Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu
Beings of ancient evil, known as Old Ones, are threatening to break out of their cosmic prison and awake into the world. Everything you know and love could be destroyed by chaos and madness. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity.
40m
2 - 4 Players
Ages 14+
Aratar
Very thematic Cthulhu-variant of Pandemic. The design choices really reflects the theme. If I was a Cthulhu theme fan I would rate the game an 8.
airjudden
Like [thing=260428][/thing], it uses some of the basic mechanics of Pandemic and improves on it by adding new mechanics and creating a stronger thematic connection. Major differences are that your hero cards have an insane (nerfed) side. There is an insanity die you roll in certain situations. The "infection track" also involves a group of ancient ones, revealed one at a time (Cthulhu is the final one and is one of the ways you can lose). Along with cultists, you have Sheggoths who are tougher to kill and cause insanity checks and revealed ancient ones. In other words, it does a good job of fitting the Cthulhu mythos with some of the familiar mechanics of Pandemic, just as [thing=65532][/thing] and [thing=260428][/thing] do, but there are enough differences to make it not feel like a theme pasted on to a mechanic. The differences are the best parts. This game isn't going to retire [thing=15987][/thing] or [thing=253344][/thing], but if you only have an hour and you are jonesing for a Lovecraft fix, this is for you.
Arkeas
While I enjoy Pandemic and am a big fan of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, this combination just doesn't do it for me. Really easy to get into and play, just like the standard version of Pandemic and the random Great Old Ones means that things can play out a little differently each time which is neat. The board tries to evoke doom and gloom in the artwork but the board is far too dark to see anything well enough for that feeling to really come through. An interesting experiment but it's just not for me.