Impressions of SETI from the Castle Event

At the Castle Event, we got to play two full games of 📡SETI, the upcoming euro from @czech_games_edition. We’ve been dying to try it out because it looks awesome with its rotating solar system, and the science theme is right up our alley. 🌌 It's actually not sci-fi; it's based on the real-life SETI organization that searches for signs of extraterrestrial life. In the game, you play as members of this organization, exploring space for any traces of life. 🔭

SETI has five rounds, each with a variable number of turns. You basically keep taking turns as long as you have stuff to do and resources (energy and credit) to spend. 🧐 The framework of the game is pretty straightforward. Each turn, you do one main action (and as many free actions as you want) in clockwise order until everyone passes.

The main actions are all things you’d thematically expect: 👉launching probes from Earth, which you can move with free actions. Upon reaching planets you can either send these probes to orbit, or land on the surface. Every now and then the solar system will rotate, affecting probe movement. You can also send out signals to distant stars, process data you have collected, or upgrade technologies for advantages.

A big part of the complexity comes from the action cards. The big deck has all kinds of cards, with diverse effects and actions. Cards are also multi-use: besides playing them you can also discard them for a bonus, tuck them in for income or discard them for their color when you are sending out signals. Played cards might also have missions or end-game conditions for extra bonuses!

There are three different traces of alien life 🧫 you can find, which unlock special alien species boards. Each game, you randomly choose 2 out of 5 species, each with unique decks and mechanics that change things up.

So with the huge deck of interesting cards, unlockable upgrades (from which you can only get some), and the alien species, replayability is huge. If you’re into mid-heavy, combo-rich gameplay, SETI is definitely a game to keep on your radar when it releases later this year. We are hyped! 😁