Tom's Top 50 - No. 50 ABYSS

Thank you for joining me as I take a look at what I would consider my Top 50 games of all time (as of Jan 2025). I'll share a little bit about what I like about the games covered, in the hope that you might seek them out to try them and see for yourself what makes them great.

Coming in at No. 50 is Abyss by Bruno Cathala and Charles Chevallier and published by Bombyx (it is worth noting that it is a stunning production).

The Abyss Cover

What type of game is it?

I'd say, at its core, it's a midweight game of set collection in service of recipe/contract fulfilment - that incorporates elements of bidding and push your luck, with some tableau building and even some take that. It's a simple system, but there's a fair bit going on.

What do you do in the game?

Basically you collect cards (called allies) of different colours and values and cash them in according to specific requirements to buy Lords. The Lords are a big source of points, and some of them give you keys - you cash in 3 keys to buy a Location which also give you points.

There's some nuance around what cards you use to cash in, and when, that add some texture and extra scoring opportunities, and there's an (underpowered, in my opinion) monster track mechanism which is also an avenue for some points too.

The game ends when a player recruits a certain number of Lords, and the player with the highest score wins.

What does it do well?

It's all based around this idea of pushing your luck, and the trade off between giving yourself more options leading to more options for the other players, and that's a really interesting and well executed form of player interaction in the game. The other players also have right of first refusal (for a cost of pearls) on any card you reveal on your turn, so there's plenty of spice to be had and in some ways your turn doesn't start until all other players have declined what's on offer.

The core system of getting ally cards is great - both the revealing one at a time and eventually taking one from the market, or the alternative of taking all the allies of one colour that had previously been overlooked when they were in the market.

Buying the Lords and Locations is fun, with some combo-tastic scoring opportunities.

Plus, the art and theme are terrific.

Why not higher?

This game kind of got ruined by its Kraken expansion for me (which is saying something because I'm borderline obsessed with the concept of the Kraken). All the additions missed the mark for me and my group, and consequently tainted our feelings on the base game. I think maybe I'd prefer the Leviathan expansion, but its an expensive gamble I'm not willing to take.

Also the game really only shines at 3P. At 4P it takes too long between your turns, and set up is a little long for the experience it provides at only 2p (my wife and I would much prefer to play Lost Cities or Coloretto instead).

We also made the decision to house rule the monster token values, as they were an underwhelming part of the game, and feeling the need to house rule a game is never a nice feeling.

What would I play instead?

Don't mistake me, I'd still happily play Abyss if someone put it on the table, However, in my gaming group it has largely been superseded by Castle Combo and Vale of Eternity.

Where do I land on it?

7.5/10. Very good, but falls short of great, and unlikely to see many more plays in the future.