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Four years in the making, Oceans is the next stand-alone game in the award-winning Evolution series.
Theme Enter a vast, underwater cosmos: a mysteriously interconnected world of sharp teeth, glowing eyes, and black ink, where your survival depends on your ability to adapt to the unknown. The foundation of the oceanic food chain is billions of one-celled organisms called phytoplankton that capture the sun's energy through photosynthesis. The next level is species that feast on the sea's abundant plant life — zooplankton. All of this takes place in Catherine Hamilton's beautifully illustrated central board called the Reef. Every other oceanic species is a predator, each bigger than the next, all the way up to the dreaded apex predator. And even bigger than apex predators are enormous filter feeders that gently swim through the ocean scooping up everything in their path with their baleen.
Gameplay Oceans is a continuation of North Star's quest to make a gamers' game that is easy to teach. Game designers Nick Bentley and Dominic Crapuchettes don't think people need to sit through 30+ minutes of rules explanations to get an immersive experience.
The foundation of Oceans is a simple turn structure and a deck of 10 straightforward traits, making it easy to learn all of the cards and wade effortlessly into the first game. The 10 traits were chosen because of the rich thematic interconnections, providing a tapestry of synergistic card play. Additionally, there are 4 randomly chosen scenario cards that activate (and sometimes deactivate) at various points during the game. The scenario cards impact the basic tenets of gameplay, encouraging people to vary their play style and strategy each game.
This foundation loosely mimics a scientific oceanic ecosystem, similar to what you've come to expect from games in the Evolution series. This is the core of Oceans and it's fully playable on its own. But there's more if you are willing to dive a bit deeper...
Oceans also includes something which will break the seams of the scientific reality you've come to accept: The Deep. The Deep is a deck of 100 unique power cards that require an additional cost to play. These power cards range from things you might find in nature to the fantastical Kraken or Leviathan.
Oceans is an engine builder where the world of science is disrupted at the seams by the world of fantasy. Players must adapt to the changing environment with an interconnected ecosystem that can survive and thrive against the inevitable march of time and the natural struggle of predators seeking to survive.