We can learn a lot from movies. Honestly, there’s some really simple, clear lessons waiting for us to absorb them. The likes of Jaws, Deep Star Six, Leviathan, Deep Rising all taught me that the ocean wants me dead. Other films such as The Colour Out of Space and In The Mouth of Madness taught me that Lovecraftian horrors are best left alone. There’s even a movie called Underwater that combines both themes in an ultra lesson in case you haven’t got it yet (the thing at the end of Underwater??? We’re all done for).
Even Deeper Regrets has just hit Kickstarter and is an expansion for the super popular Deep Regrets, one of last year’s big success stories. It’s all over Instagram lately, and a search for ‘board games’ ‘squid’ or ‘fishing horror’ should lead you to it in no time.
A quick recap for the uninitiated: Deep Regrets from Tettix Games is a strategic horror fishing game in which you pull progressively more horrifying things out of the ocean. Decide what to eat, what to sell, what to mount, and how many regrets you’re willing to carry, as you push yourself and your sanity too far. You have to balance whether you’ll stay at sea or return to port to sell fish, buy provisions, and recharge your energy.
So, what does the expansion bring to the fishing kit? It’s quite the haul, as it turns out. There’s 117 brand new fish cards that you can either shuffle into the base game or just play on their own. This time round, however, there’s also an option to forget the treacherous sea entirely and fish inland, where a whole host of new horrors await (ever fancied your chances at landing Nessie?). You’ll earn Clout for fishing inland, which can really boost your endgame score. Then there’s a new addition to your supply cards… pets! Am I most excited about this part? Could be… I really dig having an animal sidekick, it’s a mechanic that more games should seriously consider adding. There’s a cat called Sera. I want Sera. In my head I’m already playing out a scenario where Sera and I head out to sea, and she’s licking her lips at the prospect of those strange fish we snag…
With more Regret cards and even a sea plague as part of the expansion, there is a whole lot in this package to boost the base game and dramatically increase both the variety and replay value. If you haven’t already caught the original, the Even Deeper Regrets campaign offers the option to pick it up along with the Lamentable Tentacles mini-expansion. This is making big waves over on Kickstarter (come on, I had to do it) where it is already fully funded, so why not cast a line and catch yourself a winner here?
