Forgotten Depths is live
Update: Forgotten Depths has launched on Kickstarter, and the campaign will run for 33 days. If you are based in Europe, you may have to forget about it, as the shipping cost is 44$ (when the game price is 38$).
Update 2: The shipping cost to EU proved to be a typo. It is now 17$.
Update November 18: The project was cancelled, and will relaunch in spring 2020.
Our preview post below was published on October 6.
Forgotten Depths is a 1-3 player cooperative dungeon crawl card game, scheduled to launch on Kickstarter on October 15.
You are playing as one of three female heroes sent to explore the ruins of ancient constructions in search of relics. Monsters lurk inside these ruins, and you better be well prepared for the depths lest you are soon forgotten. The gameplay begins with tile laying, in order to form the dungeon. There are three different levels to this cavernous area, called 'ecologies'. Your goal is to reach the bottom of the third ecology, and kill the monster that resides there. Placing the tiles in a certain manner as you draw them is important, because it may allow you to unlock secret locations. The encounters you will have in these locations are often resolved through combat.
The monsters hit first, and you reply by drawing cards from your hand. According to the preview by Hungry Gamer, enemies are tough, and luck of the draw plays a big part in the result. Unfortunately, the bottom line of his preview is that the luck factor in the game is too high. Hopefully this issue will be addressed by the designer before the launch of the campaign.
You may watch a brief presentation of the game on the BGG channel:
Updated. Thank you, Bram! Reduced price in the relaunch is good news in any case.
Looks like they will try again some time next year:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forgottendepths/forgotten-depths/posts/2686809
Thank you for the feedback, Pete.
Indeed the reviewer stressed the luck factor too much. Thankfully, you have gameplay videos on the campaign page, so people can judge for themselves. The game certainly looks beautiful and intriguing.
Hello, I'm the game designer Pete, and I hope it's alright if I share my own thoughts on the reviewers comments regarding luck.
For me, what the reviewer refers to as "luck" is intentional randomization to create variability in a given play through. As he mentions, the order in which map tiles and action cards are drawn is indeed random, but this is done to present players with fresh new decisions moment to moment.
The really important thing to note in this is that while there is this randomization, the player always has options and choices to mitigate and optimize their play to address them.
In short, the game has a lot of variety and presents players with an unfolding…
The designer corrected the shipping cost: it is 17$ to EU now.