Nemesis Lockdown Review: Die, Die, Repeat.

[@sloikalamos]

This is what I like from you guys, the honest review! Please don't stop making it with this format!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Glad to hear! Thank you!

[@joedunleavy841]

This is a very informative review. Thank you. I find it so frustrating that Awakened Realms always rush their games without taking time to polish up the gameplay/rules, or fix up issues that clearly need addressing. They have such great ideas and their games have so much potential. They nail down 85% of the game and then kick it out of the door with glaring unaddressed issues that could have been fixed with just a little more care and attention. I was hoping that they would get this one right due to it being the second game in the series but it looks like I was wrong.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Sounds like it's quite accurate from the reviews I've seen about each of their games. Glad the review was helpful!

[@manuelandre3561]

I loke so much what you're doing guys , feel so good to have a hones and argumentative opinion about games. And what can be improve . Keep it like that as long as you can ❤

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks very much for the kind words, we appreciate it!

[@Dragonnox]

First time I have come across your channel, and I am grateful for such an informative review. Subbed!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you so much :). Glad it helped!

[@jacobestrada4468]

You guys can always adopt house rules to make the game more fun and fair. For instance, we adopted a rule that if you want to do a careful movement, you can discard 3 cards instead of 2 in order to avoid making any noise at all, but this rule is only in effect after the first encounter. We made this rule because there were often so many noise tokens on the board toward the end of the game, it made it practically impossible to move around without triggering an encounter. We also adopted a rule that you can discard 3 cards during your turn in order to remove any noise token connected to your room.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Yea I think we just feel naughty when we house rule, like we're cheating somehow. Or not playing the game as intended. Which is probably silly as you should play it how you have fun!

[@danielgustavoparedes]

ive seen about 4 to 5 nemesis lockdown related videos to see if this is something i want to pick up from the game steward at it was big for me to hear your commentary on how the rules are not great straight out of the rulebook. very relevant to me and my playgroup when it comes to learning new games. closer to sure deciding not to get it edit: yeah this is the last video i needed to watch. very informative

[@BoardOfItReviews]

That’s great, we always love when we hear we’ve helped someone to make a decision on a game either way - thanks for watching! Not sure if you did already - or if it’s relevant for you - but we also have a buyer’s guide style video doing a bit of a comparison of Nemesis Lockdown and the original Nemesis 👍🏻

[@carllindley7489]

I really found this review helpful thank you.....but by far my favourite part was seeing your dogs at the end!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Haha thank you! They usually make more of an appearance than just at the end! 🐶 🐕

[@djangofett4879]

A searchable PDF rulebook is the way to go for looking up rules as you go. Im sure they will at least provide an updated PDF to address the problems. does seem strange though not to have a more definitive rulebook for a second edition game. Also, you can also just make up your own rule to get through a snag 😆

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Great shout tbf. So obvious when you say it! Thanks!

[@chiuvak]

Guys are you planning to do playthrough video of Nemesis Lockdown?

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Ooof! I think we'd love to, but we don't really have a great set up for playthroughs. Particularly longer ones like Nemesis Lockdown which would take hours and hours. We have thought about it though.

[@Nozdormu1982]

@@BoardOfItReviews So basically you haven't properly locked down the setup and time in this case is the nemesis.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Exactly that 😂

[@CrazyBunnyGuy]

