If You Steal in Space, Does it Make a Sound? Find out in Clank! In! Space!

Carefully sneak through Lord Eradikus’ spacecraft and reclaim valuable artifacts from the master and ruler of the universe in Clank! In Space!

Gameplay

From the same minds that brought us the original deck-building dungeon crawler, Clank! In! Space! is a continuation of the same ideas that made the original Clank! so engaging, yet is a standalone game with a slightly different delivery system. Clank! in Space! begins with each player having the same starter cards, slowly earning better cards that allow for more movement, resources, and actions to allow for advancement into new area of Lord Eradikus’ ship.

The goal is to move through each section of Eradikus’ ship, earning the most victory points via credits, secrets, and most importantly artifacts. The best manner to do so is building an efficient deck, focusing on specific actions (and bonus actions) given through different factions represented by cards in the deck. However, moving through the ship is not effortless. Certain cards and actions will increase the clank you must place in the bag, which represents Lord Eradikus and his alertness to your presence on his ship. Likewise, certain actions will cause Lord Eradikus to rise along the rage track, adding more clank into the bag.

Clank is the main commodity in the game. Though it is not currency, it determines each player’s health as they move through the ship as well as Lord Eradikus’ rage level. Even by building an efficient deck that combos as you play cards from your hand, this may only slow the amount of clank added and drawn from the bag at any given time. And once someone has entered the last section of Eradikus’ ship, stolen an artifact (each player can only take one artifact, and each artifact has a different point value), and escaped the ship via an escape pod, the ship goes on high alert as the rest of the players scramble to accomplish the same goal with added impediments.

The recent expansion Apocalypse adds new modules to Clank! In! Space! to add new areas to Eradikus’ ship, new cards to add to your deck, and scheme cards that present extra goals for players to meet.

Review

As intimidating as Clank! in Space! may appear upon the first playthrough, at its heart it is a beautifully designed deck builder that adds elements of exploration and an action system. Building an engine with your cards that creates chains of actions (be it mitigating clank, earning credits, or fulfilling the requirements of schemes) is as simple and engaging as it is in any deck builder.

The way clank works and is drawn from the bag is both a blessing and a curse: though it may be a hair better than the luck of rolling die, there is still a fair amount of luck involved. And as one would imagine, the player count also greatly affects how draws from Eradikus’ bag will determine your gameplay and outcomes. In larger player counts, relying on visits to the health bays to regenerate some lost health is a crucial part of one’s strategy; in the solo variant (which relies on the Renegade mobile app to provide an escalating campaign), there is room to take more chances and make some bold moves.

Though Clank! In! Space! is fun at higher player counts, the solo variant is very engaging and allows players to truly learn the game, its mechanics, and the strategy in a stress-free manner. The game becomes very casual with more exposure, but it can be an intimidating game to undertake the first couple of playthroughs.

Yet Clank! in Space! is addictive. Its components are top quality, and the modular board will continue to allow for expansions that further stretch the game’s scope. The large scheme cards are not recommended for players just learning the game or looking for a casual experience (and the Apocalypse expansion is not yet supported by the mobile app’s solo campaign).

There is so much to enjoy with Clank! In! Space! that it is difficult to properly describe. But between its components, replayability, and unpredictability, this is a game for anyone that enjoys the earnest gameplay involved with deck building that is looking for a next level challenge.

Pros: Unpredictability from play to play, great components, an engaging modular board

Cons: Intimidating to learn at first, sometimes relies on luck