Jev Li

One of the best “capture-the-hex” games (as I call those) I’ve ever tried.
Lots of little pretty plastic spaceships and great arts is what catches the eye first. And here’s to the rest…

Rules and mechanics are quite complex to get at first. Took our crew somewhat an hour or a bit more to get the picture clear enough to play, still a bunch of brainstorms were breaking through the gameplay, as some controversial situations were showing up from time to time. Anyway, that is hardly a drawback, compared to all it’s benefits…

…one of which is actually the gamefield setup, made as a part of a gameplay. Yeah, the strategy starts here from step one, and it doesn’t stop throughout the whole thing happening. The trades and the politics: you have to watch your opponents every move, for with the draw of a card allies become enemies. And that is not yet mentioning that dirty little secret objectiv card, that everyone keeps in the sleeve. War and trade, truce and treason. Everything can happen with that hexboard set up on the table.

But better get ready for that who-knows-how long gameplay, as for those who are less into powerplay and fastgaming and more into strategy and research might end up save-loading the game for the next Friday night.

So better go make yourself some friends, for you need at least 4 of you to play. And make sure not to lose any while playing.

Great for replay, social, and easy-to-learn game as a Fluxx always was (is, will be?) with a slight touch of insanity. By saying “insanity” I actually mean two things:

1. This one’s easy to guess. Of course it’s the (Flux-cartoonish) atmosphere of insanity created by the easily recognized characters from the macabre worlds of H. P. Lovecraft. This thumb up doesn’t only go to the famous figures (whose names are even mentioned on the cards,) all of the arts are great in general.

2. This one comes after a few rounds of gameplay. Cthulhu Fluxx is kind of insanely hard to win. Well, “insanely” just fits in the context, the game itself is not that hard in general. Yet, compared to those of the series I’ve tried (original Fluxx, Pirate, Zombie, Martian, Monty Python) this one quite often gets you in the stressy situation when all players have high chances to lose. But isn’t that what all Lovecraft stories and games based on those were about? Using the leftovers of your sanity to stay alive?

Loved it, hope you do too.