could be stripped down into a more, but not, completely deterministic gaming experience.
What if all rooms were pre-revealed? The experience would become more about chosing where to go, but also personal objectives would be more in the limelight, because if a guy wants to sabotage the escape pods and you can see him beelining for them from the start, something might be fishy.
What if action decks and individual objectives were removed? Now you're all a team on the same side struggling through the alien horde to fix up the ship, you know you can rely on each other and make plans together, but how the alien menace prowls and hunts is still unknown.
What if the aliens actions weren't randomized, and they were tougher? It would become more about fooling these overpowering foes, luring them into airlocks, hay-wiring doors and trying to delay and out maneuver this marauding threat, avoiding firefights and favoring using the terrain to your advantage.
What I am getting at is that it seems like Nemisis wants to be a lot of things, but due to the murkiness of all the blockbuster mechanics shoved in there it becomes unfocused, diffuse and sadly a moment to moment action thing. I am reminded about a programming assignment a friend of mine had, it was about making a de-master of an old civilisation game, and as I told them, its really a matter of priority and decluttering.
Find the things you find interesting, focus the design on those, and start cutting stuff that just take up space and time.
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