Nemesis (Base Game)

My husband loved this game and wanted to add it to our collection so ofc I got him it. I’m not very proficient at board games and while this one has a TON of well-crafted pieces, it’s very easy to understand how to play once you get the ball rolling. Very fun, good re-play ability, and has fun expansion packs.

I went back and forth for weeks on purchasing nemesis, i finally gave in and ordered. Because of this game I now have a dedicated board game group JUST for nemesis. Its a hit. It takes awhile to play, the instructions are quite extensive, and i dont recommend this for those newer to board games. Its a large box and once everything is on the table it requires tons of space, dont get this unless you have a long table to play on. Two of the miniatures came broken inside of the box prior to me receiving it. I super glued them back together and theyve been fine since. Additonally part of my box broken when putting the lid back on, i think this game could use a more durable box. Overall I love the game and highly recommened it, as every playthrough feels different and engaging.

There is not a single downside to this game (unless your typical game night excedes five players). The main game is "semi-cooperative”. You must work together to survive. You could get knocked out of the game on the second turn, permanently. But you also have personal objectives that might tempt you into deceit, sabotage, and murder. There are also Fully Cooperative and Revive Modes that eliminate paranoia and promote deeper compassion and communication. There's even a single-player mode! Optionally, the first player to die can play as the Intruders, making an already overwhelming enemy more threatening. Worth the pricetag, every dollar your spend is packed into the game. This is a well-designed and organized game box: a place for everything and everything in its place. High-quality and gorgeously detailed plastic figures, a double-sided game board (standard and harder layout), detailed instructions, handy reference cards, great artwork and more. A short story you can read aloud sets the drama while actually teaching the game's flow. My group played last weekend, and we couldn't help role-playing our characters. NOT our usual game night!! Intense with moments of screaming hilarity. If you like games like Catan, Twilight Imperium, Gloomhaven, etc. OR if you are a fan of the Alien movie franchise, consider this a MUST BUY.

Let me start by saying that this is a great game! A narrative experience where players attempt to survive a starship which is falling apart around them, vicious alien intruders, and possibly other players who might pursue their own sometimes selfish agendas. Terror and treachery are around every corner and players must attempt to pursue a secret personal goal(s) in order to attain victory and some co-operation is required as the game is hard. However, patient players wait until the fruits of betrayal are ripe and a sudden door closing, room lit afire, or drawing the intruders to a room occupied by your now-former friends can change the narrative of the game for better or worse. The game itself does have a lot of rules and actually winning can be a daunting task. There are rules for co-operative and solo play, but the main game, fully involved is the true gem here. The game components are very nice - quality cardboard, plastic chips for the noise markers, fires and malfunctioning room tokens. And of course, the figurines are great! The intruders are large and menacing and the most common foe has multiple sculpts and poses. All the figures and components come pre-assembled and the box is packed full of game pieces. The rules book is large and fairly easy to follow, but there are a lot of rules and you will be referring back to it often, even once you've played a few times. It also comes with 2 separate sheets that define what the different rooms do, so the players don't need to pass around the rule-book constantly - a nice well-thought out touch. Overall, my group enjoys this game, but less competitive groups might not like the semi-co-op version of the game as much.

I can’t praise this game enough! Nemesis is a STAPLE of our weekly game nights. It has a TON of pieces, each piece feels like good quality, and the gameplay is crazy fun…but be warned: friendships are tested as you never know if your friend is out to get you. The premise of the game is easy, and learning the game isn’t too difficult. Move: roll noise dice. Play cards. Fight aliens if they arrive (or run away from them). Complete onjectives. Go to Earth. What we love the most about the game is that it’s never the same every time you play it since the rooms are randomized. It keeps the game fresh every time you play it. Heads up: it’s a BIG game by size and requires a large play area. Also, get the expansions! They add to the core of the game.

