Review: Lost Legacy: The Starship

Lost Legacy: The Starship

Players: 2-4 players
Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
Year: 2014

Microgames are games that are supposed to be, as their name indicates, small and quick. A famous example is Loveletter, which is ranked highly on BGG. So let’s see how this game plays out.

The cards

Gameplay can be summarized as locating the starship or eliminating all other players before the starship is discovered. While it sounds easy, there is a surprising amount of strategy to this game. The cards are shuffled, everyone is given a card and one card is placed aside to form the ruins. The game is divided into two phases, the playing phase, where people can be eliminated and the investigation phase. In the playing phase cards the active player draws a card and plays one of his two cards. Other players can be eliminated here by placing ambushes other players. Also the starship’s location can be moved with certain cards. If no more cards can be drawn, the investigation phase starts and players can guess where the starship is based upon the order as indicated by the number in the corner of the card that they are holding until either the starship is found or everyone guessed wrong, in which case everyone loses.

The famous starship everyone is looking for.

 What I like about this game, is how complex a game of 16 cards can be. While it may seem simple, as there are not many possibilities, the game still involves a lot of strategy and thinking. There are various choices to be made. Do you lay ambushes for other players, hoping they stumble into it? Do you search for the starship, leaving you open to attacks from other players? The previous tactic might be safer, but if you wait too long, you can’t join the search when the game moves on to the next phase. While I am not a huge fan of player elimination, in this game it’s not a problem as the game is over in less than 5 minutes. The game comes with four player cards as well and a simple rulebook.

There is not much that I don’t like about this game. To put it rather simple, it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that it is. The game light and quick. Sure, a more challenging game would be nice, but that would deviate from what it sets out to be. Perhaps a minor detraction would be the felt bag that comes with the game. While it’s not bad, it’s an interesting way of storing the game and I must admit that I have lost track of where I kept this game a few times. While there is a certain lore in this game, it could be utilized more. However, again, this could detract from the microgame-principle. Also, the game doesn’t play as well with two players as with three or four people, but that might be because the game is so small.

The extra components

I’d like to point out that this game is the first in a series. These can be mixed and shuffled to create special decks. However, since I haven’t played any of the other games, so I can’t say a lot about it.

So the verdict? The game is enjoyable and an addition to every collection, both due to size and budgetary constraints. While not every group may enjoy this game, it’s a light filler that can easily be whipped out and put away again. However, if you are looking for heavier games, you might want to continue searching.