Unfathomable, a cooperative board game about surviving an attack by eldritch horrors while hidden traitors lurk in your midst, is currently on sale for just $44.99 on Amazon.com. It’s a fantastic game, taking the rules engine from the out of production Battlestar Galactica board game and moving it into the Lovecraftian Arkham Horror setting.
Despite being out of print, Battlestar Galactica has a spot on our guide to the best social deduction board games because it’s such a classic we can’t bring ourselves to boot it off. When it came out in 2008, there was a good argument that it was one of the best board games full stop – times may have moved on, but even with a new coat of paint it’s still a fantastic set of rules.
The core system in BSG, which has carried over to Unfathomable, will be familiar to social dedication game fans. Your characters are all trapped on the same vessel, pursued by an indefatigable threat – Cylons in BSG, and Deep Ones in Unfathomable. Your resources are dwindling, and you’ll face a series of challenges that you must respond to as a team if you’re going to make it to your destination.
Except that some of you might not be on the same team. In the first half of the game there may be hidden traitors in your midst, and in the second half there definitely will be. They’ll seek to subtly undermine the efforts of the group – or even throw their cover to the wind and start attacking people out in the open.
Unlike some hidden role games, Unfathomable has a lot of game to play with. There’s a map of your boat which the Deep Ones can board, and the really big monsters like Dagon and Mother Hydra can swipe big chunks out of it. Your character might get locked in the brig if they’re suspected of being a traitor, or wind up in the medical bay after being whacked by a wayward tentacle.
There are a lot of systems at play, through which traitors can disguise their sinister intentions or accidentally let on what they’re doing. This minimises a problem common to many hidden role games, where there’s so little gameplay that the loyalists have to work out who the traitors are based on vibes alone and how good players are at lying. And even if the goodies discover all the traitors they can still lose the scenario if they foul up the other parts of the game badly enough.
Unfathomable has an MSRP of $79.95 in the US and £89.99 in the UK. Sadly, the $44.99 deal is only available from Amazon.com in the USA – but if you’re based in the UK, it’s currently £69 on Amazon, or £66.99 on Zatu Games.
If that all sounds too stressful, then check out Wargamer’s guide to the best strategy board games. Plenty of them are just as antagonistic, but at least you know who’s on your side. Most of the time.
Wargamer’s absolute favorite hidden role game is Blood on the Clocktower – Mollie Russell’s exhaustive Blood on the Clocktower review is essential reading if you somehow missed that modern masterpiece. There are frequent online games of Clocktower hosted in the official Wargamer Discord server – come in and join us!
Source: Wargamer
