Sanity is overrated

Tiny Epic games have always had a huge amount of charm. Seeing so many different game mechanics and themes packed into such a small form factor is just so cool. 🤩 I was excited that the next game would dive into the Cthulhu mythos, a theme I love. Now 🐙 Tiny Epic Cthulhu is here, so grab your magnifiers and let’s get this investigation going! 🕵️

This is a crisis-management co-op game, which I tend to call Pandemic-likes. Basically there is one singular win condition, but multiple loss conditions, so you are frantically running around putting out fires, trying to come out on top at the end. 🏃

At the center (figuratively and literally) of the game is a spinner, which is surrounded by 5 town boards that make up Arkhamoore 🏚️ - the rondel you will be walking around on. Each turn you spin the spinner for an effect, draw tentacles that are added to the section it points to, and spawn a shambler monster on the opposite end. 👉 Then you get to do 3 actions.

The game is split into two distinct phases: First, you're translating pages 📃 of the Necronomicon by turning in the tentacles you’ve collected. When all 25 pages are done, the second phase starts: Sealing 6 portals 🌀 to stop the Old One’s awakening. For this you need dice rolls, but you roll more dice the more matching colored runes you’ve collected. If you seal all portals, the game is won! 🏆

Of course, you’ll also need to keep different tracks from filling up with tentacles and shamblers to avoid nasty consequences, so there’s always something pulling your attention elsewhere. There’s that familiar balancing act you often find in Lovecraftian games: you’re slowly drifting into madness. At first, it makes you stronger - but lose your mind entirely, and it’s game over. 😄 You want to have many tentacles on your player board so you are more versatile and can pay for actions - but too many and your sanity starts slipping. But the more mad you are, the more rerolls you have. So if you want to do well you have to always be on the knife’s edge. 😁

It also helps that the game looks amazing with so many screen printed meeples that you will have a hard time fitting it all back in the box. 👍