Last night it was once again time for us to get it too the table. A club night specifically for getting those unplayed games from the pile of shame to the table.

This time saw Marcin bring the board game In Too Deep. A cyberpunk themed game with definitely some Philip K Dick A Scanner Darkly vibes.

In this game players play officers of the law infiltrating a notorious criminal gang, trying to collect enough evidence to take the gang down.

You do this by jacking into a criminal and taking over control of them. The perp is then manipulated into trying to complete the conditions of one of the two cards you hold. These cards are a main mission and a side mission.

Once you complete a main mission any criminals you are jacked into are released.

To say this game is chaotic is an understatement. You could try planning your movies whilst others take theirs. But often you may not even be in control of the criminal you had, let alone them being where you need them. The board state itself changes so much it almost feels like luck completing a main mission or side mission.

We did find in the later stages of the game that those of us still holding one of the stage three main missions that there was no way they could be completed. They required too many things to be in place that never would happen with the limited number of actions on a turn, and the constant changing board state.

I forget what the cards are called but when you complete either mission you get these cards that basically behave like corruption. Representing how deep you have fallen into the undercover role becoming that criminal you are meant to be bringing down.

This is an interesting little mechanic because at the end of the game the player with the highest score from these cards gets that deducted from their score (unless another condition isn’t met then they don’t). The cards also act as end game bonuses. You have a balancing act of trying to keep as low value cards as possible but getting the best end game bonuses as possible. Something not made easy with the better end game scoring being on the higher value cards.

I liked that when completing a main mission you got a choice of a safe reward or a risky reward. The risky reward drawing you more of the above cards than the safer option.

I think the theme came over nicely. The miniatures of the criminals were really good. Great sculps.

The game did take over three hours including teach. With some turns by players taking a looong time.

I really enjoyed the game. Plus I won.

It was a fun evening.