Deep Madness Review

About Deep Madness, from BoardGameGeek:

In a dark and claustrophobic deep sea mining site, the uncovering of a mysterious “Sphere” is dragging everyone nearby into the endless madness. The fears deep within one's mind are amplified and transformed into horrifying monsters from other dimensions, torturing one's body and testing their sanity. Only those with extraordinary will and conviction can escape its devastating grasp. Deep Madness is a fully cooperative board game with 66 amazingly detailed miniatures, depicting a sci-fi horror world inspired by Lovecraft's work and the Alien series. In the game, players assume the roles of investigators, venturing into the seemingly empty yet perilous deep sea mining site to find out the truth behind the lost contact event. Unimaginable horror and madness from the dark fear within is waiting. Deep Madness is based on multiple scenarios from a continuous storyline. Each scenario has its own unique board setup, rules, special effects, and goals. From resolving fatal crises to struggling with overwhelming bosses, the investigators will face various quests filled with strategical decisions and fierce combat. With each scenario achieved, they are one step closer to the truth, but also one step deeper into the world of madness. Each scenario of the game plays in a limited number of game rounds, if the investigators fail to achieve the goals before the last round ends, the game is lost and everyone is consumed. Each game round consists of 4 phases: Devour Phase, Spawn Phase, Activation Phase, and Refresh Phase. In each investigator's turn, it is crucial that the player chooses 3 actions to take wisely. Each kind of action has its own value, and every single decision could be life and death in Deep Madness. Unfortunately, the correct decision is rarely obvious. Moving, attacking, searching, exchanging items, locking the doors, and recovering sanity are the basic actions. Additionally, each investigator also has his/her own unique and irreplaceable abilities to activate. Different combinations of investigators provide distinctive strategies and game experiences. Monsters act according to its own action pool during its turn. In Deep Madness, monsters are highly characteristic, not just in stats, but also in abilities and behaviors. Different combinations of monsters provide unique challenges. And due to the intertwined activation mechanism, even different turn orders of the monsters make each game session different.