William

While the theme is kind of a love-it or hate-it affair, since it comes outside the usual frame of reference for board game stories, the gameplay in Claustrophobia is truly superb: challenging, tense, frustrating, engaging, and well choreographed. The level of challenge, even for the losing player, adds a lot of replay: you’ll want to do better on the scenarios you fail, and try to best your opponent in familiar scenarios by flipping sides. The new scenarios that were released each month following the game’s release, and the De Profundis expansion, all prolong the sense that this is a genuine Can’t Miss title for two players. I’ve tried this game out on more experienced and less competitive players, but each person has become strangely attached to playing one role or another in the game. It’s always an exciting game.

Another two-player game that fans of Claustrophobia will probably enjoy is Grindhouse Games’ Incursion. Completely different theme, of course, but just as challenging.