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Alien: Fate of the Nostromo

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Alien: Fate of the Nostromo Board Game Announced

Game Information

Publisher
Designer
Players
1 - 5
MSRP $
29.99
Genre
Ravensburger

Work together, fullfill your mission and escape the Alien.

In ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo, players take the role of Nostromo crew members Ripley, Lambert, Parker, Brett, or Dallas. Over the course of the game, they collect scrap, craft items, and fulfill different objectives. The crew will lose and gain morale as they encounter the Alien and other situations. If crew morale reaches zero, players lose the game.

Each turn has two phases. In the Crew Action phase, players creep through the Nostromo's halls, gathering scrap, crafting items, trading scrap and items with other players, and using items and their special abilities. Brett, for example, can craft items with one fewer scrap than other players. If the Alien is within three spaces of the player with the incinerator, that player can use the incinerator to send the Alien back to its nest.

In the Encounter phase, players draw and resolve an Encounter card. The Alien could be lurking behind any corner...

Once the players fulfill their initial objectives, they face one of five final missions, each with a unique set of requirements. Players must fulfill the final mission's requirements simultaneously to win the game. Players can also introduce Science Officer Ash for a more challenging game. Ash moves through the ship, removing scrap and forcing the crew to lose morale.

alien minis


Editor reviews

1 reviews

Rating 
 
5.0
A brilliant, thoughtful mass-market design that shows how much you can do with relatively little- and it’s also an amazing Alien experience.
MB
Top 10 Reviewer 137 reviews

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ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #319681 25 Feb 2021 12:10
Here you go Josh. I finally got full confirm on this one.
charlest's Avatar
charlest replied the topic: #319711 25 Feb 2021 15:14
After someone at BGG pointed it out, one thing that really worries me about this game is that there is no character elimination.

How can you have an Alien game where characters can't be killed and instead suffer damage to a group morale?

That just seems completely wrong.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #319712 25 Feb 2021 15:36

charlest wrote: After someone at BGG pointed it out, one thing that really worries me about this game is that there is no character elimination.

How can you have an Alien game where characters can't be killed and instead suffer damage to a group morale?

That just seems completely wrong.


What worried me was the guy who said he didn't want player elimination in an Alien game.
Shellhead's Avatar
Shellhead replied the topic: #319713 25 Feb 2021 15:43
A board game with a horror theme should almost always have player elimination. Or at least character elimination.
Shellhead's Avatar
Shellhead replied the topic: #319714 25 Feb 2021 15:45
The part that jumped out at me in the description was the emphasis on gathering scrap. It sounds like a crucial mechanic to the game, but is definitely not an element from the movies. This makes me suspect that this game was designed euro-style, mechanics first with theme applied as somewhat of an afterthought.
Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #319716 25 Feb 2021 15:54
I can see the thematic element to it. Parker had to jerry-rig the "flame units" together so they could hunt the creature, so presumably they're approaching it from that angle, as the players cobble together whatever they can to fight this thing in their midst. But, yeah, I'm not really feeling the "live as a team, die as a team" thing... which is part of my normal aversion to co-ops in the first place.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #319717 25 Feb 2021 16:04

Shellhead wrote: The part that jumped out at me in the description was the emphasis on gathering scrap. It sounds like a crucial mechanic to the game, but is definitely not an element from the movies. This makes me suspect that this game was designed euro-style, mechanics first with theme applied as somewhat of an afterthought.


It's a major part of Isolation.
Msample's Avatar
Msample replied the topic: #319727 25 Feb 2021 16:25
While it may come at a more affordable price point, I'll just keep playing NEMESIS if I want my ALIEN fix.
charlest's Avatar
charlest replied the topic: #319734 25 Feb 2021 17:16
Yeah, I can't imagine this coming close to providing the satisfaction of Lifeform or Nemesis.
n815e's Avatar
n815e replied the topic: #319737 25 Feb 2021 17:46
The scrap thing makes sense. They were jury-rigging equipment, they were scrambling for stuff to outfit the escape pod, they were chasing after Jones.

A lot of the movie was separating them and putting them in places they could be stalked and eliminated.

The player elimination is disappointing, there is real tension in getting killed and losing people. I guess morale isn’t the worst thing, but it isn’t great either.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #319738 25 Feb 2021 17:49
As I said in the Gargoyles thread, there are plenty of games that riff on ALIENS. Ones that go for ALIEN are pretty rare. That difference matters to me, as does the license. I hope this is good.

Nemesis is great, but it's still ALIENS. Lifeform is my ALIEN game. Both have more rulebook checking than what I want to deal with.
dysjunct's Avatar
dysjunct replied the topic: #319764 25 Feb 2021 22:50
My ideal scenario is that the license is given to the CAMP GRIZZLY folks and ALIEN is basically that game but rethemed. Vastly powerful foe, PCs are isolated and can die, culminates in a powerful showdown. ALIEN is a slasher movie in space, go with the best slasher game.
charlest's Avatar
charlest replied the topic: #319765 25 Feb 2021 22:59
I mentioned in the other thread, this design does sound roughly like Camp Grizzly - move about the board gathering supplies while the Alien pursues. It sounds like the Alien is on the board and moved towards the nearest crew member, but can kind of teleport and immediately appear under certain circumstances.

Of course, Camp Grizzly is elevated quite a bit by the deck and all of the compelling events, counselors, and equipment. As well as those excellent finale cards. I'm not seeing anything which may similarly boost this design but the details are not all present.
Sagrilarus's Avatar
Sagrilarus replied the topic: #319780 26 Feb 2021 09:57
I'll admit that the word "scrap" in the ad copy was jarring. I think "parts" would make more sense here without a single change to how the game plays.

And for the record, Sucking Vacuum is my space-panic game of choice. My will specifies that it goes to the child that cries the most at my funeral.
Shellhead's Avatar
Shellhead replied the topic: #319781 26 Feb 2021 09:58
One of the older games in my collection is Intruder, a cheap pocket game that was published in 1980. Aside from a few typos in the rules and even on the CRT, Intruder is an excellent unlicensed simulation of Alien. The default scenario is co-op, but there are also rules for a player-controlled xenomorph. There is also a scenario that replaces the regular crew with space marines, which is amazing because the movie Aliens is based on the same idea but came out six years later.

Intruder incorporates as many elements as possible from Alien, except that it lacks the traitor element. Instead of having players collecting scrap, the engineer characters can go to a workshop type room and spend a turn or two making either electric prods or flamethrowers. The xenomorph has a chance of growing each turn, and each new life stage includes a new power that isn't determined until the next encounter with the creature. The crew isn't allowed to kill the xeno during the first two life stages, and the medical personnel are never allowed to kill it. You can try to airlock the creature, though 2 of the 11 powers prevent that. There is a space shuttle for escape, and there is a self-destruct sequence that can be activated. The xeno is concealed by facedown tokens that can also represent escaped lab animals (like Jones the cat) or false readings on the motion detectors.

Thanks to Kickstarter, Intruder got a very fancy upgraded edition in 2013, as you can see in this Youtube video: