Matthew BaileyToday’s game is “Accomplices,” played by myself and Jack(.8.). We decided to squeeze in a game as Toby wasn’t feeling great and went to bed early.
“Accomplices” is a two-player cooperative, maze-based hidden movement game that reminds me quite a bit of “Dungeon Scrawlers” which we have reviewed in the past, which I was particularly fond of.
The key twist here is that you work as a team, with one person in control of the pen, essentially moving throughout the bank vault as you try to steal money, and the other player acting as the guide. The unique aspect comes in that the lasers on the board are either red or blue, and since one player wears red glasses and the other wears blue glasses, each can only see 50% of the lasers. Pointing is not allowed, so you have to confer and discuss how you’re going to navigate your way through the maze in real time.
Each piece of treasure received is worth one point, but hitting a laser deducts one point. The game ends if the players have enough points to fill their hideout after four rounds.
Similar to “Dungeon Scrawlers”, you get a selection of rooms and bank vaults with an ever-increasingly difficult set of mazes. It’s a fun little game that would definitely work well as a bit of family fun at Christmas. However, whether or not it has long-term replayability is a bit more questionable.
Regarding design choices, the ability to scout the maze first during a designated period is allowed. Jack found that, especially with the early mazes, we could confidently remember, at least for the first half of the maze, exactly where to go. Very often, the other half of the maze was almost a mirror image. I would have preferred to see more actual mazes, again akin to dungeon crawlers, rather than the symmetrical patterns of lasers that are mostly prevalent here.
The component quality is good, and the glasses come with elastic, which I found very difficult to use while wearing glasses. I would have preferred a more standard over-the-ear type design.
Overall, “Accomplices” (known as “Complicies” or “2gether” in other territories) is a fun two-player game that I could see playing a couple of times, but it might not have a long-term appeal. I think with a few more rules and maybe a legacy element, this could have been something very special, and I hope that if they produce a sequel, they take some of that feedback on board.
“Accomplices” was provided free of charge from Hachette Games as part of a donation to the school where I work, with the understanding that I would review it here.
