Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu Board Game -Investigate, Cooperate, and Confront Cosmic Horror! Strategy Game for Family Game Night, Ages 14+, 2-4 Players, 40 Minute Playtime, Made by Z-Man Games

I'll admit this was my first Pandemic game, and was a little out of my league. But after A quick run through with a friend who owns this as well, I feel confident in reviewing it.First up:The quality of this game is outstanding! The board is full of dark and brooding colors that perfectly capture the feel of an HP Lovecraft story. The locations, villains and character archetypes are ripped straight out of his stories.The pace of the game is top notch as well, there isn't any downtime as you attempt to close gateways and battle cultists and shuggoths , all the while enduring sanity draining game mechanics from the Old ones each round.I will say I wasn't bored playing this game. And I found it fun to be working together with friends as we tried (and failed) at stopping Cthulhu from rising. He did say it's possible to win, but I told him its closer to the books that we failed.Now the only thing I would say against this game is that it's a little tricky to learn.The instructions are great and fairly well laid out. But if this is your first time (like me) playing a pandemic game, you'll probably struggle a bit your first go around. But after two or three play-throughs you should be fine.I think seasoned Pandemic players won't have any troubles jumping right in.Overall, this is a fantastic game that I highly recommend picking up if you get the chance.

Both my favorite Pandemic game and my favorite Cthulhu game.It gets you the Arkham Horror experience in one hour.A more elegant design that original Pandemic, and with a way more interesting theme.Easy to teach, and very replayable thanks to the Old Gods cards.Also, the quality of the components is great.

I've played quite a bit of the original Pandemic and I like that game quite a lot. However, I had two main issues with that game: I found the theme and components a little bland and sterile, and I found a few of the rules to be needlessly complex. Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu solves both of those problems beautifully and it is, in my opinion, superior to the original.The biggest question you probably have is: Is this a completely new game that draws inspiration from Pandemic, or is it just a cosmetic reskin of Pandemic? The answer to that question lies somewhere in the middle. The basic gameplay loop is essentially the same as in Pandemic: you move around the board, removing cultists (this game’s version of disease cubes) as you go, then you draw some cards and reveal some more infection sites. However, this game drastically changes the way that the outbreak (here called “awakenings”) and travel systems work, and in my opinion these changes are improvements. Instead of outbreaks, you flip over one of the elder gods cards at the top of the board, which immediately applies some sort of detrimental effect to the players. The final card is always Cthulhu, and if you reveal him, you lose the game. This game also does away with the chain outbreaks that could occur in Pandemic. I won’t go into too much detail about travel, but the overly-complicated flight system from Pandemic is replaced with a much simpler bus travel system that works a lot better in my opinion.The win condition is also slightly changed; in Cthulhu you’re using 5 cards of the same color to seal gates. Seal all four gates and you win. There’s no more research centers, or city-specific cards, or eradicating diseases. Some people might miss these little nuances, but in my opinion this new “curing” process streamlines the game quite nicely. There’s also a few added mechanics that aren’t in Pandemic at all, like sanity and shoggoths, and these are all great additions to the game.Maybe I’m a bit biased because I love the Cthulhu mythos, but I find that the Lovecraft theme fits this game like a glove. I definitely felt like an investigator trying to prevent the end of the world by uncovering fiendish cults as I played this game, maybe even more so than I did when I played games like the Arkham Horror LCG. And this dark theme comes across nicely in the artwork on all of the components. Speaking of which, I love the components for this game. The miniatures for all the characters, the cultists, and the shoggoths are really nicely detailed and the cards and the game board are all high quality as well, and everything is just dripping with the Lovecraft theme.If you’ve never played Pandemic, but you’re a fan of board games and/or Lovecraft, buy this game. If you already own Pandemic but you just want a new Pandemic game with a slight twist and you don’t mind a horror theme, buy this. The only person I wouldn’t recommend this game to is someone who really doesn’t like the Cthulhu theme or someone who doesn’t like cooperative board games, in which case you probably already know this game isn’t for you.

...or so my girlfriend calls it, anyway. If you've played the original Pandemic, the rules are going to be very familiar to you, but will introduce some interesting twists of its own. If you haven't played Pandemic, this is actually a great place to start as the rules are simplified compared to its parent game while still offering a healthy challenge of its own. Interestingly, the 'simplification' of some of the game mechanics actually makes it easier to lose a game of Reign of Cthulhu than it does a game of stock Pandemic.There is only one disease, and thus, only one stock (outside of a special 'unit') of markers. Like normal Pandemic, you lose if that stock ever runs out and you have to place a new one. Outbreaks work differently as well, and have been rolled into the infection rate. Instead of Outbreaks, you get Awakenings that are triggered in the same way. These introduce a new effect onto the board depending on which Old One is awakened (which are placed during setup) and simultaneously increase the infection/summoning rate. Just like normal Pandemic, though, eight Awakenings, and you lose. This translates to the infection rate potentially going up FAR faster, and draining you of supply much quicker if you aren't on top of things.The aforementioned new unit also is vector for Awakenings. Effects from an Old One, or the Epidemic (now Evil Stirs) card summon one, and it makes its way to the nearest gate, providing a delayed, but preventable Awakening. Movement is also simplified, and the board itself is smaller. There are four regions, each with a gate that must be closed in a similar manner as finding a cure in base Pandemic. Sharing information/clues is simplified, and actually has been streamlined to make the game play a little bit faster. As per usual, there are special player roles as well - some of which stronger than others in standard Pandemic fashion. Most of them are pretty familiar, but some of them also incorporate the game's different mechanics.The components are great. The card stock is pretty tough, but not remarkable; the little figures are actually nicely made, if not intricately detailed. The die for the sanity mechanic (involved in using certain cards and certain game events) is fine, with good contrast.This is honestly a great stand-alone experience, and probably even easier to introduce to casual players than the original Pandemic is. It's especially easy to sell to people who enjoy the Lovecraft theme, and overall a great 'cool down' or 'wind up' game for a large night. It's fun for solo play as well, playing two or three-handed!