Argh, geez, you did not help me :) Haha, don't worry, your review is excellent, it's me who's having issues with deciding whether or not to click that BUY button. It's such an expensive experiment for someone who doesn't like to sell games once they enter the collection and aside from literally a couple of misses everything else I own was spot on and we love those games. Yours is probably a fifth review already that I watched which puts randomness front and centre. And I don't know what to think of it! :) I'm no stranger to randomness in games. I have both Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror. plus a few other games from the same genre and if anything is random, it's them. We have had EH sessions which became hopeless two rounds in and it was pure torture to wait till the end (I guess that's spot on - theme-wise) so I think I'd be okay with that. Would I? I just don't know! The reason why I'm looking into Nemesis is the theme, the look and feel of it, the grim atmosphere, and mechanically the game is sound, but most of all I'm in the mood for something that's not an euro game. I'm an euro gamer at heart, the heavier the better but I think I'm a little bit tired of counting victory points through XYZ and I need something else for a while. Co-ops are the thing we are currently exploring and it suits us better at the moment but we never played a semi co-op before and it's something that could scratch both itches: playing cooperatively AND, very very very remotely, keep that euro-centric, "must win no matter what" spirit alive. So I'm torn. And I wish I could play it before buying it, but I can't, sadly. Good thing is it could be played solo so even if I buy it and then only play it in my retirement I'll still have "someone" to play it with. Although given the alarming trend of dementia in my family I'd probably be sitting in a corner cuddling the Queen and trying to feed her grapes instead of actually playing the game.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I think if you're a fan of Eldritch Horror (as we are), then you're probably well equipped to take on Nemesis. I will say that you have to make more of an effort to make your own story than in Eldritch Horror, and the randomness is more so in Nemesis (as we said in the review, sometimes effects can cascade to just make the game completely unfun and unfair). That said, Nemesis is more "exciting" and alive than Eldritch Horror.

[@CrazyBunnyGuy]

@@BoardOfItReviews Indeed, that last sentence says it all: I'm actually quite looking forward to all the action and the "cinematic" experience. I'm quite prolific when it comes to creating stories out of actions the players make (I roleplay just about anything, including the driest of euros :P) so I'm also looking forward to that, too! That being said, I'll be placing an order for Lockdown and Stretch Goals tomorrow. Weeeeee!

[@IvorStiffan]

Would it work to house rule the fire cards so that only 2 can combo back to back and the rest get reshuffled into the deck?

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Not a bad shout!

[@darrenthedude7283]

Would you recommend this as a solo game?? I play jaws of the lion and was wondering if its more complex than that as well.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

It wouldn't be the worst solo experience. You lose the semi co-op element, which we do enjoy, but the other 95% of gameplay would be unaffected, and you could always control multiple characters. I occasionally solo mansions of madness and I can imagine it would be quite like that in a lot of ways, so it's probably pretty enjoyable. That's a tough comparison in terms of difficulty as Jaws does so well at slowly easing you in, whereas you're thrown right in here. The moment to moment gameplay isn't particularly complex, it's just that 1. there are a fair few upkeep steps that have to occur in the right order that you'll need to keep checking, and 2. because of the randomness you'll get lots of little moments occurring that will make you keep checking the rulebook over and over. So all in all, a single turn, not so tough, but the whole game for the first few games you'll likely be buried in the rulebook.

[@darrenthedude7283]

@@BoardOfItReviews thanks👍

[@spaztekwarrior]

Another fine review … thanks :)

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you! :)

[@Valen-D]

Very nicely done and informative.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you kindly!

[@przemek7229]

This is you a player's character making noises in the corridors. Those are the noises of the aliens the character hears from the corridor. Otherwise it would make no sense thematically as the noise comes from a random corridor, not necessarily the one player used.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Correct.

[@КинокомпанияПоэзия]

Thank you very much for your work!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you for watching!

[@yagsipcc287]

The one thing about big boardgames is rules are always a pain, things can be easy to forget or things might only happen once or twice in a game or special events might or mightn't show up and you could play a long game several times and not see certain things 🤣 big problem with big games but they are also super replayability even campaign games. I am glad I got this over the original game though seems to have some improvements gameplay is pretty much the same and of course most of the expansions work with it so not really missing out at all if anything getting the best of the both games outside of untold stories. Thanks again. Still need time to play the game need to convince my GF ha but hey got an airbrush so painting time until then 🤗

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks for watching! Hope you get to play soon, maybe you can tempt the gf with a co-op first?!

[@thelastmotel]

"Expandalone" is the term ;)

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Ha - that's excellent!