Overall, this game is a really fun game (ripped-off Alien and not even trying to hide it) with a great theme, great components and miniatures, and really fun gameplay. The characters are all somewhat unique in their play style and abilities without being too unique where if one is not selected, the difficulty gets changed. As far as overall difficulty, it is moderate to high. The game does not hold one's hand and offers plenty of challenges to where players have a high likelihood of dying (second game died in my third turn from the first encounter which was the queen alien). Of course, this also comes from the other players as they often times have secret missions that work against the other players which adds another interesting dynamic to the game. One cannot just go around killing aliens but must ensure the engines are working and make sure the ship is headed towards earth, that is if one player is not supposed to sabotage these things. Trying to achieve hidden objectives without giving them away to everyone else is also nerve-wracking and exciting. While the crafting aspect is not something very deep, it is also a very cool aspect of this game. I will say that I find the price to be a little steep for the game (think $85 would be very reasonable) and feel that the fact the players have so many options in the game is both a mark in its favor and a strike against it. The nice part of the many choices is the players are not limited in how they can win the game and the negative events that happen around the ship can complicate their escape. Events keep things random but in a good way. Aliens attacking is fantastic. However, the numerous different things that can happen and do I also feel limit the player's ability to work towards their goals and add some unnecessary and convoluted rules to the game. I would rather see options added through player cards and decks more than just core game mechanics. Players face too many different obstacles with unique sets of rules that could be trimmed down and more manageable. Infections, great, but slime as well? Then you have to go find a room to wash off the slime, or surgically remove an alien, or suppress fires in other parts of the ship, or repair damaged rooms, etc. Then trying to navigate all of this with aliens as a constant looming threat while trying to reduce noise (I do like the noise feature and obviously the aliens) and repairing engines while trying to ensure the ship is on the course all the way at the other end. I think cards could enhance player choices better than adding all these extra tokens and rules. Then fighting or evading an alien, and finding a room to purchase ammo or heal wounds. These complaints do not ruin the game for me at all, but they are sometimes tiresome aspects of the game feeling more of a chore sometimes. And dice, I hate dice. This game uses them only for combat and noise checks, but shooting aliens is somewhat less fun when having to roll dice to do any damage. But, it is not like every part of the game requires them and their use is less painful than other dice rolling games. Overall, I enjoy this game much. I think some things could be consolidated or trimmed to make it a much more streamlined experience, but this is not something I would say is a huge turn-off from me recommending this game to others. If you are not a fan of semi-coop games and have issues with players turning on each other secretly, then maybe avoid this. Otherwise, I recommend it.

