Who Goes There? is a cooperative game of growing paranoia. At the beginning of the game, all players are human and there is no reason not to trust each other completely, but as the temperature drops and mistakes are made, players start doubting everything and everyone around them.
You must build, trade, and upgrade to prepare yourself for the Antarctic Terrain, rabid dog attacks, crazed madmen...and most importantly, the alien entity that is now loose in the camp. Everything you build and upgrade has one purpose...keeping you alive and human! During the entire game, you will want to trade with other players and help each other build stronger weapons and better equipment, while also passing food and med kits around. Although, make sure your trust them, since trade is a huge opportunity for The Thing.
Staying inside may keep you from freezing to Death, but it won't help you or your fellow humans win. The only way to secure victory is by venturing out of the camp! The problem with that is, being away from camp is the number one way to come across The Thing...leaving you vulnerable and exposed to infection. Whether fixing the boiler, repairing the door, or fighting the frigid temperatures outside, you will all need one another to survive. But trust is a hard thing to come by when you must be wary of...Who Goes There?
- Beautifully captured theme and story evolution with every action
- Strong artistic and graphic design that reinforces the thematic setting
- Paranoia atmosphere is effectively conveyed through vulnerable cards and events
- Infected players do not behave differently from humans, reducing deduction opportunities
- Deduction relies on luck and card draws more than player strategy or signaling
- Overall luck element due to dice and card draw components
- Survival, paranoia, infection and distrust
- Antarctic research station during a blizzard
- Story-driven, action-influenced evolution of tension
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Door/search actions — Searching doors and storage to obtain items such as food, medicine, or parts
- Escape objective and helicopter points — Accumulate helicopter points to trigger escape; at least one human must survive
- Event cards and round phases — Phases introduce new events and temperature shifts, driving tension and choices
- Infection and trading — Infection can spread via trading cards and events; affects player status and decisions
- Movement and area exploration — Players move between spaces to reach helicopter points and gather resources
- Resource management — Managing food, medicine, and parts to build items and sustain stamina
- Stamina and dice resolution — Stamina management affects the number of dice rolled for actions and encounters
- Vulnerability deck — Top cards from a vulnerability deck determine infection risk and other setbacks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The theme and Who Goes There? is beautifully captured and the story evolves with every action you do.
- The great components are both artistic style and graphic design also lend themselves in cementing the theme.
- There is a sense of paranoia captured extremely well with the vulnerable cards.
- What I think this game lacks is the deduction part; it's partly due to two faults...
- Scores an inconspicuous 7 out of 10.