Deep Regrets
A game about fishing progressively more horrifying things out of the ocean.
7“The artwork was what first drew me to Deep Regrets. After watching it on No Rolls Barred and seeing the Kickstarter video, I had to give it a try. The creativity in the game is fantastic and the whimsical art direction, the game has a charm that's difficult not to love.
At its heart, you're catching fish using pre-rolled dice that determine the strength of your available actions. Those dice can be spent to catch fish or dive deeper in search of rarer catches. With only a few dice each day, every decision feels meaningful.
Fish are surprisingly versatile too. You can eat them for one-off abilities, sell them to upgrade your fishing gear, or mount them as trophies for end-game points.
My favourite part, though, is the Madness track. It's where the game really embraces its wonderfully weird personality. Some "fish" you catch are actually strange, otherworldly creatures that increase your Regret and push you further into madness. Counterintuitively, that's often a good thing. More madness means more dice on future turns, which means more actions, more fish, and more opportunities. Of course, if you finish with the highest Regret, you'll lose one of your prized trophy fish. Watching 15 or 20 points disappear at the end of the game and seeing your wife win isn't really what I had planned.
I enjoyed the game and would happily play it again. My only criticism is that the gameplay loop can feel a little repetitive. Fish, return to port, fish again, return to port. There are decisions within that cycle, but after a while it can feel a touch linear.
That said, everyone around the table had a great time, and perhaps the biggest surprise was my wife taking the win. As someone who isn't a regular board gamer, she genuinely enjoyed it, which says a lot about how accessible the game is despite its quirky theme.
If you get the chance to play Deep Regrets, I'd absolutely recommend giving it a go.”
