SETI: Space Agencies review

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence you and up to 3 other people play as competing SETI agencies, trying to be the most successful agency in finding that elusive Extraterrestrial Intelligence. You will launch probes to land on distant planets and decipher mysterious data recovered from the stars as part of this search. The base game was already one of 2024’s most popular Eurogames, so what can an expansion do to make a great game even better?

SETI: Space Agencies includes three new aliens to mix into the base game, bringing the total number of aliens you may find up to eight. As well as a new module for solo play, and 42 new Project cards plus 11 Agencies and 21 quick start cards.

I encourage you to discover the aliens for yourself, so if you wish to keep them a surprise skip this next section. The three new aliens are the Glyphids, the Arkhos, and the Amoeba. When you discover the Glyphids you will put out colored glyphs onto the board that you can earn and then translate them to gain a benefit, like money or energy, this is a fun way to keep even those who weren't part of the initial discovery of the aliens in the game translating the glyphs. At the end of the game the glyphs also work as a set collection goal, there are seven types of glyphs and you can gain up to twenty points if you have the full set. The Arkhos show up in a huge ship that you get to explore. At first you only get to explore the exterior hull of the ship, but you can choose to use signs of life you discover to decode their security and get access to deeper sections of the ship. This trades an immediate minor reward for the chance at bigger points and rewards later and makes for some fun choices to make. The final alien, the Amoeba, has a rotating track of rewards that changes every time someone claims a spot on their board. This can lead to some times where Amoeba spot you could claim will give a sizeable reward. Overall the three new aliens are great additions to the game however I do feel that the Amoeba are the weakest of the new set. It is very hard to plan and take advantage of where the rewards are for the Amoeba, making getting a strong reward from them more luck based than careful planning.

The 42 new Project cards are just more variety to add to the game, you will shuffle those into the main deck and never think about them again. The main mechanism they bring is a new type of resource called Signal Tokens, which allow you to scan additional sectors when performing a scan action. I feel that these were included because they were expected, the signal tokens do not add that much to the game and honestly there are already so many cards in the main Project deck that adding 42 more just makes them harder to shuffle.

The star of the show is the new Space Agencies and the quick start cards. When starting a new game of SETI, you can now choose between a normal five-round game or a four-round game using the Space Agencies. During the new setup, you will deal two Agencies and three quick start cards along with the normal cards from the project deck. The quick start cards simulate changes that may have happened to the board in the first round that you are now skipping, such as putting probes into space, granting upgrades, or even finding one of the elusive signs of life. Each Agency also has a unique startup and two asymmetrical powers that players can use on their turns. These powers, while not game-breaking, make each player feel like they have a leg up on the opponent. Maybe I can upgrade tech for less resources, but you can get more data every time you scan the skies. Playing only four rounds also shortens the game a bit; from my experience, you can expect up to an hour less needed to play a game. This addition to the game is what really makes this expansion from a good to have to a must play if you like SETI. The ways the Agency cards change the game are subtle but very interesting, every player now has a starting strategy that they can capitalize on. And while I was originally skeptical of skipping the first round it actually works very well, the new first round feels like you're making more meaningful decisions and taking more actions compared to what felt more like a long setup round in the original game.

As for the solo module, it is more of a way to balance the solo game with the new Agency cards. When you start a new solo game, you can use the Agency cards, but that would make the gamer much more powerful than the automa. The new module adds persistent goals, three goals that each have to be beaten three times. One you will need to tuck a card three separate times over the course of the game, while another wants you to get tech upgrades. You can cross off a goal for each color of upgrade you get. At the end of the round, the automa gets a boost for every goal the gamer still needs to complete. This will allow you to play with the Agency cards but I still feel the solo mode is not a great way to play the game. While SETI doesn't have the most player interaction, removing it entirely makes the game less enjoyable.

At the end of the day, this expansion is all about variety, and more variety for a favorite game is never a bad thing. New aliens to mix in with the originals, new projects and powers to expand your turns, and a new way to play the game with variable powers and startups. It does not change any problems you may have had with the base game. There is still a large luck factor in the cards you draw, and the aliens may still be geared towards strategies you have not been using.

Having now played multiple games with the expansion, I do not see a world where I would choose to play the game without it. SETI is a great game, and the Space Agencies expansion makes it a better game.