I gathered my friends around the table, snacks in hand and eyes wide with excitement, to put this one through its paces. If you’re hunting for a new game-night classic, you’re in the right place! This is my honest (and sometimes silly) review of Alienation. I’ll spill the beans on the good, the odd, and the laugh-out-loud moments, so you know if it’s worth making room on your shelf.
How It Plays
Setting up
First, hand every player their alien meeple. Put the board in the middle. Deal everyone a secret role card. Plop down the decks and tokens where everyone can reach (unless your table is like mine, covered in old snacks).
Gameplay
Take turns picking actions from a limited menu. You might collect resources, sabotage your friends, or bluff your way through tricky votes. The catch? No one’s sure who’s working for which alien agenda! Expect wild accusations and even wilder guesses. If you like seeing friends question your loyalty, you’ll have a blast.
Winning the game
When the danger meter fills, or too many objectives get completed, the game’s over. Everyone reveals their alien cards. If your side’s goals have been met, you win! If not… well, at least you got to accuse your best friend of being an undercover tentacle monster.
Want to know more? Read our extensive strategy guide for Alienation.
Alienation: Are the Game Mechanics Out of This World or Just Out of Whack?
I know what you’re thinking: another board game with an alien theme, how original! But before you beam up your wallet, let’s actually talk about why Alienation’s game mechanics matter. My group of friends has a history of flipping boards if a game feels unfair. (Shout-out to Dave, who once launched Settlers of Catan across the living room. He might need anger management, or just better board games.)
What separates Alienation from the hundreds of alien-themed games clogging my shelf is its mix of action selection and bluffing. Each round, you pick a secret action for your alien crew. Sometimes you’re sabotaging, sometimes you’re bluffing, and often you’re just hoping nobody notices you’ve hidden all the cookies. The best part? It keeps you guessing. You never quite know who will stab you in the back or bribe the Space Cops to save their hide.
Now, here’s the alien in the room: balance. The first playthrough, I got steamrolled because I picked the little blue alien who looked adorable but sucked at everything except running away. Meanwhile, Ted picked the hulking red alien with stats cranked to 11. Guess who won? (Not me. Never me.) After a few plays, though, we realized that if everyone played to their species’ strengths, things evened out a bit. Still, I wish there was a bit more tweaking, especially for new players who will definitely feel the pain early on. Luck sneaks in now and then—especially with random event cards—but not enough to make me throw the game out the airlock.
So, with mechanics and balance covered, hang onto your space helmets! Next, we’ll see if Alienation makes you want to play again and again, or if it’s a one-way ticket to boredom-galaxy.
Alienation: How Many Times Can You Play Before Your Friends Start Plotting Revenge?
Trust me, I’ve played enough board games to know that some just end up gathering dust faster than a doughnut disappears at a police convention. Alienation, however, keeps finding its way back onto our game table—sometimes even when I beg my friends to let me try something new. The replay value of Alienation is surprisingly high. Each match feels like a different alien abduction gone wrong, mostly because the game lets players trick and betray each other round after round. This never gets old, unless you’re the one getting tricked. (I’m looking at you, Dave. Still not over last Saturday!)
What keeps things fresh is the modular board setup and randomized objectives. You never quite know where those pesky escape pods will pop up, or if you’ll be the flavor of the week for the invading aliens. The player roles rotate, which means even if you’re terrible at being an alien (guilty), you get another go and a chance to redeem yourself. I’ve had games where I was sure I’d win, only for my friend Sam to pull a last-minute switcheroo and send me flying off the board. Alienation really rewards clever play, and it gives lots of opportunities to try new sneaky strategies each game night.
As for game length, Alienation is a bit of a sweet spot. Most games we played clocked in at about 45 minutes to an hour. It’s fast enough that nobody’s phone comes out, but long enough that you feel like you’ve had a full experience. Plus, because you can play again right after, we often squeeze in two or three rounds. Next up: I’ll spill the cosmic beans on Alienation’s artwork and whether the components are out-of-this-world… or just spacedust.
Artwork and Component Quality in Alienation: Out of This World or Lost in Space?
Let’s talk about the bits and bobs. Every board game lives or dies in your hands—the cards, the tokens, the meeples (or, in Alienation’s case, weird little aliens that look like they want to steal your snacks). When I unboxed Alienation, I could have sworn I heard a sci-fi hum in the background. The box art is flashy and absolutely reeks of retro-futuristic charm. I wanted to put it on my shelf, on my wall, and maybe even on a T-shirt. I have no art skills, but I know fun when I see it.
The component quality? Pretty darn good! The alien pieces are chunky and colorful, and if you have pets or kids, you’ll find them all over your house after game night—trust me, I speak from painful barefoot experience. The cards feel nice in the hand, with a finish somewhere between ‘slippery bar of soap’ and ‘grippy pizza box’. They shuffle well, but don’t bend easily. If you’re a chronic card bender (you know who you are), these will survive a few accidental twists.
I have just one small grumble: the rulebook font is a bit tiny. Maybe my eyes are just getting old, or maybe I spent too much time staring lovingly at the alien tokens. Either way, grab your reading glasses if you’re not a hawk.
In the end, everything in Alienation looks and feels like it belongs in a neon-lit, interstellar arcade. Next, I’ll blast off into how the theme pulls you in and if you’ll start dreaming in alien languages. Stay tuned!
Alienation: Out of This World Theme Integration and Player Immersion
I’ve played a few sci-fi games where I feel about as alien as a potted plant. Luckily, Alienation doesn’t phone in its theme. The second you set the board and see those holographic aliens staring back at you, you know you’re not in Kansas (or plain old board game night) anymore. The rulebook oozes with personality, and every player board and card is dripping with the kind of strange cosmic jargon that makes you want to put on a tinfoil hat and talk in beeps.
The game doesn’t just throw some tentacular monsters onto playing cards and call it a day. Every mechanic—from secret agenda cards to the weird little gadgets you grab along the way—fits the whole alien infiltration thing like a well-gloved tentacle. My buddy Sujay actually started talking in a robotic voice halfway through; that’s the level of immersion we’re dealing with here.
One thing that got us hooked was the way it encourages you to act like a sneaky, paranoid visitor from another world. The bluffing and second-guessing make you question everyone at the table—even your grandma, who just wants to collect space crystals. The game rarely breaks its own illusion, except when you’re arguing if that blue cube is a communication device or just a piece of leftover candy.
Do I recommend Alienation if you want to be lost in an extraterrestrial headspace? Heck yes. Alienation nails its theme so well, I almost checked my own skin for scales after playing.
Conclusion
Well, that wraps up my review of Alienation. After playing it with my friends (and surviving the bickering and, yes, a suspicious amount of snacks), I can say it’s a blast if you love fast-paced games with a bit of bluffing and strategy. The art is out of this world—shame about the tiny font though! Most of the time, things feel pretty balanced, but if you hate when luck messes with your plans, you might want to look elsewhere. But for most game nights, this one gets the table laughing and arguing in the best way. Give it a try if you want some alien chaos at your next meetup! Until next review, may your meeples stay safe (unlike ours… RIP Steve the Martian).