[@KingCommaAndrew]

Thanks for the in-depth review. I hadn't realized the game was so random, so unforgiving, and unpolished. I thought I might give this one a go, but it sounds like I'm out. Especially since I didn't back it before release and the expansions and stretch goals will be so expensive.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Glad we could help! Tbf to Nemesis I'm not sure I would say unpolished (aside from obviously the rulebook which could do with some work), but I think its issue is that it does so well at being a sandbox that inevitably issues pop up for which there is no quick answer.

[@JBXyooj]

Yeaaaah Awaken Realms rule books are always frustrating lol.

[@JK-np8dr]

ye, i totally agree with the overly swingly randomness puts a sour taste in my mouth

[@theoarts]

Great! Honest review, 100% 👌🏻

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Hope it helped!

[@fatal_bull]

After playing the new PC game of this the last 24 hours, is the main gate located over there, or is it on the main building side? .. Meaning, where you have placed the main gate is actually the bunker you're driving to? Other than that. Great review! :)

[@BoardOfItReviews]

If I understand the question correctly - yes the main gate is the ‘bunker’!

[@lcronovt]

Insert Doom e1m1 theme

[@devintheee]

Awaken Realms doing a bad job of rules editing and clarity? Say it ain't so!

[@DannyMck]

Flashback to lords of Hellas 👌 I've backed this anyhow, everything arrived in an absolutely massive box and I'll likely never even open up any of the additional aliens passed the stretch goals but damn what a collection. I just don't get why its considered an expansion and not a sequel?

[@devintheee]

@@DannyMck Right? I'd have expected an expansion to either have some campaign continuity, compatible characters, or additional tiles.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Luckily for us we haven't had to experience the real wonderful ones like Etherfields.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Honestly, it's probably for money. By calling it an expansion it entices fans of Nemesis to buy it or feel like they need it to have the complete content. I would have loved to see a stand alone version and a proper expansion version with only the necessary components for people who already own Nemesis.

[@kwisatzhaderach88]

what makes you night stalkers are exactly the same as itruders? their cards are insanely different

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I'm sorry we offended you and your favourite game 😅

[@kwisatzhaderach88]

@@BoardOfItReviews wouldn't say you offended me, just don't understand your comment. I listed to your nemesis episodes and you states they are exactly the same but the use different tokens she their cards and events do different things. So I was trying to understand your comment

[@BoardOfItReviews]

You’re right the tokens are different but what we mean is ultimately, the concept is the same, therefore we don’t find them different enough to warrant people owning both games, along with the fact much of the other content and gameplay is similar if not the same. We are referring to the concept of them and not the literal pieces.

[@kwisatzhaderach88]

@@BoardOfItReviews that's fair, didn't come across that way in the video I just thought they were carbon copies. But ya I agree they fill a similar void. I don't think if I started with lockdown I'd get original as lockdown is much improved, but I am happy to own both and have 20+ characters and 5 aliens though

[@Camj41]

Yikes! I am not a big fan of looking back and forth in the rulebook and online for rule clarifications. This is my first Awaken Realms game, and possibly, my last.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I guess on one side, this is a only such an issue because of how variable the experience can be which in many ways is good in terms of novel experience and replayability. On the other hand, it makes it even more apparent that the rulebook is poor and lacking, which means people are going to waste time not playing the game to look up answers.

[@arakuss1]

