You’ve heard all the stories, maybe many times, but now it is time to encounter the characters, lore, and horrors from H.P. Lovecraft’s renowned tales. In this Cthulhu themed card game for 2 to 6 players, matches and links will be made to generate points, but perhaps one player will attempt to swear loyalty to The Great Old One Himself, in order to arise victorious in the end.  Let’s take a deeper look.

What Is It?

A simple, Go Fish-esque card game where players are trying to make pairs to score the most points, and they do this by drawing cards as well as stealing cards from others. They want to keep the Cthulhu card out of their hand to avoid an immediate loss, unless they can first reveal themselves to be a Cultist, in which case they’ll instantly win at the end thanks to Cthulhu! Players will also be playing Horror Cards along the way for a few additional points, and in an attempt to impede their opponents.

Who Is It For?

I would recommend this one to any Cthulhu/Lovecraft game fan because this one has a lot of good attention story details, which makes the theme shine, and I thought that was neat.

Based on difficulty, I think that ages 10 and up could easily play this game, but if you’re a little wary of the horror content, then I’d recommend it to maybe 15 and up instead.

I think any group that’s a fan of quick cards games will enjoy this, because it has some smooth gameplay. If you need a good filler or just lean toward card games, this is a great addition to game night. Related to that, though, I’d say it works better at 3+ players than at only 2 players.

Contents and Quality

There’s not terribly much in this one; it’s a simple card game, like I said. The cards are average quality overall, I did have one get a nick in the back early on, so be cautious when shuffling. The monster art on cards was definitely cool, while the human art was kind of awkward, but sufficiently creepy, which is kind of the point, so I guess that’s a good thing!

The rules are a tiny rulebook, which is never my favorite, but the font is easy to read and everything is clearly laid out. The reference cards are also very handy, but they are missing 1 scoring rule (4 points for a 4-set of pairs, whether they are matched or linked) so keep that in mind when playing! Finally, the box is a nice quality, hold everything in place well.

PROS

  • Simple to learn and play
  • Nice execution of theme – Pulls in a lot of story details which really gets you into it
  • Appropriate and decent art
  • Cool re-implementation of Go Fish
  • Smooth and straightforward gameplay

CONS

  • Very common/overused theme
  • No rules for “attacking” players (i.e. can’t ask the same player for a card if they were asked by someone the previous turn) so there’s the possibility that players can be ganged up on
  • Some horror cards seem much more powerful than others
  • Chances are very low of seeing the one Cthulhu or Cultist card(s), so it doesn’t seem to happen often that anyone tries to win that way

Difficulty

I found this to be a pretty easy game that was easy to explain to friends who don’t play a ton of games, so I’d rate this at about a 2 out of 5 for difficulty. If you know how to play Go Fish, you probably won’t have any issues with this gameplay, but there is of course a little more strategy when it comes to whether to play linked pairs or try to hang on to them for matched pairs, and which horror cards to play and when as well.

Final Thoughts

While I don’t usually seek out Cthulhu themed games, because I’m not usually super interested in them, this one pleasantly surprised me! I thought that the smooth gameplay made it an enjoyable experience, first off, and it was also fun because it reminded me of playing Go Fish as a kid but added a bit more game because of the story elements and horror cards. It’s a bunch of fun for any Lovecraft fan looking for a good filler/card game to add to their game nights!

My Final Rating: 7/10

Happy Gaming~

Additional Information:
Designer – Dann Kriss
Publisher – Dann Kriss Games
Artist – Ian Daniels
BGG
BGA

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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