USD ($)
EUR (€)
Pandora CelesteDisclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of the game Pandora Celeste, and the opinions expressed in the review are completely my own. The components, rules and clear room overlays are all WIP at the time of writing, July 2024.
Overview:
Pandora Celeste is a 1 to 4 player card management sci-fi game, where you will be vying to complete scenarios with your crew, whilst trying to avoid being attacked (and eaten) by the little and big nasties that lurk aboard the ship.
Rules & Setup:
Set up is relatively quick, and easy, and this is due to the unique concept of the game-box unfolding to become the game board itself, i.e. the space ship CSS Pandora Celeste.
There will also be a set of clear overlays which will make up the room walls etc., and these help keep the tokens and standees in their right places as well as clearly defining the game board for every player.
The rules are clear and concise, again currently WIP and there are 2 books provided, to both teach the game, and give you all the explanations and scenarios.
Theme and Mechanics:
The game is based on, and is a homage to all the sci-fi monster movies loved by generations.
The game mechanics are solid, and should hold the interest of core gamers and those new to card based activation games of this ilk.
Gameplay:
Gameplay and the rules have been well thought out to give a nice balanced game, with actions governed by playing one of your cards in hand, from a deck of nine. There are multiple actions that you can do, and some cards have one or more of these, and some cards give you two sets of action options, and you can always choose not to do one of the actions, i.e. if a card has the ‘pick up’ and ‘move ‘actions, you could just do one of them and ignore the other.
It’s rules are easy enough they can be picked up by new / novice gamers, as well as having just the right depth to give veteran gamers an interesting experience.
Rounds continue until everyone has passed, and the prologue game I played involved getting to the Sick Bay fromm the starting point of the Cryo Chamber.
This was relatively easy to accomplish, and is probably meant to be so that it gives players the chance to see how the game works, what the actions you can do entail as well as a couple of guaranteed battles against some of the smaller monsters.
It is simply a case of playing the right actions at the right time, but also managing your hand of cards to minimise the chance of failure.
Artwork and Components:
In the Pandora Celeste prototype I received, all of the tokens, cards, standees were of a high quality, with the box / game board very well laid out and very colourful.
The acrylic room / board overlay was done well for a protype, and I believe will be supplied as clear moulded pieces with the actual finished game, so should also be durable enough to use as the room layout but also double as the game storage tray, holding all the cards and game components neatly and tidily.
The artwork on the cards and the board are very thematic, and the only thing I would like to see is that the back of the cards have their name / action printed on them, i.e. Memory Deck, Ship Deck etc.
There should be an option to purchase minis for this as an add-on in the crowdfunding campaign, but the standees worked just as well for me.
The Good:
If priced right, I’m sure the game will do well, and at the time of this review the game is 120% funded on Gamefound, and is due to deliver in June of 2025, and is £47 instead of £80 for the base game and £70 instead of £120 for the deluxe version, and at those reduced prices are well worth the investment in my opinion.
The miniature pack at £30 is also good value, and they could easily be used for other games as well.
The Other:
The theme may put some people off, i.e. if you aren’t in to sci-fi films or games, but other than that I can’t see too much not to like about the game.
Final Thoughts:
I think this is the kind of game that will pop up in lots of board game cafes / libraries over time, and is one that can be easily broken out when you want a sci-fi dungeon crawler type experience.
One thing that I have been asked to do is to give my opinion on this compared with Nemesis, and for me whilst there are similarities there are things that make them different enough to perhaps own both.
Nemesis is a far heavier and darker game from what I’ve so far seen of Pandora Celeste, so I’d be far happier playing this with younger gamers than Nemesis, and also seems to be a quicker game to play based on the times given.
All in all Pandora Celeste is a solid game, and with the rules and components still to be finalised for backers, I’m sure the final product will be more than worth the price and wait. Pandora Celeste…. Definitely one where you shouldn’t be afraid to open the box, well, not until those nasties start appearing anyway.