Oceanos (2016)

About this game

Oceanos is a game of underwater exploration with an original take on card-drafting. Each player pilots her own submarine trying to spot the most underwater species and the largest coral reef, sending scuba-divers after forgotten treasures, collecting precious crystals to upgrade their ship and to escape the fearsome kraken's gaze... Each submarine is divided into five parts, each of them independently upgradable from level 1 to level 3 and each one of them controlling a different ability of the player (however, there are no different abilities from one player to another). As there are multiple ways to score points and multiple takes on the submarine-upgrading order, the game offers several ways to win. The whole game takes mere 15 turns, each one of them simultaneous between all players, which makes it a fairly quick family game. Even though the submarines have the same abilities game-wise, each looks differently, and a special attention was obviously given also to the depiction of marine life.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 5.
• Rules load. At 1.8/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.