Clank! Catacombs review — Don’t wake the ghost dragon.

The world of Clank! is one that I arrived to late in the game, but since my first play, I have found something special in the game system. Maybe that is why it has spawned numerous expansions, two system re-implementations, and two legacy adventures! Clank! Catacombs is one of the latest iterations and has a ton going for it.

Clank! Catacombs is a deck building dungeon crawling adventure where adventurers explore the winding hallways beneath a graveyard in a search for treasure. Along the way, players will acquire new cards to help them navigate the dungeon while trying not to disturb the skeletal dragon protecting the paths and attempt to make it out without getting knocked out in the depths while scoring the most valuable treasures to secure victory.

At its heart, the Clank! system is a deck-building game with players purchasing new powerful cards to interact with the game. Symbols on the cards allow players to move from room to room, defeat enemies, and purchase new cards. As players explore the dungeon, they will make noise in the form of Clank! cubes. These cubes will be added to a bag and, at various points in the game, the dragon will attack, pulling a number of these cubes from the bag. Each cube will damage the matching player color. If a player gets too much damage, they are knocked out of the game.

Clank! Catacombs makes a number of changes to the Clank! System, the biggest of which are the modular tiles used to create the board. As players move down a path towards an empty area, they will draw a map tile from a stack. The players can then position the tile in any orientation adding it to the larger map. The stack of tiles starts with purple surface tiles on top, giving players a relatively safe place to explore at the beginning of the game. Once gone, the stack reveals dark blue depths tiles that hold most of the treasure in the game and a variety of new things to encounter.

Another new feature of the game are the lockpick tokens. The master key is no longer available in the game’s market, so to get through lock paths, players must use disposable lockpicks. Lockpicks can also be used to unlock Secret Tome cards worth big end game points, Major Secret tokens giving player in-game bonuses, and the brand new prisoner tiles. Prisoner tiles give players special favors in thanks for freeing them from their captivity. These favors include end game scoring bonuses, one time fighting and movement abilities, or some end game points. Also scattered throughout the tiles are teleportation points to allow players to move across the board and waypoint shrines earning players more money the more they activate. 

Some of the depth tiles are haunted, adding another layer to the dungeon’s Clank! bag. When a haunted tile is revealed, a special white cube is added to the cube supply. When drawn from the bag, every player will take one damage and the white cube will be added back to the supply to be placed in the bag again.

Each player can pick up one big artifact from the board. Starting with the lowest value, artifacts are added to the board as map tiles are flipped with indicated spaces for them. Some of these spaces indicate a more valuable artifact is added, giving players an opportunity to score big points without having to get too deep into the dungeon. As in other games, players can still pick up a second artifact by picking up a backpack token at the market.

Overall Thoughts

The artwork featured throughout the game uses the same style as previous iterations and gives the game a whimsical cartoonish feel. One of the best parts of each card are the flavor text options at the bottom that help pass the time between turns. The map tiles are vibrant and feature some fun twists and turns, although a fully fleshed out map can make you go a bit cross-eyed by the end of the game. The cardboard tokens featured throughout the game are of high quality. My big complaint with the game is the sheer amount of unique different tokens that makes organization and clean-up a nightmare. I had to go into my stash of little plastic baggies to keep things separated, but even then, it's one big jumble of components in the box and on the table.

I can overlook the component inconveniences due to the fact that this game is such a great time. The new elements add some interesting decisions into how the dungeon is explored. The new map tile exploration system improves upon the modular board system introduced in Clank! In Space allows each game to have a unique experience every time it hits the table. The lockpick mechanic is more versatile and offers more awards than getting to the market and picking up a key. The warp points located around the map keep players from getting too stuck in one corner without a way out.