This is a very fun, quick paced, and down right enjoyable game. After picking up the game, which drew my attention with the name “Cthulhu” and the box artwork, it was a very short time before me and a couple of friends were up and playing. I read through the simple yet all encompassing rules while my friend punched out the full color pieces. After about 10 minutes of quick reading, I gave the simple instructions and we were up and playing.

This is random “tile” type game, where most of the board is not revealed until you move through a “gate” to a new tile. As you move into the new tile you create monster generators in random locations as your playing partner rolls for those spots. With some classic monsters from the “Cthulhu” world such as MI Go, Leng Spiders, Moon Beasts and the big and deadly Gnoph-Keh, the game has a great “Cthulhu” feel. There are 4 different characters that you can play, each are very different but pretty balanced in the game. The 4 characters are an Arctic Explorer, a Mariner Merchant, a Psychotherapist, and a Private Eye (with Nice Artwork!! ;-) ) and these are different enough to give different challenges each time you play. Some other fun parts of the game are the very “Cthulhu” spells and items that you receive in different ways. Each time you destroy a monster generator it reveals a random number of items, these items can be some fun traps too.

Without getting into the actual game play, there are 4 different ways to play, a co-op game where all the players work together to destroy all the monster generators, There is a death match game, and a capture the flag version. I have not tried the solo version, but that should play well too. All in all I really enjoy the game, the pace is nice and quick, the teaching/learning curve is nice and fast. The variations as you play each new game are nice and keep the game fresh. If there is anything I would change is that on some of the items and traps there was a bit more information on the piece itself. I understand why its not there (because the piece is to small to print that much information on) and that is because the piece or items are cool looking, but you have to refer to the manual to check on some of the special rules. I would highly recommend this game, I have had a ton of fun with it.