LogFAQs > #985930862

The next action is diving. This doesn't take a second disc but you instead need to be on a an area that has dive tokens. Some areas start with some dive tokens when they are played but they have a limited supply. These generally give you options of either DNA or something else (or in some cases let you take an action). You can only hold one at a time and if you get a second you must spend one (they can always be spent for DNA).

The fourth action is Conserve (Saving the turtles basically). This is similar to sonar in that it takes a second disc and generally gives you resources/a bonus. Links seem to be very common here. Conservation typically takes DNA as well.

The final action is Journal. There are four types of journals spaces and there is a market of journal cards. These also require a second disc and are generally the rarest spaces to go too, but potentially the most powerful. Each journal card has a DNA cost, symbols that say what kind of journal spaces you can buy them from, and effects (usually multiple). These effects can be VP at the end of the game, resources for you, resources for everyone else, and potentially a one time action space that you can put a disc on to take the corresponding action.

It's important to note that journaling is the main way to upgrade your specialists (I believe a couple of the dive tokens allow you as well but its rare). When upgrading a specialist you take any disc off of it (you don't get it but the specialist is freed up) and flip it over, getting whatever immediate effects it provides and you can now use the actions from the upgraded side.

There's a few other things, such as a shared impact board that's different for each mission (some stuff let you place on the board, its a way to get resources and victory points), areas with special effects but overall that's really it for the game. It plays pretty quickly and if everyone knows what they are doing there's not a ton of downtime. But I really liked how it flowed together

My favorite part is probably how the crew is handled, I like the design of how some have stronger immediate effects but some have stronger actions, or there are some that are kind of weak but then really good once upgraded. It makes you really consider who you want to bring for both your short term and long term goals.

The area mechanic is done well, the limited spaces/supply force you to move around but you usually benefit from being with another player, but if your alone you don't have to move as often so its a nice balance. It does create some competition between players to get to the valuable spaces first though which is nice.

The track system works well, I reached near the end of each track, but not till the last round. It really feels like you can specialize but you also generally want to get at least a little bit of everything. In my case I went pretty hard on the crew one so I was getting stronger crew then everyone else, but not as much discs each round.

And the mission system works well. In our game the three bonus goals were "most sonar discs", "most journal discs", "most conservation discs" as we did the first scenario which I think is more of the tutorial, I glanced at a few others through and some of them wanted x discs in the rightmost column and y discs in the leftmost column so they definitely will change what you want to focus on.

Overall I liked this a lot, it wasn't super hard but had a good amount of depth, plays quickly and has good replayability. I'm not quite sure how it would hold up after 10+ playthroughs if some specialists would end up being deemed inferior but honestly even then I think I would still enjoy the game. I'm going to most likely get this at some point, and possibly the expansion releasing next year.

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Likely to Trend: Neutral to Positive
Future: I'd like to play this again, Will probably get at some point
Next Game Hint: A monster hunting trick taking game that's not out yet and might be the simplest game on my list