Renegade Game Studios Dead Men Tell No Tales Strategy Boxed Board Game Ages 12 & Up for 2-5 Players 60-75 minutes playing time

I played this a handful of times now. It is so much fun. The rules are clear and simple, setup is quick once you've played it once and the players turns are fast with a single d6 for combat. This game is also easy to solo if you don't have a group to play with.Many have said this game is hard. I haven't necessarily had that same experience on the normal difficulty with 2-3 players, If you choose to add in the Captain as an enemy for the harder mode this can be much more difficult and the highest difficulty which requires getting all the treasure and killing all skeleton crew is very hard, I have not been able to do this as of yet, but I'm having a lot of fun trying to get there. Which says a lot because other co-op games can be down right frustrating.So if you're worried about the difficulty, don't be; the game has a few difficulties which basically just change the requirements for winning like getting more treasure off the ship and the game is worth playing through many times so you can ramp it up as you get more familiar with how to play it. It's definitely not as difficult as Zombicide: Black Plague which I bought at the same time. I see this game getting played more often than that one in my future.The combat I mentioned is single d6 combat. You roll your die, add your strength basically and compare to the skeleton crew you're fighting. Other games with dice rolling can really destroy you in one bad roll. This game gives you better odds I feel with how you can boost your attack with action points and earned weapons. You can see what the enemy is strength-wise before going into fight and can tell when ones you actually need to defeat to get your treasure so it's not a total shot in the dark and there's fair strategy. So combat in this game gets a big thumbs up for not being overly cheap randomness.Dying in the game doesn't necessarily render a game over, depending how many players you have you get more chances. Once you die you can pick another character card and jump back in the game if there are any characters left (7 total).I'm not going to go over all the rules, you can find some good videos online of game-play on this, which is what ultimately sold me (along with the theme and artwork). I was not a kickstarter backer, never even heard of the game until the week I bought it. I was looking for a good co-op that doesn't take a lifetime to setup and play, this game delivers!The quality of pieces is about what I expected, the artwork is great on both the cards and the board tiles. The only thing that could make this game any better would be detailed miniatures, maybe plastic dials instead of cardboard, but for the $36 I was paying I don't expect all that.Bottom line is: If you like cooperative games and pirates (heck even if you don't like pirates), this is one to make sure you buy. It's worth the money and you'll get a lot of replay-value out of it. If you hate co-ops this isn't for you.

This is the only board game I have where the "one more game" and "I almost made it" phrases keep running through my head. The tiles look great as you place them strategically each turn. Your priorities change constantly: do I fight the fires on the other side of the ship to avoid explosions, or fight in order to get the treasure chest I need to win? The deck hands are starting to pile up, and skeletons are moving closer to my pirates. Although I am not "into" pirates, running around a burning ship trying not do burn to death while collecting treasure, hopefully making It back to your dinghy before the entire ship explodes is a lot of fun. Chain reactions occur as rooms become hotter, blasting into adjacent rooms. Powder kegs explode frequently as well. Since this is a cooperative game, it can be played solo. I've heard other reviewers say this is too similar to Pandemic and Flashpoint Fire Rescue. Although I've never played them, after watching a few videos I can see the similarities. If you own the two games mentioned, maybe this game isn't for you. One major difference is that the board is a stack of tiles that grows after each round, making a different experience each game. Pandemic and Flashpoint have fixed boards. I spent an entire afternoon playing this game, almost winning, saying "one more time". Highly addictive and entertaining. Watch all of my board game reviews on YouTube: 2112dorf. Thanks!

This game has everything I hoped it would - strategy, teamwork, and fun. I love the cooperative game play and the challenge (it can be very difficult to win). I have only owned it for a few days, but I have had a blast playing it so far! There were only two drawbacks for me: 1) The inset of the box does not hold the pieces well to prevent them from bouncing around and moving. 2) The difficulty levels are only changed by increasing the number of treasures to obtain (a different variant would be nice).That being said, I really enjoy playing this with family and friends.