The Crew: The Deimos Adventure ★★★★

The Crew, Thomas Sing’s cooperative spin on trick-taking, hasn’t gotten a retail expansion yet despite being such a huge hit. However, it has gotten some additional content courtesy of Kosmos, its publisher. The Deimos Adventure is a set of 15 new missions which take the system to new heights. Released online for free, they are a great addition for fans of the cooperative trick-taking game.

MISSIONS

The Deimos Adventure can be downloaded from Kosmos UK’s website. It requires no additional components and can simply be printed or read from a phone. It’s composed of 15 new missions, which are not part of the original sequence and can be played in any order. They are listed in groups of three and don’t require any experience with the base missions.

The missions included in The Deimos Adventure are more memorable than the ones in the base game. Barely any require the mere completion of tasks. Rather, most of them have unique goals, like getting two value 9 cards with a measly 1 or not starting any tricks with the blue suit. They are unique challenges that play very differently from each other.

Some of the missions are designed to be played several times. Instead of a fixed end point, they allow you to continue how far you can get. For example, they challenge you to complete as many missions as you can or clear increasingly difficult tricks. These are good for a change of pace. It’s fun to try again and again for a higher score.

These missions in Deimos showcase the strengths of The Crew better than the original game did. While the original missions are fine and create a fantastic introduction to trick-taking, they are rather plain. Often, the difference between an easier and a harder mission is just the number of tasks. Here, all missions require players to think laterally.

NEW MATCHES

Since the Deimos missions are unique, they are great for a quick match. They are a more standalone challenge than the original, which I think is best played with the same group. I feel it’s easier to grab one of them at random and play with a mixed group than it is to find an appropriate mission from the original set.

However, there are a couple duds. One mission simply assigns tasks randomly and another has the crew decide how many tricks their commander should win. Neither feels like a true design. Still, the latter can be fun. While not in their best interest, the crew can choose a very high number of tasks for their commander and create their own challenge this way.

After all, The Deimos Adventure is not intended to be easier or harder than the original. It’s simply a different take with more specific play patterns. While I don’t recommend it for people who have never played The Crew, I think it’s great for anyone who has. If you like The Crew, there’s no reason not to try The Deimos Adventure. It’s a fantastic addition to an already great game. It only costs a bit of ink or an open cell phone and lets you push your skills a little further. It’s hard not to recommend it.