Review: Lost Ruins of Arnak – The Missing Expedition Expansion

Lost Ruins of Arnak needs no introduction. It is one of the most successful games of all time, created by the Czech studio CGE and designers Mín and Elwen, featuring worker placement and deck-building mechanics. It holds a fantastic 27th place in the BGG Top 50. Shortly after release, CGE delighted us with the Expedition Leaders expansion, which was flawless. Now, a new expansion titled The Missing Expedition is here, bringing a narrative campaign to the game. In this article, you will find out how well-crafted the story is and whether the expansion is worth buying. The entire review is spoiler-free, so you don't have to worry about us giving anything away.

Contents

As mentioned, the game includes a narrative campaign consisting of 6 chapters, along with plenty of new locations, tokens, research boards, 34 artifact and item cards, 56 encounter cards, and a campaign book. You will also find two brand-new expedition leaders in the box – the Journalist and the Mechanic.

Expanding the Base Game

You can add the vast majority of components, such as locations and artifact/item cards, to your base game without hesitation to increase the already high variability. The new leaders fit perfectly into the overall concept, and playing with them is balanced and fun. The Journalist, in particular, is thematically very well executed.

The Campaign

The campaign book guides you through the entire story. At the beginning, you will learn the basic rules and their modifications. You will also prepare a campaign sheet pad to track your progress through the story. You can enjoy the story solo or in a two-player cooperative mode, where you and your partner try to beat the game as it throws obstacles in your way. The start of the campaign draws you into the action with a short, half-page excerpt. What is the story actually about? Your friend, Professor Kutil, has gone missing on the island of Arnak, and your task is to find out what happened to him.

Next, you prepare the first chapter according to the book. Even while reading the setup and rules for the first chapter, you will encounter short texts that immerse you further into the situation of the game characters. It must be said that every chapter is completely different, and the game board never stays the same. Each chapter also has its own goals that you must achieve. If you fail to meet the goals, you can either try playing the chapter again or accept defeat and take a small penalty into the next chapter. By completing chapter goals, you earn symbols to mark on your sheet, which grants you various cards to help you progress. You also record the number of points earned for the played chapter on your sheet.

This way, you gradually explore various corners of the Arnak island, experiencing many tense moments and unexpected twists while unraveling the mystery of Professor Kutil's disappearance. All chapters are interconnected, and after each one, you can safely pack the game away and pull it out again when you feel like continuing. Each chapter takes roughly the same amount of time as a standard game.

Gameplay Impressions

• The additional components for the base game, including the expedition leaders, are another great way to enrich and spice up your experience.
• The individual chapters are very fun and often not easy at all. They can challenge even experienced players.
• Cooperation with your partner is absolutely crucial for achieving the chapter goals, and every mistake you make will affect your progress.
• The story is written in an engaging way and is so tense that you cannot predict how it will unfold.
• A huge advantage is that this is not a typical gamebook. The story unfolds in a few lines at the beginning of each chapter, and there isn't much text during the game. Thanks to this, players spend more time playing than reading. Even so, the plot is very thematic and interesting enough to create a perfect atmosphere while playing.
• The plot branches, and your progress influences how much information you gather during your adventure.
• At the very end of the final chapter, players calculate their points, and the entire story concludes based on how well they performed. Since the end of the story is always slightly different, there is also room for replayability.
• You can even change the difficulty of the campaign. For less experienced adventurers, or those who want to go through the story without trouble, the difficulty can be lowered, while for the experienced, there is an option to increase it.
• You will enjoy the campaign best if you have the previous Expedition Leaders expansion, but it is not strictly necessary.

Verdict

Even though Lost Ruins of Arnak is a Eurogame, it is bursting with atmosphere and a strong theme. After the release of The Missing Expedition, this is amplified several times over, and everything fits together beautifully. I don't know many Eurogames that can draw you in with their atmosphere and story as well as Arnak with its new expansion.

The story is not complicated, but it manages to excite and surprise players. At the same time, it does not interfere with the gameplay enough to cause long delays in individual turns, serving as a pleasant addition to the game. It is a great supplement to an already successful game, and together with the Expedition Leaders expansion, it forms a truly perfect game that, with a bit of exaggeration, will last you forever. New and useful components, an engaging story, high replayability, and great design. There is really nothing to criticize about The Missing Expedition expansion. For an affordable price, you get a full box of fun. Visit our shop and explore the mysterious jungle of Arnak before it disappears into oblivion.

author: Daniel Korčák