Picked up a copy of the KS edition of In Too Deep and just completed a first play. Have to say, I’m very impressed. Plays quick, the Echo AI opponent flows easily and presents a tough scoring challenge. Lost the game 69-63, but had an excellent time doing so.
The KS edition includes miniatures instead of standees and I’m a little disappointed with that. While the miniatures are ok, they don’t really add to the immersion of the game here at all. But that fact aside, I wish the publisher Burnt Island Games would have simply included the miniatures without replacing the standees. Having the minis as an option would be nice (and the stands for them with slots for carried items are cool), but taking away the standees seems a little silly.
As for the game, as I mentioned, it’s actually pretty fun. You play as an investigator who is (via reasons) hooking into the minds of criminals and directing their doing of crime toward a more noble end of foiling a larger plot. You collect evidence and have to decide toward filing it toward the current chapter (1-3) or toward the final plot. In doing this you run the risk of being corrupted and you don’t want to be the most corrupt of all the players (or two in the solo game). There is some level of rivalry between the players, so while the game is semi cooperative in terms of the end goal, you’re still not working fully cooperative, hence the need for the Echo AI player for solo. So you cannot adequately play this one true solo multi-handed, you can only play against the AI. But it does seem it would be fun for multiple players as well… if you can get a group into the theme.
The main board is a circle of eight different city sectors. As you control one or more criminals in the city, you can move them around the board (except through two red barricade spaces) using their special skills, picking up and dropping one of eight items. You goal during the game is to achieve the goals on various story cards. Completing a story card or side mission allows you to collect evidence, take on corruption, and file evidence among other benefits. The story cards range from level 1 to level 3 and you’ll have 5-7 different story lines (A-G) active in a game. So you cannot complete say an A2 story card before one of the A1 story cards has been completed by you or another player. A 2 level card in a storyline must be completed before a 3. The tougher the story level, the greater the rewards.
All in all, In Too Deep is a wonderful game for solo play and one I highly recommend — regular or deluxe version.