Monday, 14 December 2020

Alrightgames: Cthulhu Realms

Welcome to this new spin-off series in which a 35-year-old parent justifies or regrets his indulgent purchases of repetitive card/board games for himself.

For my family's sake, this had best be short lived, but maybe she'll want to join in when she's old enough. Two stars and under get (r)eBayed.


Cthulhu Realms

2015 / Deckbuilding card game / 2-4 players / USA

*****

If I'd played or been aware of Star Realms first, and not come across its evil spin-off when caught up in a Lovecraft phase, then several years later made it my first non-computer game purchase since primary school, no doubt I'd be less sentimentally attached. But even after logging more days on the spaceship game thanks to its stat-swapping expansions keeping things superficially varied, I much prefer this one.

Seeing the inappropriately jovial cartoon card art in person and playing against my patient brother rather than predictable AI has been a treat, and unlike some other deckbuilders, you don't have to spend more on expansions if you want to play with more people. Which is a good thing, really, since it wasn't popular enough to get any.