First Thoughts – Nemesis

Creeping from room to room, trying not to make the slightest noise, I made my way towards the cockpit.

The tension filled the air. My shipmate was on the opposite side of the ship, we’d split up long before and that was good, because I had my own agenda and I didn’t trust her anyway.

Get to the cockpit, set the coordinates, then get the hell off this ship. Simple, or would have been if we weren’t being stalked by some sort of alien creature. Ha! Stalked! More like played with. I get the feeling they could rip us all to shreds whenever they pleased.

I enter the cockpit and set the coordinates – this ship ain’t going nowhere other than outer space.

Retracing my steps, I make my way back to the evacuation section. I can here the screams of my ‘Friend’ over the intercom. She’s been dodging aliens for over an hour now and I think they’re homing in.

Automatic fire reverberates around the ship, as she unloads a mag into whatever it is she’s encountered. A dreadful noise makes my skin crawl, I guess she got it.

Still, I’m reasonably calm. I’ve unlocked the escape pod and here it is. I reach for the button to open the door, which scrapes along the deck as it opens. I make to step inside… And then I see it. My turn to scream, my turn to run…

And that pretty much sums up our second game of Nemesis, which I did actually go on to win. And yes, I left Yasmin to look after my own interests, no daughter/father bonding here!

This game is right up my street. It’s cooperative… ish! If you work together you’re less likely to attract the aliens who, of course, want to hunt you down and gorge themselves on you – as every good alien should! You can also get a place searched quicker and move thing around from character to character to make best use.

But…

Not everyone has the team at heart, each has their own agenda, though some ends may be the same, and this really builds some tension, especially towards the middle game.

You see, nobody quite trusts anybody else.

“What did they change those coordinates to, I wonder?”

“Did they just fix, or damage those engines?”

You can go and check up yourself but when the chips are down and the aliens are ganging up, the last thing you want to do is spend an action double checking someone… or do you?

It’s the immersion into the theme that really makes this game shine and if you’re a fan of the ‘Alien’ movies, boy, are you going to love this.

Yes there’s player elimination but to be honest, I don’t care! Just watching a game in action is like watching a story unfold with its ups and downs, its twists and turns, its double crossing and mistrust.

Each character has their own action deck and with careful planning you can do quite a lot, as the player phase sees each player take two actions in turn and then it keeps going round until each has passed, before moving on to the event phase.

The game mechanism are straightforward and combat is simple so the game flows at just the right speed to let the story that the players are creating emerge and build an engrossing atmosphere.

We’ve played a couple of games now and really enjoyed them. I do think it would excel with another player or two but even with 2 it gave a really good account of itself – you can also play it solo. More people equals more distrust, more alliance making, more tension, just… more, and I would love to experience it with a higher player count.

The production value, as expected from Awaken Realms, is through the roof and this provides the only downside, the price.

Retailing at £125 it’s going to put some strain on the old purse strings, though you can pick it up most places for under the ton and if you get a few games in with 4 or 5 players I think you’ll be more than satisfied with your purchase.

So, to conclude my first thoughts, if you haven’t gathered already, I love this game and can’t wait to play it again!