Description from the publisher:
A 1-6 player cooperative game of terrifying cave escape. Players take the role of amateur cavers attempting to escape an unexplored network of subterranean tunnels, before the lights flicker out or the darker things beneath the Earth catch up to them...
In Sub Terra players spend their turn exploring and revealing the tunnel system around them, attempting to survive the various perils of the cave, from floods and cave ins to gas leaks and scree. Players each have a role which gives them specialist abilities, such as an Engineer with dynamite to blast a new route or a Scout to find a route more easily.
New tiles are placed from a randomised stack of cave features, which determines whether you'll be hit with a dead end or a range of new options.
At the end of each turn, players face the reality of their situation, with a hazard card drawn to determine what danger causes them damage or cuts off their way out of the horror below.
These cards are finite, and when they run out, your torches flicker and the air feels tight, and your chance of survival diminishes quickly.
- cooperative feel and hazard management
- pacing can create tense moments with fast decision space
- tends to feel too long and plateau
- endgame can be anticlimactic
- potential for player elimination and disjointed moments
- cooperative dungeon crawl and hazard management
- Mine shaft exploration with hazards
- cooperative problem-solving under pressure
- Jaipur
- Pandemic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — all players work together to survive the mine
- pandemic-style actions — a set action economy with shared consequences
- tile placement — placing tiles to navigate a mine shaft and reveal hazards
- timer/pressure mechanism — the longer you take, the worse things get
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is an absolute masterpiece this game is
- this is like the best game ever made
- it's a real cool idea a really cool concept
- when you get the right cards together, it can be fantastic
- the more you play it the better it becomes