Board game review of Endeavor – The Deep Sea: Head into the depths for lots of fun!

In 2020, Endeavor: Sailing Ship Era, an area control game popular with board gamers, was released in German game stores. Board Game Circus took on the German localization in collaboration with Frosted Games. Now, Endeavor: The Deep Sea, the successor, has been released, which is intended to take over elements of its predecessor and add new ones. Here, too, the German localization was taken over by both publishers. You can find out how Endeavor fares in its new guise in the following review.

As ocean researchers, it is our job to map the ocean. But other tasks also stand in our way. We discover more and more of the underwater world bit by bit and dive deeper and deeper into the depths of the sea with our submarine. But without the right crew, we cannot complete our task. So we recruit new members to stay ahead of the other ocean researchers in the depths of the sea.

Into the Depths of the Sea

Endeavor: The Deep Sea is a type of worker placement game in which we have to complete various tasks as well as possible depending on the scenario in order to be ahead of our opponents at the end. The tasks can have a variety of elements, for example we have to have carried out the most actions of a type in certain levels or have improved the most team members, etc. In order to complete the tasks, we collect crew members round after round who will help us progress in our endeavor and improve our personal characteristics as cleverly as possible.

A game is played over 6 rounds, each of which is divided into two phases: the preparation phase and the action phase. The individual steps of the preparation phase relate to the various properties of the personal game board and are easy to complete (see image below). You start at the top with the reputation bar, move on to the motivation bar and then jump to the organization bar. The last bar, which reflects our genius, is important for the action phase.

Interesting worker placement twist

Our reputation determines which new crew members we can get. The further we are up the bar, the better the potential members are. The motivation bar then determines how many discs we can place from our supply in our cargo hold (bottom left on the board). The organization bar gives us back discs that we have placed on crew members. The higher we are up the bar, the more discs we can get back.

In the subsequent action phase, these discs act like classic workers in worker placement games. When it's our turn, we can use them to trigger an action of a free crew member. This means: When it's our turn, we use the action of a crew member by placing one of our discs on him. If the crew member is occupied by a disc, we cannot use it again - in the preparation phase, we use the organization bar not only to get discs back, but also to make actions available again. If we no longer have any discs at the start of our turn in the action phase and/or can no longer perform an action, we must pass.

In addition, we have to make sure that one of our submarines is on a game board tile that contains the action we want to perform. In this way, we try to move across the game board turn by turn. evolveto position ourselves as helpfully as possible with our submarines. If we are positioned appropriately, we can sonar action create new game board tiles, with the dive receive random bonuses with which Marine protection Get targeted bonuses and use the Publication improve our crew and/or receive victory points. Each of the five actions also improves the properties of our personal game board in some way, which, alongside the tasks of the scenario, is our main concern in Endeavor: The Deep Sea. Because the better our own board is, the more freedom we have to plan our actions cleverly.

Gain influence & victory points

By carrying out actions, special effects can be activated that allow us to improve other characteristics. One special effect is gaining influence. We can use influence in the area of ​​influence of the current scenario plan. Depending on our placement, this gives us further improvements or victory points for the end of the game.

The game ends after the sixth round. Finally, the points from the attribute bars, the sphere of influence, collected research reports and the scenario goals are added up. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

Can be played cooperatively and solo

In addition to the competitive standard mode, Endeavor: The Deep Sea also has a cooperative mode that can also be played solo. The solo mode only differs in the number of rounds and the associated crisis cards that come into play in the co-op mode. The goal is - depending on the level of difficulty - to have fulfilled 4 to 7 goals after the 6th round (or 7th in solo mode). To do this, a bonus goal is revealed in each of the first three rounds that can contribute to victory. In addition, each scenario has three individual co-op goals and a victory point goal that can or must be fulfilled. From the fourth round onwards, the crisis cards come into play. These have nasty effects that can thwart the plans that have been forged. We have not tested the game in co-op. The solo mode is definitely fun and has its appeal. It basically plays like a competitive game, except that certain goals have to be achieved. The individually selectable level of difficulty makes it even more fun to compete against the game.

Information about Endeavor: The Deep Sea

Conclusion

First of all: we haven't played the predecessor Endeavor: Sailing Ship Era. So we went into Endeavor: The Deep Sea with completely neutral expectations and boy... were we absolutely thrilled. Endeavor: The Deep Sea plays impressively fresh. Improving your own game board, managing your crew members, cleverly placing your discs and navigating your submarines on the game board - all of this combined brings so much new life that we could play the game again and again. The fact that there are then 10 different scenarios that change the victory conditions is the icing on the cake. Because the changed victory conditions also change the entire game. For example, in one scenario we happily splashed around near the surface, while in the other we went right into the depths of the ocean.

Endeavor: The Deep Sea also has a pleasant mix of interaction. Even though we mostly play for ourselves and improve our personal tableau, there are still more frequent situations where we can deliberately interfere with our opponent and anticipate an action or field of influence. However, this never feels like a punishment for the person concerned, because Endeavor offers enough opportunities to work towards your goals in other ways. Carefully weighing up your options is the key to victory.

We would also like to point out that the material of the retail version is already great. Here we have a cardboard tray for the crew members that keeps all the pieces safe and secure. It also serves as a perfect display in the game itself. Overall, it is also great that many wooden components were used here - some of which were cut a little crooked in our version - but still felt high quality.

But even though we were absolutely thrilled with the game, there was one small thing that was a thorn in our side. There are no player aids that roughly explain the process and actions. This makes Endeavor a little difficult to learn, especially in the first game, as it seemed overwhelming - despite the comparatively low level of difficulty. There is only one A4 sheet of paper that explains the various scenarios and special actions. These could just as well have been included in the instructions themselves. Instead, this sheet could have been provided with the game flow and an overview of the actions. That would have been more helpful, because even after several games, you still want to look at the instructions every now and then to be sure.

However, this is complaining at a high level. Endeavor: The Deep Sea is a true masterpiece of a game. It is generally easy to play through and still offers enough opportunities to rack your brains over your moves. While it is a bit slow at the beginning, it gets more and more intense with each round, which adds to the overall excitement of the game. Overall, we can give Endeavor: The Deep Sea a clear recommendation. Endeavor: The Deep Sea is unlikely to disappear from our game collection any time soon.

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