Analyzing the Mechanics in Deep Vents

In the game, Deep Vents players take turns building oceanic environments one tile at a time. During the game, they trade in a currency called archaea for damage, actions, and points. Once nine turns have ended, the game is over, and the players count up their points based on how much archaea, shells, and the damage they have taken. The player with the most points wins.

Deep Vents was a fascinating board game experience. While I liked the premise of strategizing a layout and attacking other players, I did not care for the execution. The game was engaging when it was your turn, and you got to plan everything out, but you spend most of the game just waiting for other people to finish their turns.

The pacing just felt slow, it could have been much more engaging during your turn and others. Speeding up the turns, and making all the tile procedures quicker and easier to understand would immediately make it more enjoyable. All the other aspects of the game were pretty unique and likable. The game designers really made the resources matter. Archaea were precious in-game. The procedures were a bit too intense though, there were just too many to keep up with. That made it hard to have smooth, uninterrupted gameplay. Even when something awful happened that ruined someone's chances of winning, no one really felt like anything happened. There was no fanfare or tension, just more boredom as the rest of the game dragged on. We all had to keep pausing our turns to make sure we were doing things correctly. The rules of the game were simple enough, and they all made sense to me. Additional rules could have made things more interesting. The spaces that were available to the players all made sense, but I feel like more interactions between the player's boards could have been fun. Adding more of a competitive, stressful mood could have spiced things up. More chances could have been good too. The only real example of chance in Deep Vents was the random assortment of tiles you could pick from. Adding skill checks, events, and randomized obstacles for the player would have made the player more likely to stay alert even when it was not their turn. The skill required by the player to plan things out and think ahead was one of my favorite features. I enjoy strategy games, and Deep Vents actually did a great job of this.