In exciting news for trick taking co-operative fans everywhere, Kosmos have announced the third instalment in the Crew Series, Journeys to the Ends of the Earth. (If we’re not counting the child friendly The Crew: Family Adventure – Marooned in Paradise)
Set to arrive in August this year with a debut at GenCon, The Crew: Journeys to the Ends of the EartJourneys to the Ends of the Earthh will have you and your team travelling the world, racing against the clock to hunt Charlemagne’s secret treasure.
Visiting iconic locations like the Amazon Rainforest and Mount Everest, you will be playing cards and taking tricks to shape your story, and hopefully make it in time to get that treasure.
Not a huge amount of details have been released about this third mission currently, but fans are left to wonder and speculate about how it will differ from the previous games in the series, and if Kosmos has once again smashed it out of the park with this co-operative adventure.
Join the Crew
The Crew: Journeys to the Ends of the Earth will be one of the more highly anticipated games of the year, due to how popular this series is amongst tabletop hobbyists.
Both the previous games in the series are Gold rated or higher on Zatu, so its safe to say there’s a lot of pressure on Kosmos to get it right once again, but all signs point to them getting the perfect crew together. The first game in the series, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine had you travelling space on 50 different missions, working together with your assembled team through increasingly difficult challenges to find the mysterious planet. One of the first trick takers to combine the mechanic with co-operative play, The Crew was immensely popular on release in 2019, with its easy to learn but hard to master gameplay loop, its campaign like story and its genius use of trick taking.
People however did find that through its rather long 50 separate missions, it became a bit repetitive, criticism which Kosmos certainly took on board when it released the follow up, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea. With a tighter 32 missions and more dynamic challenges, Mission Deep Sea was seen as a step up from Quest for Planet Nine, becoming the game you will often see recommended to hobbyists interested in the Crew series.
Rather than space your team is exploring the deep sea, trying to discover a secret land, with teamwork even more paramount to your success, adding a greater level of difficulty than its acclaimed predecessor.
As such, Journeys to the Ends of the Earth has a lot to live up to. The theme sounds really fun, you’ve explored space and the sea, why not stay on firm ground this time in your quest!
You also have only 25 challenges this time, which may sound like you’re getting half a game compared to the original, will likely mean Kosmos has again tightened the experience further and built upon the success of Mission Deep Sea, with quality over quantity when it comes to the various challenges.
I personally can’t wait to see what they have come up with. Having been loving my time recently with The Fellowship of the Ring: The Trick Taking Game, I am fully in the mood for some co-op tricking taking with my wife, something to really get our teeth into for an hour every evening, exploring the challenge that has been presented to us.
It was welcome news in my household when Journeys to the Ends of the Earth was announced, and as its coming in August just before my birthday, I think I know what will be first on my list this year!
