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Arkham Horror Third Edition Under Dark Waves is the second, expansive, addition to the game. It combines Lovecraft’s stories and lore, elements of the second edition of the board game with the best of the LCG card game to build engaging stories and challenging scenarios, keeping players on their toes. It offers the same thrilling cooperative gameplay as the base game, but with added layers of new mechanics, complexity, and scale.
Building from the base game , one to six players take on the role of investigators working together to uncover secrets and protect reality from untold horrors below the waves.
More Of What Works
Building from base game, players battle through scenario-driven mystery stories - balancing fighting off monsters, uncovering clues, and trying desperately to save their world. The Under Dark Waves mostly brings an expansion to existing mechanics, and to a lesser extent brings in some new mechanics. If you loved the base game and wanted more of it, and were interested in looking into one or two more mechanics but didn’t want to change the game drastically, then this might be for you.
First there are 8 new investigators. 7 of these are existing, familiar characters which players of older versions and other games will have seen before, with 1 (no spoilers) being a new character who debuted at the same time in this expansion as they did in the LCG. As before, each of these have their own stats, specific items, and different play styles - giving everyone their own unique feelings. Being a cooperative game, making teams with combinations of these unique character playstyles, with the inherent randomization, gives every playthrough an entirely unique feeling - meaning the same players can play the same scenario and just change up their characters/ character specifics and have an entirely new experience. I’ve played the same scenarios several times, and they’ve felt like a new challenge each time. With their balancing, there’s no bad choice for characters, which was sometimes a problem with the base game.
On that point, there’s 4 new scenarios to explore, which are bolstered by new anomaly, event, headline, encounter, allies, spells, items, dark pacts, archive cards, and cards for a new condition, as well as 21 new monsters. This gives a fresh boost in all the essential story elements that these bring and help maintain immersion while varying the story. Some of these, of course, are compatible with the base game scenarios, meaning that they can be used to enhance play of the original scenarios too. Moreover, the new scenarios bring with them additional tiles, and specific travel routes for faster travel between tiles - with their own encounter cards.
Bringing In The New
Although this expansion mostly adds more variety from the base game, it does also introduce some new mechanics.
Terror is kind of like doom, with its own anomaly-style deck. I won’t spoil it, but it has many similarities to doom but without the positive feedback loop system whereby you start losing, then because you’re losing you lose more, which causes you to lose more etc. that the base game risked having at times. Overall, it’s fun and well thought out.
The travel routes mentioned before allows the time map to be broken up while still being playable, which means 1) a fun idea to put a twist on movement, and 2) the maps themselves can be set up on smaller, or even multiple, tables - helping games set up in smaller places, which was challenging with the base game. These end caps come with their own encounter cards, and work in theory as a nice way to change up travel, but in practice it can take some preparation to actually make use of them efficiently in a game, slightly limiting choices in actions. It also comes with mystery end cap tiles, which serve as mini neighborhoods with 1 location - which allow you to choose an option from their cards, rather than the traditional neighborhood cars in which location means everything.
The Downsides
Gameplay can sometimes feel slow as players navigate through a multitude of events, some of which may seem irrelevant. Whereas similar games can feel like a rollercoaster, this expansion as well as the base game can feel more like an endurance test. This makes perfect sense thematically, as it heavily aligns with the eldritch horror theme it’s based on, but if you get unlucky with rolls, or if things go badly, it can sap some of the fun. If you know this, and want a good challenge, it makes it a good bonus for you.
It doesn’t address some of the criticisms of the base game. E.g., if you get unlucky and roll poorly, you can end up in a cycle of attempting and failing to get clues & research them, all while the game deteriorates around you. Another may be that the clue system involves you getting the right encounter card, and if you don’t then you may need to spend more and more turns until you finally get them. This does, however, add to the tension and plays into the theme of the game, and you have to be very unlucky to be severely affected by it.
Although it’s listed 1-6 players, I’ve always had the best result/ gameplay with 2-3. With 6 players in the past, it felt curiously punishing.
The expansion doesn’t address these problems, but they’re not severe. Regardless, this is compensated for with its intense suspense and unexpected twists, the narrative immersion, and the overall fun of playing the game.
Final Thoughts
Under Dark Waves is one of those unique board games that remains enjoyable even when all players meet a gruesome end in the unfathomable depths. It’s a game that guarantees a thrilling adventure, filled with suspense and surprises. If you’re a fan of the base game, or of cooperative game play in general, then this expansion is definitely worth a shot.