My 5 star review will come in 3 sections: pros, cons, and explanation. My list of pros about this game is much longer than the cons, but I want to touch on both. And then anyone interested who is still on the fence about getting the game can read my brief explanation of how the game is played. Pros: - The game creates an intense and foreboding atmosphere throughout. I’d recommend playing this with some ambient sci-fi horror sounds/music in the background for a maximally intense atmosphere. - The rulebook is complex and the game seems difficult at first, but it becomes very simple quickly. Once you get the hang of it, the game flows very well. - All of the game’s components are very high quality and well detailed. This only helps contribute to the atmosphere. Additionally, the box is very well organized and keeps each component and card deck very secure. I’d recommend taking pictures of each layer of what’s in the box when you first take things out because there are a lot of pieces. - The end of your games are usually incredibly tense and create very cinematic moments. You could literally write an Alien franchise movie script with how many of your games will turn out. - The game is difficult to win in all 3 modes. It recreates the struggles you’d expect isolated on a space ship infested with aliens you’re trying to avoid. This, however, can also be seen as a con and I’ll touch on that. Cons: - The game is expensive. - I feel that the rulebook needs an additional section with a brief overview. The video tutorial on how to play is, in my opinion, the best way to learn. - The game is difficult. I actually enjoy its difficulty, but the difficulty comes in two forms: inherent obstacles and luck. If you like euro-style games where luck plays no role, this game may not be for you. This game is inherently unfair and it’s not entirely uncommon to lose in a sudden, unexpected way even if you play well. Overall, I give this game 5 stars. I’ve played probably over 20 times in the 4 or so months I’ve had this game. I’ve enjoyed every single playthrough. Each game takes between 1 to 3 hours, with your first game probably being longer simply because you have to learn the rules. I love the atmosphere it creates, flow of the game, and even its difficulty and luck factor. Even the games where luck doesn’t go my way and I die a horrible death are very enjoyable. All my friends who I’ve played with have loved it as well. This game is pricey, but in my opinion, is completely worth it. If that part of my review was enough to convince you to buy the game, then do it. If you want an explanation of how the game works, then read on. If you’re still not convinced, I hope my explanation can help you. The game has three modes: semi co-op, co-op, and solo. Co-op and solo are the exact same, except in solo you’re obviously the only player. The setup is nearly identical for all three modes. Each game of nemesis will take 1 to 3 hours to play, with your first game possibly being even longer because you have to learn the rules. The game supports 1 to 5 players, and I’ve even played with 6 and made a slight modification to the semi co-op objectives to support the sixth character. There are six playable characters to choose from, and each is very unique. There are 18 semi co-op objectives, with 9 being corporate and 9 being personal, and there are 8 or 9 (I can’t remember) solo/co-op objectives. Aliens can come in five types (in order of difficulty to defeat): larva, creeper, adult, breeder, and queen. As you progress through the game, you will explore the ship, fight off aliens, interact with items and rooms, and try not to make too much noise while fulfilling your objective and survive. The game board consists of 14 unexplored rooms, with 9 of them always being on the ship (these are related to your objectives) and 5 additional rooms that can provide life-saving utility, but are mostly unrelated to objectives. You’ve just awoken from cryo-sleep in the hibernatorium only to find that your crewmate is dead with some brutal injuries. Cryo-sleep brings amnesia; you don’t know which rooms are where, you may not know what your surviving crewmates objectives truly are, and you hear noises coming from the ventilation system and realize that you’re not alone, and that whatever is making those noises probably mangled your dead crewmate. You know that the cockpit is at the front of the ship; to find out where the ship is headed, you’ve got to make your way over there. You also know that the ship’s 3 engines are at the back, but you have no idea if they’re working or damaged. Lastly, your company-provided equipment has sent you an objective, but you’ve also got your own personal agenda. At some point into the game (usually early on), you’ll pick either your corporate or personal objective to fulfill. The six characters in the game are: soldier, captain, pilot, scout, mechanic, and scientist. The soldier is the most resilient in combat, the captain is good in combat but can also order crewmates around, the pilot can use knowledge of the ship and cockpit to their advantage, the scout is most adept at making the least noise, the mechanic can easily fix things and maneuver the ship through the ventilation system, and the scientist is best at using the computer systems on the ship and researching alien weaknesses. I have also listed these in rough order of their ability to perform in combat with aliens. The characters all feel extremely unique to one another, and are all viable in one way or another. Items can additionally be found throughout the game that will help in combat. These include weapons, grenades, medkits, fire extinguishers, and many others. In semi co-op, you’ll be working together with your crewmates, all the while being wary of their true intentions. But make no mistake, even another player’s secret objective is for you to die, they will absolutely have to work with you for some time if they want to make it themselves. Your company-provided headset prevents you from harming your crewmates outright, so if your objective is nefarious, you must sabotage them in other ways (and there are many). In co-op and solo, you and your crewmates share objectives, and no goals are nefarious. The game consists of up to 15 rounds, with each round being split up into two phases: player phase and event phase. The player phase consists of each player, in clockwise order, taking up to two actions. Once all players have taken their actions, the game moves to the event phase. The event phase consists of aliens attacking, taking damage, events, and the intruder bag development. The actions done in the player phase include basic actions (moving, fighting, interacting with objects), card actions (the cards in your player deck where some are unique and some are shared that include searching rooms for items, fixing things, breaking