Themeborne | Escape The Dark Sector | Board Game | 1 - 4 Players | Ages 14+ | 45 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

The new boss is as dangerous as the others and it is always welcome to have another random option to face at the end of the game. Araknochron is a horrifying time travelling spider cyborg who uses the rift die to add random negative effects to your crew members at the start of combat. These are all powerful and potentially deadly effects and the potential to wipe a party at the start of the encounter without any prevention is possible so he is definitely one of the harder bosses to face. There are three things in life that I love, apart from my children of course: science-fiction, evocative art, and solitaire games. The idea then to be able to combine these individual elements into a holy trinity is an alluring proposition to say the least. This is the premise for Escape the Dark Sector, the spiritual sequel to Escape the Dark Castle from publisher Themeborne. Designed by Alex Crispin, Thomas Pike, and James Shelton this space themed game design caught my interest for two reasons: the artwork and the promise of a heavy emphasis on story, two things that makes me purr like a kitten. Let us take a closer look to see if Escape the Dark Sector manages to deliver on these vows. Escape the Dark Sector is a simple sci-fi adventure game with a focus on atmosphere, storytelling, and player cooperation. It takes about 2 minutes to set up, lasts around 45 minutes, and no two games are ever the same. If players survive 13 chapter cards, they then face the boss card. This is a much more difficult combat encounter. Five bosses are included in the game and each has a special perk that changes the way combat works. For example, the players might be forced to only use explosive weapons or be required to only engage in close combat for the encounter. The second game in the Escape the Dark series, Sector is a simple, sci-fi adventure game with a focus on atmosphere and player cooperation. It takes around 5 minutes to set up, lasts around 45 minutes, and no two games are ever the same.

Escape the Dark Sector is designed to be as good with one player as it is with four. To play a solo game, simply choose any two members of the crew and begin the game as normal. You will make all the decisions and dice rolls yourself. There is just one thing to note: This action involves popping out of cover to exchange fire with the enemy – you will SHOOT, hoping to inflict wounds and remove chapter dice, and you will be shot at, risking a loss of HP. For a crewmember to take this action, they must have a ranged weapon loaded with at least enough ammo to match the lowest Fire Rate of that weapon (see example below). Away from the purely mechanical improvements, the arc of the story you will experience has also seen some refinement. In Dark Castle you just dealt a bunch of chapter cards at random and worked your way through them. This meant you could easily come a cropper early on in a difficult encounter before you had a chance to gear up properly. In Dark Sector the chapter cards have been split up into Act 1, 2, and 3. Act 1 encounters are relatively easy, hurting you less, and allowing you to gear up before you get into the real challenges in Acts 2 and 3. There is a great feeling of progression as you work your way towards the boss, and the chapter cards just feel a bit more interesting than in the previous game.IMPORTANT—For one or more crewmembers to take any of the following actions, at least one other crewmember must be taking the SHOOT action (if in Ranged Combat) or the fight action (if in Close Combat). Along the way, players will gather loot cards. These are usually helpful items such as weapons, healing devices, and other objects that can be used throughout the game. However, each character can only hold four items, and some count for two slots instead of one. Players will need to decide which to keep and which to drop. Like that of its predecessor, the artwork and graphic design throughout Sector is presented in a striking, stark, monochrome. This distinctive style is evocative of the artwork in the aforementioned fantasy books from the 80's. As a design choice it serves the game well, enriching the theme. It also provides a welcoming, warm shot of nostalgia. Like me, you might enjoy the apparent nods to various sci-fi franchises, nestled in the game’s artwork.

The actions available to members of the crew during Ranged Combat are SHOOT and FLANK, along with all Standard Combat Actions • Shoot Escape the Dark Castle sparks an odd kind of pleasure in me. I have no personal experiences of tabletop gaming in the 1970s and ‘80s, yet I find myself feeling nostalgic about that period of gaming all the same. It’s possibly a result of having grown up watching countless episodes of Knightmare, a television game show inspired by Dungeons & Dragons that ran from 1987 to 1998. Either way, there’s something about the concept of Escape the Dark Castle that I find compelling. It feels like something from another era, when the seeds of board games like HeroQuest and roleplaying games like Call of Cthulhu were just being planted. It feels like something from another era, when the seeds of games like HeroQuest and Call of Cthulhu were just being planted. You may give and/or take any number of items from one other crewmember, so long as this does not result in you or them exceeding four slots’ worth of items at any time. After activating either function, you must turn over the drone card to its Drone Recharging side as usual to end your action.You may take one item from the inventory of one other crewmember. That crewmember may still perform one action this round, so long as the action does not involve use of the item being taken. The other crewmember may still perform one action in the round you trade with them, so long as that action does not involve the use of any of the items being traded. On the other hand, having fewer options to heal makes it harder for players to reach the later parts of the game, and feeds into an overarching issue of Dark Sector being significantly more difficult than the first entry in the series. Escape the Dark Sector is a good adventure game. With two types of combat, the gameplay is engaging with decisions to make such as being able to choose your type of combat and what weapon to use. With so much combat in the game, it’s important that this is well-polished and a good mechanism. Whenever new item cards are drawn into the item pool, crewmembers can exchange items with each other.

If Close Combat follows Ranged Combat, any remaining chapter dice carry over. If not, simply follow the steps for setting up combat described earlier.As soon as you get to your first combat in Dark Sector you will realise that you have a lot more agency in this game than you did in Dark Castle. The introduction of ranged weapons means that most of the time when you get in a fight you can choose to get right into melee or fire off some shots before rushing in. Members of the crew are free to exchange items between chapters, but must ensure that before the next chapter card is turned no member of the crew has more than four slots’ worth of items in their inventory. The second game in the Escape the Dark series, Escape the Dark Sector is a simple, sci-fi adventure game with a focus on atmosphere, storytelling and player cooperation. This Game is perfect for newcomers to table-top gaming. It takes about 2 minutes to set up, lasts around 45 minutes, and no two games are ever the same.