Players who enjoy the mechanics and theme of Dead Men Tell No Tales will also like that it is virtually impossible to play the same game twice.

Unique systems for tracking fire, enemy movement and a player's fatigue all combine into an interesting and unique cooperative gaming experience. When doing this action the player will take a tile off the deck and add it to the ship so that all doors connect or have the ability to connect to doorways from prior tiles. Although at times its frustrating when it feels like everything is going against you, that adds to some of the comical conversations made at how the pirates may have finally met their karma (thanks to your unwise choices). Moving around the ship can cause fatigue; whenever a pirate moves to a more fiery location he takes fatigue based on the increase. At the higher player counts, things can get a little chaotic as the game state changes so much between your turns.We recently reviewed Atlantis Rising, which replaced Pandemic in our collection on the basis that we found worker placement a more interesting primary game mechanic than set collection. After giving Dead Men Tell No Tales a few plays, I could definitely see an influence from some older cooperative games. If a pirate picks up a treasure he then becomes very limited in his actions until he moves it off the ship. Sure, players have the chance to react to the random outcomes, but it still doesn’t help balance the game.

Even with my favorite games, like Betrayal at House on the Hill, Nemesis, and Gloomhaven , I want to make sure I’m highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses. Tile placement appears inconsequential at first (the only rule being that doorways match up) but precision is required because of the precarious trapdoor tokens. It’s a simple addition, but improves the experience of the game by giving players greater flexibility on how they want to plan their turns as a group. We have everything from mystery boxes, to games and accessories – including the above Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid, with a great discount!

I find myself pleasantly surprised to say that Dead Men Tell No Tales will be sitting right next to Atlantis Rising in the WMTG game collection. Both games share similar grid-movement devices and fancy plastic pieces, while the co-op nature keeps all players on board. Disclaimer: This game was provided by the publisher, but my reviews are always 100% honest and all photos and opinions are my own! This old sea dog is almost cockroach-like and not even a room explosion will finish him off – he is already dead, after all.