So far in book week I have reviewed a couple of rule sets and some books. Today is a game review.

Reign of Cthulhu is a Pandemic System game where horrible Shoggoths shamble across the board. Unpredictable ancient gods materialise and affect the game in unexpected ways. Players find and use powerful relics at the cost of their sanity. The four towns on the board begin to live and breathe beneath your fingers.

In spite of the branding, the mechanics are significantly different from the original Pandemic game. You’re still collecting sets of colour-coded cards to travel and win. But the goal here is to shut down four gates, one in each town. Instead of disease cubes there are cultists and Shoggoths. And instead of an outbreak a random Great Old One appears and casts its baleful effects on the game. Azathoth, for instance, reduces the number of cultist figures available which is bad news because running out ends the game. Shudde M’ell costs the players a bunch of sanity.

All these extra goodies don’t make the game any more complex than the original. It’s suitable for family play if the family can stomach the theme and evocatively bleak art which I think is awesome.

The miniatures are simplistic but totally representative of each type of investigator and will be fun to paint.

All-in-all we find this a great couples game and a great investment.