Space horror returns: A review of the board game Nemesis: Retaliation

When the first board game in the Nemesis series was released in 2018, few expected the clever folks at the Polish studio Awaken Realms to take it this far. Their dark and hostile adventure about a bunch of poor souls on a spaceship full of drooling monsters captured the hearts of many players. Including mine! It was an experience just like the Alien film series, only without the actual Alien, as the game lacks the license. Which is actually a good thing, because it gave the creators free rein to go wild. And they certainly did.

Nemesis is a prime example of a semi-cooperative game with a thick atmosphere. Cooperative in this case means that to successfully complete all tasks, players ideally need to work together and help each other. The "semi" part, however, suggests that this cooperation might not be so straightforward, and it is quite possible that someone in the game has completely different plans and might be out to get the others. I love the hidden traitor element in board games. It creates a sense of paranoia and fits the theme perfectly. Moreover, Nemesis is a game that gives you nothing for free. The constant feeling of danger and the taste of death on your tongue make playing it an experience full of small stories and twists. You can read what that looks like in a "short story" inspired by one of our games.

Thanks to a mega-successful Kickstarter campaign, we received a ton of expansions and new enemies. In 2022, the second installment, Nemesis: Lockdown, hit the shelves, moving the action to a base on Mars and introducing new monsters and mechanics. The beautiful thing was that everything could be combined with the original game. This created a truly massive pile of boxes filled with game material that promised hours of fun. Personally, I still prefer the first game; it feels more cohesive to me.

Now, the third game in the Nemesis family is hitting the market. I feel the creators correctly understood that this time they had to show something new, as fans wouldn't swallow a repetition of the old concept. It was time to bring a breath of fresh air to the game. In my humble opinion, they succeeded.

Nemesis: Retaliation takes place on an unknown space base. Up to five adventurers find themselves in an unfamiliar location that looks highly suspicious at first glance. There are signs of a struggle everywhere, but otherwise, no one is around. This time, however, they are prepared. This isn't some random mission by inexperienced amateurs. It's time to give those space creeps a hard kick where it hurts.

The third Nemesis introduces the biggest novelty you'll notice at first glance – a new modular map. You build connecting corridors and discover rooms as you explore. You never know in advance which way you'll go or what you'll run into. A very welcome new feature is the ability to blast a new tunnel somewhere to find a shortcut to where you need to go. Or an escape route. Wonderful! The entire map is divided into three sections, each with its own life support (similar to light in Lockdown), so you also have to keep an eye on oxygen, which is another new mechanic in the game. Sure, as if there wasn't enough to worry about already, you now have to manage your supply of life-sustaining gas.

Thanks to the new map system, the game gains a new dimension of replayability. It's hard to imagine you'll ever play the same game twice. At first glance, it might seem that the authors just increased the difficulty and want to torment players even more than before. However, balancing is helped by things like the little robot that lives on the base. At the start of the game, you draw what it can do. It can help with exploration, repair rooms, or transport supplies. It's a very useful little guy!

The end of the game and the victory conditions have also been reworked. Not only do you have to complete your personal objective (just like in previous installments), but you also have to escape the base. One option is using a one-time shuttle. The second is the old familiar hibernation. The third option is to wait for the rescue module that is on its way. Its landing can be timed to some extent as needed, but the problem is the base's anti-aircraft defense. It will simply shoot the module down. Whether it is active or not needs to be determined and resolved in advance (it's similar to the ship engine functionality from the first game).

The rest will be safely recognized by players of previous installments. Some mechanics (such as combat or the Queen's rules) have received an updated system, but the rest is more or less the same or very similar. Players have more resources and ammo at their disposal. It's simply a bigger slaughter. More enemies jump out at you, and the whole game feels like a horde mode where you stand against overwhelming odds but have plenty of options to eliminate them. The game feels beautifully action-packed and doesn't give you a moment to catch your breath. But you must never forget that underneath it all is a system that gives you nothing for free.

I've been looking forward to the third Nemesis for a long time, and the result is definitely worth it. Retaliation offers the familiar game with a thick atmosphere and polished mechanics. Plus, it brings enough new content so it's not just another recycling of the original work. It offers above-standard options for game modifications, and you can buy additional characters and other types of opponents.

In our gaming team, we still can't agree on whether the third one surpasses the first. In my eyes, it does. Retaliation brings enough new elements and fine-tunes the known ones. It offers more action, more options for solutions, and still retains a beautifully dark sci-fi atmosphere and tension. What is certain is that the Nemesis series will be with us for some time to come. Later this year, the authors will introduce Nemesis: Legacy, which will feature a large story campaign. As the classic says: "Shut Up And Take My Money."