I don't think the rules are one that confusing. The combat and egg destroying action is referred to in the rules. It is also in the Nemesis Rule book. If you are in a room with an intruder you can only use the shoot action to target an intruder or use an action to escape. Under destroying an egg I think on page 27 it states you can use an action to destroy an egg by using the same shoot action that is under the in combat rules, but you don't need the requirement of being in combat. I also don't understand your issue with the help cards and the contingency tokens. The token states clearly who is killed if this is the active one. The help cards state who is killed and states where you are safe. I am confused what problem that brought up in your game? I scanned through most of the questions on BBG most of them answer themselves. Compared to some other popular games I have played there is not that many truly game stopping questions that I read in those comments. I ran into very little issues with both of my playthroughs on both maps. Yes some brow raising questions about terminology they used. To be quite fair I can see if someone just reads the rules and have not played Nemesis I can see people running into some issues. Also to be fair I never just read rules to most games. A game like Nemesis or Lockdown even if it had perfect rules I think their would always be game pausing questions. This is why most of the people in my group or at least the ones explaining the games watch game play and rules videos. Understanding and seeing a game played and how mechanics work made alot of the issues like contingency suppose conflicts a non issue. I always think it is better to both watch a video and read the rule book. Awaken Realms, especially since I think some of these issues are do to language, should get a rule book writer who is better at structure and terms to make a better quality rule books. In fact several companies should do his. Over all nice video but that egg rule I am surprised that stopped things especially if you played Nemesis.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

As a counter argument I would say that when we posted the video many people actually wanted to know about the egg rule and asked us how it ended, plus on the BGG forums there was quite a lot of debate about it with the consensus actually being the opposite to the correct answer until an official play tester clarified the correct interpretation. While it sounds like you've managed to do a lot of research before playing the game I think a big issue is not everyone has the free time to watch videos and read the rules and get other players to do the same, so you're the exception to the rule. In general what we've gathered from conversations is others often bump up into these edge cases and have trouble finding answers easily. For example regarding the contingency tokens, it says kill everyone who didn't send the signal, so you'd kill everyone who didn't send the signal right? BUT it says on a help card the CSS is always safe? Nowhere is it explained what always safe means. Of course you can assume what it means easily, but then can't take both literally because they conflict because one says kill everyone and another says some are safe. What if you didn't play with the help cards? How would you then know you'd be safe in the CSS? You couldn't because it isn't in the rules. Lastly I would add that compared to other popular games, especially ones that have sold far more, the Nemesis rules forum has far more posts, indicating it's a fairly tricky game or the rules as sent aren't good enough.

[@stuartshannon8561]

The original Nemesis lockdown rule book is a mess. I’m sad to hear that new rule book is the same. I have totally been looking on the wrong place for a rule often.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

It might be a personal thing, but I actually found the rulebook for original Nemesis better, or at least the athestics more readable.

[@chadvader974]

1.2k views guys well done

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Cheers! 😊

[@bnlbnl8892]

Best rule book review is Root / Leder. Pity for Nemesis… I agree rules for Nemesis are 3/10.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

They do know how to do rulebooks!

[@michigan18]

is this the most confusing question that you experienced in the game? really? kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYHKnKaZid56qLc . If so, I have enough experience with an initial game and Lockdown will not confuse me any harder :) But even if, you have one by one questions that interrupt your game, improvise and visualize. It's ameritrash ffs. Think logically. Carry on with a game basing on logic and find out answers on forums in a spare time.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I mean, doesn't seem that simple considering the furious debate raging on the BGG forums and all the people who asked for the answer after the video game out ;). Interestingly, most people were ruling the wrong way until the lead playtester chimed in. Tbf we'd always rather solve it mid game, because if you just make up the rules yourself you'll always tend to give yourself the benefit of the doubt and then be disappointed when you found out you won by accidentally cheating when you do look it up.

[@arakuss1]

I found there confusion over the eggs also odd. It actually states what you can do in combat and killing. You can either use a shoot action to kill and intruder or escape. Not sure what was hard about that. Later on pg 27 it states you can use an action to destroy an egg use the shoot action to basically resolve this action. That answered her game play action. I don't know why he had to go google it.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

@@arakuss1 I have to say I don't fully understand how dismissive you are considering there are multiple posts about it and it was asked enough they added it into an official FAQ literally meaning it was a frequently asked question. The big issue was that eggs are not classified as intruders but the rules state you can only shoot intruders in combat which lead to huge debate based on the letter of the law as you can see here and it was only resolved once an official play tester steped in. boardgamegeek.com/thread/2125223/fighting-nest