The Last of Us: Escape the Dark

I don't really know what I was expecting, but it was more than this. The world of The Last of Us is amazing in many ways - well... not like a world you want to live in, but as a setting in a film or in this case as a board game, it's something that offers incredible stories and action packed sequences. Here I have, unfortunately, mostly lounged around and felt like one of the zombies... because not much happens and when it does, you get so extremely frustrated and pissed off by how slow it goes and that your ammunition runs out suddenly. But before we continue with the scathing criticism, I'll throw out some praise and talk about some positive aspects of the board game, because it's not completely terrible.

First of all is perhaps the best part of Escape the Dark. This is probably the best-looking board game I've had the privilege of laying my hands on yet. It's all in black and white and the art style is dirty and gritty but mostly incredibly gorgeous. There's a real darkness here and it's fitting in this context when the game world is as hostile as it is. It also doesn't hurt that the components, from the small chips to the board itself, are made of really thick cardboard and that the cards are sturdy and well made too. This is a real quality project and Themeborne Ltd. should be applauded for that.

I think I was hoping for a more open game though. One that was closer to the TV series where you had time to explore the world through stories, but it didn't work out that way. If you have played Themeborne Ltd.'s other Escape the Dark games before, you will probably recognise many elements. They have designed a system here, one I have not experienced before and one I never intend to explore further now either. But if you like the other Escape the Dark games, I think you'll like this one more than I did.

Anyway - the game is about getting from the quarantine zone all the way up to the sanctuary of Jackson, all while making sure everyone in the group (Joel, Ellie, Tommy, Tess, Bill, and Marlene) survives and thrives. Along the way, you'll encounter everything from FEDRA agents, hunters, and the infected, and none of them are particularly pleasant. Using the game's many dice, you have to roll the right ones to win battles. Although it offers some strategy, it's essentially a game that relies on luck. Another example is when you're looting and you're about to turn over a card - you might be unlucky enough to get your fingers caught in a trap instead of being lucky enough to get your hands on a flamethrower. So, luck is something you need here and I don't really think it works in this context. The Last of Us, to me, is a world that requires careful planning and stealth, but The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is unfortunately not that kind of game.

You can also upgrade weapons and your equipment in general, but they offer such a marginal difference that it's not something you need to waste your time on, because this is a slow game and the faster you can fight through it the better you will feel afterwards. If you play five games, I don't even want to think about how long it will take. You have to sit there and wait until one player has rolled their many dice and made their moves and it can take a long time - a long, long time - before it's your turn again. I recommend that you play this solo or with a maximum of three players. Then you can actually join in and make decisions together, but that takes away some of the sense of seriousness for me. In any case, it's important to make the right decisions - to stop and listen a little or maybe sneak around instead of just jumping into situations, because when one of you dies, the game is over - instantly.

It also offers very little variety. The locations you get to visit are very limited and after playing through it a couple of times, at least I feel like I've seen everything the game has to offer and I feel zero inclination to play another round. The characters are also pretty much identical and one wonders if it wouldn't have been reasonable for Joel to be able to take a little more damage than, say, Ellie.

The fact that a relatively new game almost suffers from not having an expansion is a rather tragic but realistic picture of the board game world in general. Expansions are not something I love and this is one of the few cases where I feel it is really needed. Often you get the vibe that developers are holding back content to release it in expansion form, but here we have a game that has no planned expansions and actually feels lacking anyway.

At times, it's a really great game. In small moments I have fun and see what was intended, but then I run into one of the many distractions and the house of cards falls down. I can't give this a high rating, personally, but I understand that others see it from a more positive perspective than I do and it's amazing that opinions always turn out to be varied. But The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is not for me. It's too slow, too lacking in content and variety, and also far too much depends on getting lucky with each dice roll. Games can absolutely rely on that and be good, but any sense of immersion and seriousness is lost when Joel (the character in the game, not me) dies because I turn over a card with a trap on it instead of the bandages or medicine I was actually looking for.