things, etc.), and room actions (using a room – e.g. using the laboratory to analyze an object and discover an intruder weakness). In order to win a semi co-op game, you must fulfill your objective and survive. In full co-op and solo, your team must fulfill all objectives and at least one person must survive. In order to survive, you must either make it off the ship in an escape pod, or you can go to cryo-sleep in the hibernatorium provided that the ship is headed towards earth and at least two of the three engines are working. The noise mechanic is one that is particularly unique about nemesis. As you move through the ship you will create noise in the numerous corridors that connect the rooms (as well as the ventilation system, called the technical corridor). The more noise you make, the more likely the aliens are to hear you. The noise in these corridors is represented by a yellow token. Any time a second yellow token would be placed on one corridor, that triggers an encounter. For any encounter, you’d reach into the intruder bag, pull out a token, and place that corresponding alien into the room with you. Based on the number of cards left in your hand, the alien may even surprise attack you. Thus, you really want to make as little noise as possible. Combat is particularly brutal in this game, where it’s reliant on dice rolls, and the health of most aliens changes on a per-turn basis. While that sounds like a strange concept, I think it adds to the unknown nature of the aliens. All aliens’ health and attacks (with the exception of the larva, which has 1 health and attacks by infecting you – think of a facehugger laying an egg in your stomach) is determined by intruder attack cards. So you may get lucky and kill an alien with a low health number on a card, or you could get unlucky and when you flip the card after shooting the alien, find that the card has a high health number. The same goes for attacks, where sometimes when an intruder goes to attack you, the alien marker of the one doing so is not on the card, and nothing happens. However, some attack cards are particularly deadly, and if you’re unlucky enough to draw one when in combat with a breeder or queen, you’re in serious trouble. If you die in semi co-op, you have the option to play as the intruders, which changes the flow of the game which is described in detail in the rulebook. Another unique mechanic is the contamination system. Certain effects will cause your character to possibly get infected through contamination cards. These have the same back as player action decks because when you get one it is put directly into your discard pile, which will later get re-used. In order to find out if a contamination card actually means you’re infected, you’ll have to play special cards and/or use rooms on the ship to find out. In the event that you’re infected, you’ll have to make your way to surgery to remove it. If you end the game in cryo-sleep or on an escape pod and you’re infected, you die. Almost every game I’ve played has come down to the wire, where one or more people are making a mad dash for either the evacuation sections to get into the escape pod, or the hibernatorium to try to get into the cryo-sleep chambers. They’re usually epic and provide for some really intense and often funny moments when someone alerts a powerful alien to their location during their attempts to get off the ship. When you first play the game I’d recommend watching the video tutorial on how the game works; it’s on YouTube and is easy to find. I’d also recommend playing co-op the first time. My first few games were semi co-op, and while that’s my preferred game mode, co-op is also a blast and is the best way to learn that working together is the only way to survive in this game. Even if you play semi co-op and your objective is nefarious, it is imperative that you all work together. Here are some tips for beginners (keep in mind that I’ve played over a dozen semi co-op games and won only two): - Make as little noise as possible. Careful movement is absolutely worth the two card cost. Noise rolls don’t often go the way you want them to. - The items are separated into three categories: offensive (red), healing (green), and utility (yellow). If you are playing as the scientist, mechanic, scout, or pilot, I highly recommend going for red items early. You’ll often find additional weapons which are of immense help in combat. - I first thought the scientist was a terrible character, but his holo-computer quest item can win games on its own. I first made use of this during a fully co-op game and it was the only reason the team was able to win. - Getting slimed is actually a pretty bad thing to happen despite it not seeming that bad. Find clothing (yellow or green item) or the showers room tile to remove it. - If your objective is to kill the queen, your best bet is to ensure the ship’s destruction. You can do this by either initiating the self-destruct sequence in the generator room, or making sure that at least two engines are damaged before the ship takes off for hyperspace flight. The queen is extremely powerful; only fight her as a last resort. - It’s extremely important to remember that the rooms with a “1” on them are crucial to completing objectives. The “2” rooms are auxiliary and provide utilities that will help you along the way. - Reloading your weapon is pretty difficult if you haven’t picked up an item to do so for you (an energy charge for example). It’s easy to spend all your ammo in suppressive fire while running away, but you may find yourself needing to fight but with little to no ammo left. That’s all I’ve got. This is a pretty lengthy review but I hope it helps you decide whether or not to get this game. I listed some cons but it’s still a 5 star purchase in my book. I plan on continuing to play this game on a pretty regular basis even with my board game collection steadily growing.

Look, I'm a HUGE fan of the alien series. I could watch those movies constantly. This game, puts you into the action like you're on your own version of the Nostromo. Fair warning, this game is complicated, it takes a minute to learn but when you do it's a lot of fun. The minis they include for the Intruders and the crew are fantastic and for me the best part was they were in the base grey, so I was able to paint them the way I wanted and make them look fun. Setup does take a while, plan for about 10 minutes just to do setup after you know how to do it. I recommend getting the Acrylic pack for the tokens to add some weight to them. If you have a 3d printer or know someone who does, there are some great STL files for new inserts to hold everything that make storage an absolute breeze. This is a game my friends talk about playing more and we do. For me though, the best part is it has the rules for solo play. So even when I'm home alone, I can still play.