The Night Cage, by Smirk and Dagger, a Spooky Cooperative Strategy game, 1-5 Players lost in a Dark Maze with only a Candle, Fun Horror Themed Tile Laying and Perfect for Game Night, Adults, Teens 14+

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A mechanic I rarely see used well is visual distance. It’s often ruined by the meta “I can see it, so my character should be able to, too!”. It detaches you from the experience and forces you to realise you’re a group sat around a table. And detachment is terrible. The Night Cage does not suffer from detachment, as you cannot see beyond any players’ vision. You’re as lost as the prisoners you embody. And that’s both terrifying and outstanding.

The Night Cageis a fully co-operative, horror-themed tile-placement game that traps 1-5 lost souls within an unnatural labyrinth of eternal darkness. To win, players must each collect a key, find a gate, and escape as a group. In this tile-laying horror game, up to 5 players take charge of characters trapped in a mysterious labyrinth. The players must place each new tile carefully to avoid the monsters lurking just out of sight, gather the required Keys, and collectively reach the Gate to win. Night Moves A game of The Night Cage begins with each of the 4 Prisoners, indicated by variously colored candle meeples, placed anywhere on the game’s 6×6 board. (Note that the 5-player game has 5 characters and uses a larger 7×7 board.) Each character is armed only with a candle. This candle enables them to see their current tile as well as each orthogonally adjacent tile. The first few tiles placed in this way will be, broadly, safe — but that won’t be the case forever. Players may place their starting tiles anywhere on the board they like, then add tiles based on their visibility.

The Night Cage

That all changes when a player goes Lights Out. There’s a fair amount of randomness in The Night Cage, so players instinctively cling to what little control and foresight they have. To lose even that is to truly fall victim to the fear. In those moments, The Night Cage delivers on its central promise. The benighted character is suddenly and completely at the mercy of the next tile, forcing the entire table to rally around them lest they stagger into some fresh horror that will sink the team’s effort. Few plays are as satisfying — mechanically, narratively, and subjectively — as when one player braves crumbling pathways and lurking monsters to race across the board and rescue their terrified companion. It’s even better when that action fails, doomed from the start by unseen creatures or an untraversable wall. Equipped with nothing but dim candles, you must work together to explore the maze and escape. Distressingly, the weak Rules PDF https://364df235-af4b-4f4a-919f-d6c5b42b7d49.filesusr.com/ugd/693f33_8e545b550de644caa9ef64eb335c4aed.pdf

It’s all produced with care and verve, from the board where you put discarded tiles (which helps you see how many you’ve used up and whether the game is still winnable) down to the massive monster tile that features in the advanced version of the game, where multiple sections of floor drop away to reveal a vast abomination. The Night Cage is a cooperative, tile placement game that traps 1 to 4 lost souls within an otherworldly labyrinth of eternal darkness. Each prisoner has nothing but a candle to aid them in their escape. But its weak light can onlycandlelight only illuminates your immediate surroundings. Worse still, you’re beginning to suspect something else is