Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu

Today's review is of the 2016 release, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu.  For 2-4 players, it takes 40 minutes.

Overview
You and your team hear of stirrings . . . whispers of a great evil.  You learn of four gates, through which horrors can arrive.  It's up to you to seal the gates, defeat the monsters and cultists, and (ultimately) prevent the awakening of Cthulhu.  Can you prevail?

Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu is very similar to other games in the Pandemic line (like the original, Iberia, and Fall of Rome).  It's a cooperative game where each player has a unique role (granting special abilities) and gets 4 actions on their turn to move, defeat cultists or Shoggoths, trade cards, and seal gates.  At the end of their turn, they draw cards for their hand, then flip over 'summoning' cards to place cultists (the 'viruses' of this variant) on the board, triggering 'awakenings' (outbreaks) if a fourth cultist would be placed in a town.  Some differences:
- the cards you draw are not unique locations, but one of four regions (cities).  This makes it easier to pass cards (as you just have to be in any city in a region with another player, not one specific locale)
- defeating a Shoggoth costs 3 actions
- there's a 'sanity die' you must roll before defeating a Shoggoth or using a gate to 'warp' between locations. Each player starts with four sanity, and if you lose it, you go insane, flipping your role card and having reduced abilities until/unless you trigger a hospital/church visit to recover.

game components; image from here

Review
I enjoyed the H.P. Lovecraft short story The Call of Cthulhu, and I love the Pandemic line.  Combining the two must be awesome, right?  It's pretty good. I felt this variant of Pandemic the weakest of the ones I've played- perhaps too easy, with twists that weren't as original or interesting as other versions.  The theme may put some people off, as well, as it's notably darker (but aligns with the spirit of the book). It's not a bad game, but it's not quite as good as other Pandemic versions.

Rating: A-