Game Play Review - The Initiative

The Initiative is a game published by Unexpected Games. The game premise is that you are a group of teenagers in 1994 who find a mysterious box of clues at a yard sale. This game is played cooperatively over a series of 14 chapters. Players work to uncover clues and solve puzzles by strategizing their turns for maximum effectiveness. If you solve the current puzzle before time runs out, you win that chapter.

This post is broken into the following 3 sections, feel free to jump directly to one:

1. General summary - consisting of information about overall enjoyment, theme, replayability, and upgrades
2. Complexity - consisting of information about the rulebook, setup, player turns, and overall learning curve
3. Player turns - consisting of game type, game flow, rule you are likely to miss, and favorite aspect

Number of players we had: 3
Our play time (not including setup): 55 minutes

Overall enjoyment

Everyone in our group enjoyed playing this game. We find cooperative games slightly more engaging for players on the whole. In general, cooperative games have players working together to accomplish tasks and move the game forward which requires planning to get the most strategic use out of each player's characters. This game falls into that category.

Actual game play is fairly quick, what can take time is coordinating and figuring the best use of player abilities and turns. However, because this is done together, players are involved with each turn, meaning it feels like there is no lag between player turns.

One of the reasons we like this game is because it has several different elements to it. Each player has one of four actions they can take on their turn in addition to a character-specific ability. The actions taken are driven by the need to find enough clues to solve the unique chapter puzzle. The puzzle and strategy elements, along with being cooperative, make this game perfect for any group looking for something unique.

We have only played 3 chapters, but so far each puzzle has been completely different. This means you don't know exactly what you will be presented with when beginning a new chapter. I love puzzles and am typically pretty good at them, but I quickly realized I won't be great at all of these puzzles. This is where the help of your teammates comes in handy and everyone has an equal chance to contribute.

If I had to pick something that we found frustrating, it would be that I suspect once we play all 14 chapters, the game will be done. We have not played through yet so I cannot be sure, and I hope I am wrong. Of course it is also possible another version will be developed...which we can always hope for!

Theme

In addition to a very thick player board that will most definitely withstand the 14 chapters, there was a GREAT deal of effort put into the Guidebook. Without giving away any fun details, the Guidebook introduces and wraps up each chapter with storytelling using a comic book interface.

Replayability

This game has lots of fun aspects that increase its replayability. Because it is campaign driven, players get pulled into the story and often leave wondering what will happen next. This is partly driven by the storyline that wraps up each game. Both times we played we wanted to immediately play the next chapter.

Upgrades

There are no upgrades for this game that I am aware of.

Rulebook

I've already mentioned the Guidebook, which weaves a player story and provides direction on what missions to play in each chapter. The back of the Guidebook tracks your progress through the chapters, as well as directing you to any additional information provided after finishing the mission. This quick reference guide makes it easy to skip right to the correct section without accidentally accessing information before you should.

Additionally, there is a four-page rule sheet called The Key. This sheet covers how the actual game play works, how to set up each mission, and much more. It is very succinct, has images to help explain different items and is easy to understand and reference while playing if you have questions.

Setup

Game setup is fairly quick and easy, though we have yet to get into the more advanced missions. Setup takes around 10-15 minutes, but some of that time is dedicated to reading the opening story for your next mission and getting acquainted with your character. Whenever we are playing a cooperative game, even if we repeatedly use the same characters, we take a few minutes to share our unique player abilities as it can be easy to forget to utilize these.

Turns

Player turns are fairly simple with each player taking up to two actions. The four main actions are moving, revealing clues, collecting clues and regrouping. Players can also use their special character ability. Keep in mind, each type of action requires a number of cards. If you go through the cards too quickly, you may not have enough clues to solve the puzzle.

Since most of the actions players can take are the same, player turns can go quickly. However, since this is a cooperative game, it is often appropriate to stop and coordinate with other players about whose ability might be most useful or what actions should be taken in which order. While this does slightly slow down player turns, it does not lessen engagement as everyone is working together to play at their best in hopes of solving the puzzle.

Overall learning curve

Since players are working together, this is a great game to play with new players who are interested in more complex games. At the same time, a group of players who are used to next level board games should also remain engaged because they can simply strategize more quickly in working to solve the puzzles. The other great thing is that the puzzle styles vary and new rules are introduced over time.

Play type

The Initiative is a cooperative game for up to four players. It is a thematic game with a little bit of worker placement requiring decent strategy as that is what it takes to gather enough clues to complete the puzzle. Additionally, there are secrets you can uncover that lead to other clues, secrets, rules, and more.

Game flow

The flow of this game is mostly fluid, though there are times when you really have to strategize about your use of cards. Since the game is cooperative, all players are contributing most of the game. Ultimately, each player is watching the puzzle, paying attention to where clues are waiting to be picked up and deciding if they are ready to guess the puzzle.

Since each puzzle (so far for us) is different, there may be times when you do not need to collect all the clues. However, there will definitely be times you absolutely need all of them. Lastly, and without giving away how the puzzles differ so you can experience them yourself, changing them up allows different players to excel at different times which keeps the game engaging for all players.

At times this game can seem simpler than it is. In addition to strategy and puzzles, the game involves some luck. Player actions are based on cards that activate those actions. If players draw high cards early on, the game can be more challenging than if lower cards are drawn.

Rule you are likely to forget

During the second time playing through the deck, players can choose not to redraw cards to fill their hand back up as they must do during the first play through. This helps prevent pulling the time clock cards which signal game end. It can be easy to forget this rule as you are deep in game play by this time. Also, if you play multiple chapters in a single sitting, be sure you remember you cannot skip redrawing cards during the first time playing through the deck though you were probably doing this in the second play through of the previous game.

Favorite aspect

Our favorite aspect of this game is all the hidden things waiting to be found. There are puzzles to solve, secrets to find, hidden items to locate, and much more that I will not reveal here so I don't spoil any of the fun things this game has to offer. Also, we are big fans of cooperative and strategy games, of which this game falls into both.

One last note, we like that the game comes with a mission console that keeps puzzles hidden until solved. The console is easy to use, sturdy, and very effective for keeping the puzzle covered until clues have been successfully revealed.

The Initiative is a really fun hybrid style game that includes strategy, cooperative play, puzzles, secrets, hidden items and some cool game mechanics that are easy to learn and appropriate for any game group. Just keep in mind, while the game play is simple, it can be deceptively strategic!