Alien-inspired board game Nemesis gets a sequel, Lockdown
This time it’s more.
Nemesis, the 2018 horror board game heavily inspired by Alien, has a new standalone sequel-expansion. No, it’s not called Nemeses, but Nemesis Lockdown.
In the original Nemesis, players assumed the roles of crew members on a seemingly doomed spaceship as they attempted to survive the arrival of a series of deadly alien lifeforms. (Sound familiar?) The co-op board game gave players the option to become one of several different crew members - such as a solider or a scientist - each with their own set of skills and equipment to utilise against the alien threat.
As the horror game progressed, players faced ever harder odds of surviving the incoming intruders and increasingly dangerous environments, as the spaceship was gradually destroyed. If they successfully completed all their required objectives, the player characters won and returned to Earth. Otherwise, they were lost in depths of space forever.
Nemesis Lockdown transports players to an entirely new location hidden somewhere on Mars. Set in a secret laboratory, the upcoming game sees one to five players travelling through the lab’s various levels in order to complete their own hidden objectives and escape the grasp of a terrible creature.
Completing the secret objectives is made tougher by the addition of various bloodthirsty creatures occupying the lab’s hallways, which players must attempt to evade or destroy if they want to stay alive. Throughout the sequel, players will be able to use the lab’s unique structure and systems to their advantage by turning off the power in certain sections - trapping any aliens or other humans inside - or finding dark places to hide away from potential threats, at the risk of suffering penalties.
Lockdown looks to put less of an emphasis on the co-op game elements of the original Nemesis by providing ways for players to actively work against one another, should their secret objective require them to. A new contingency procedure mechanic allows players to issue an emergency plan that ensures the survival of the active player, whilst inevitably dooming the others to a grim fate.
A standalone sequel, Nemesis Lockdown does not require a copy of the original Nemesis to play and can be experienced as a solo board game by using its free companion app. Lockdown’s content can also be used as an expansion to Nemesis, by combining the compatible components together during playthroughs.
The designer behind Nemesis Lockdown is Adam Kwapi?ski, the creator of the original horror game, as well as InBetween and epic Greek fantasy game Lords of Hellas.
Nemesis Lockdown will be published by Awaken Realms, the company behind Nemesis and other titles including video game board game This War of Mine and last year’s Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon.
The Kickstarter campaign for Nemesis Lockdown is live until June 18th, with a pledge of $116 (£95) getting a copy of the game. It’s estimated to release sometime in September 2021.