ESCAPE THE DARK SECTOR Review: Themeborne Blasts Into Outer Space... To Great Success

I played Escape the Dark Castle and I was overjoyed with the simplicity of the game and the straightforward jump into storytelling. It was a delight and I was enthusiastic about the board game whether I won or lost. It wasn’t the biggest box. It wasn’t the best game. It wasn’t something that knocked me off my feet. But it was very good and I was happy to play for the immersion and ease of getting it to the table.

Now, however, I’ve got a new possibility. Instead of a fantasy castle, I can be transported to a sci-fi space station. The difference? More than you would think.

Escape the Dark Sector takes the foundation of the original game and erects a towering skyscraper of awesome in lieu of the crumbling fortifications that surrounded the medieval castle. The future has taken over the past and I’m very pleased with the result.

The game is currently back on Kickstarter to raise funds for three new mission packs and a collector’s box. These add-ons to the series will deepen the variety within Escape the Dark Sector and it will make an addicting game even more alluring.

So, let’s see what the sequel does that makes it such a hit and how it shapes the innovative ideas from Escape the Dark Castle and molds them into a new tabletop experience.

STORY

The story is mutable as the chapter cards are divided into acts and those cards can be in a different order every game. There are three introductions. The boss can be one of five.

It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure in space as you decide exactly how you will interact with the game.

What’s nice are the added moments of story and memory that are infused into the DNA of this board game with the people that play the game. One entire playthrough I enjoyed involved reading every paragraph of flavor text with a different accent, which devolved into an absurd back-and-forth as to what botched voice would narrate the next segment of the bizarre sci-fi plot.

Here’s what I like about Escape the Dark Sector. The story is always tense. It’s always full of consequence and flair. If the ideas that Themeborne created with their original game were a simple vest, then this sequel is Chotchkie’s-level flair pinned to that vest. It dares someone to say something and it’s unapologetically chipper in the face of almost-certain death.

GAMEPLAY

So I reviewed Escape the Dark Castle the other day. It was a good game. With some extra content, definitely a great one. But I’ve been converted. Escape the Dark Sector is what happens when designers come back to a debut project, consider how to make it better, and then take the time to really improve upon everything that needs tweaking.

The Escape the Dark series is getting better and the sci-fi setting really reflects well upon the new mechanics that Themeborne has introduced. It’s heavy on storytelling, but it still lasts only like 30 minutes.

And the designer’s touch that I appreciate the most: the character names are all still the same. The tradespeople—the Abbot, Miller, Tanner, Smith, Tailor, and Cook—have been replaced by space crewmates who are all lieutenants. So it’s Lt. Abbot, Lt. Miller, Lt. Tanner, Lt. Smith, Lt. Tailor, and Lt. Cook. I absolutely love that. It’s just a small touch that makes me smile.

At the end of the day, though, not too much has changed. The game is still played with characters who have a limited health cap fighting through monsters and enemies as they try to escape. It still involves items and combat and anxious choices.

There are a host of changes, though, that all contribute something to the tabletop experience. Items now include between two and four options for characters. There are small items that take up one space and bigger items that take up two spaces. Combat has been split into ranged and melee, which enables some interesting strategic options for players. Enemies now have stats for both ranged and melee combat. A new Flank ability allows sneaky approaches. A medical drone and other actions can be taken during combat. Cybernetic implants give characters unique abilities that introduce complexity and nuance to how decisions are made. Chapter cards escalate in difficulty as players progress through acts.

It’s all just better. It feels like a fine-tuned and more elegant version of Escape the Dark Castle. And it fits in this niche category of games that can be played in a short amount of time, either for a small game night or for some tasty morsel before the bigger meal.

If you didn’t think Castle was everything you wanted it to be, then Sector might accomplish that feat. I’m excited to see how the new Mission Packs and Collector’s Box enhance the gameplay experience.

The second time around with Themeborne is smarter, slicker, and just as mean. I love it!

VISUALS

The aesthetic for the Escape the Dark series is very charming. Black-and-white always looks clean, but the real magic is in both the chapter card illustrations and flavor text. Alex Crispin has done a wonderful job in drawing atmospheric pictures that draw players into the world and convince them of the surreal reality within this oddball space station. It’s full of life—strange and pulsating—and death—sudden and horrific.

If pictures are worth a thousand words, then a massive book is contained within the box of Escape the Dark Sector. And it’s marvelous. But for those that cannot extract all of that narrative from the illustrations on their own, there is flavor text on every chapter card to help guide you into the terror and the action. It’s a small nudge that sends you happily sliding down a storytelling slide slick with alien goo and unidentifiable blood.

In addition to wonderful cards and a monochromatic vision of tabletop gaming, you’ll get nice custom dice, a pad with pencils, and a lovely little insert that keeps everything tucked away snugly until your next space outing.

A win for Alex Crispin, a win for flavor text, and a win for a tightly-packed small box that screams off the shelf like a missile of space epic proportions.

REPLAYABILITY

Cybernetic implants, ranged and melee combat, more chapter cards, and a refined gameplay system all provide Escape the Dark Sector with the “right stuff.”

And the best part? This game plays fast. You can get in two or three sessions in the time it would take you to play an average tabletop adventure that releases nowadays. That speed is not to be underestimated. My family and friends respond well to games that don’t have a heavy upfront investment or a long runtime. It’s not easy to convince someone to sit down for three hours. But thirty minutes? That’s easy.

So, Themeborne has tweaked the mechanics they introduced three years ago into a compelling sci-fi card game that plays in under an hour and consists of variable elements that enhance the replay value. That’s an impressive move that catches my attention as few small-box games have.

WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

I don’t have much to quibble over with Escape the Dark Sector. It’s a thoughtful and innovative return to the formula that Themeborne introduced with Castle and it pretty much ticks all the boxes of things I would hope for improvement on that first card-turning adventure game.

The chapter cards have been split into three acts. The introduction now has three alternative openings. The boss cards have two additional foes to take down. The item cards now more fully represent a character’s weapons and gear. The characters start with a cybernetic mod that enables variable play. Combat is more nuanced with ranged and melee options, as well as additional choices for non-combative actions. The game has not increased in length or complexity (all that much). What it’s done is deepen the game and increase the likelihood that you’ll want to play again…and again and again.

Escape the Dark Sector is everything that I wanted Escape the Dark Castle to become. And both games feature my two favorite settings—fantasy and sci-fi. So I’m really happy. And I just want more content—thankfully, there’s a Kickstarter for that.

VERDICT

Escape the Dark Castle was a light adventure game that relied on pre-fabricated “chapters” of text to create the feeling of a tabletop RPG—all of the creativity and much of the fun without all of the work and long hours.

While it’s a great experience, it will be hard to return to because Themeborne has really made a slam dunk with their sophomore effort. Escape the Dark Sector builds on everything great with the original game and provides new mechanics to lend sophistication and strategy. It’s still a fast-playing adventure, but it feels like a more mature, more rewarding game from developers who have learned a lot in the three years and incorporated those newfound strengths in this new iteration.

It’s hard to find a board game that I don’t mind losing almost as much as winning. This is a thrilling little box with a lot of possibilities. I can’t wait to open it back up and I want to get more of it on the table. If you own the game, I imagine more content would be exceptional. And if you haven’t played yet, the Kickstarter campaign is the best time to get in on the action.