Last modified August 6, 2025 by Jarjar

For this article, I chose to tell you about an excellent game released in 2014, a game that has become a classic here with the nephews. We play it several times a year when we are lucky enough to have two hours together, and that since they were very young, which makes it one of the most played games in my collection, the box can testify to that! And it is two really fun hours, full of twists and turns, screams and where the phrase "turn, turn, turn" is heard several times. It generates a lot of discussions ... sometimes very intense =) We often get annoyed with the results and statistics of our games! I really wanted to take the time to highlight it and give it a place on this blog, to pay tribute to it in a certain way, because it made us experience very special moments, it represents well why the board game takes an important place in my life!

I'm talking about the excellent game Abyss, created by Bruno Cathala and Charles Chevallier, illustrated by the talented Xavier Collette and published by Bombyx. It stands out for its dark and mysterious aquatic universe, a unique card collection mechanic and a very striking artistic direction!

As a background, I offer you music from the famous film The Abyss by James Cameron, which tells the story of a team of SEALs and drillers discovering an intelligent extraterrestrial life form in the ocean depths, during a mission to rescue a nuclear submarine.

Game Overview
You are a deep-sea nobleman seeking to establish yourself within the Council and rule the Abyss Kingdom. The goal is to score the most influence points (victory points) by recruiting Lords, controlling Locations, and collecting Allies.
Players take one of three actions on their turn, until the end of the game is triggered:
1) Explore the depths to obtain Allies and pearls (it is possible to encounter monsters there and choose to collect the rewards on the threat track instead).
2) recover Allies discarded during previous explorations
3) recruit Lords by spending Allies and pearls.
The first action is particularly interesting because it creates opportunities even when it is not their turn to play, since other players can buy the revealed ally with pearls.
Abyss features beautiful illustrations depicting fantastical sea creatures in a rather unique art style that greatly contributes to the immersion.

GAME FACTS
>> Illustrator Xavier Collette was given carte blanche to create a unique visual universe. He even published a very good bilingual art book about the game in 2015.

>> Abyss came out with 5 different covers, each depicting an abyssal lord (Kraken, Medusa, Fish King, etc.). Fans started collecting them all… even though the contents are exactly the same inside!

>> An award-winning game upon its release, Abyss was nominated for several prestigious awards in 2014-2015, including the Origins Awards and the As d'Or, and won the Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork & Presentation.

My analysis
The heart of Abyss is based on several interconnected mechanics. Exploring the Depths is the central element: it allows you to recruit Ally cards, each belonging to one of the five guilds (Crabs, Seahorses, Shells, Jellyfish and Octopuses) and/or allows the active player to obtain pearls. The active player reveals Ally cards (or monsters) one by one, offering other players the opportunity to acquire them in exchange for pearls. The active player can or cannot go to the end of the track in the hope of obtaining a stronger ally. This mechanic creates an interesting tension between safety and ambition and keeps players engaged almost at all times. When it is a player's turn, who is considering which of the 3 actions to take, the cousins ​​try to influence the choice by shouting "turn, turn, turn", and sometimes, it seems to have an effect =)

Resource management is particularly refined, represented by pearls in this game. Good management is crucial, as these are both limited and highly sought after: they serve as both currency and a recruitment requirement, which creates constant dilemmas regarding their optimal use. It is therefore important to choose carefully when to spend them and on which Allies or Lords to invest them, as poor management can deprive important opportunities to score influence points.

Recruiting Lords is the ultimate goal of the game. In fact, the game ends as soon as a player has recruited seven! These Lords require specific combinations of Allies to be recruited (which can be completed with pearls), earn a significant number of victory points, and offer often powerful permanent powers. With 3 keys (visible on some Lords), you can search for a location, which can also provide several points. Timing and specialization are essential! You must constantly keep an eye on your opponents' actions and adapt to their decisions.

Abyss is highly regarded here for its strategic richness while having relatively accessible rules. Even after several months without having played it, it's easy to get back into the game without having to reread the rules. You have to juggle several objectives: efficiently collect pearls, optimize the recruitment of Allies, recruit the right Lords who will serve you best, manage your hand of cards (Allies), and anticipate your opponents' moves. The number of Lords available offers good replayability, and each game is unique. It's a delight in its gameplay and visuals! It's exactly the kind of game I wish I had invented!

EXPANSIONS

There are 3 expansions that, in my opinion, are essential to get the full flavor of the game. Yes, they add rules, but they blend very well into the game, while bringing its gameplay to the maximum, without making the games too long.

EXPANSION #1 – KRAKEN (2015)

This first expansion brings more interaction, with important new features that enrich the base game!
The Nebulis
They introduce a corruption mechanism. You can choose to corrupt yourself to access new powers and new allies, but you will pay the price at the end of the game. If you remain honest, your opponents will not hesitate to sell their Nebulis during transactions (only if they only have Nebulis left will they be able to pay you this way, which is often unfortunate because it is not what you really want to achieve!).
New places
New locations allow you to visit ancient shipwrecks with valuable loot that can earn you lots of points if you're lucky! This is a very fun addition where you'll have more opportunities to flirt with risk.
New Sentinel Lords
New Sentinel Lords that allow you to reserve inaccessible but coveted cards.

EXPANSION #2 – LEVIATHAN (2018)
This expansion replaces the base game's threat track with a Frontier board that allows for a new way to explore, more fun but riskier. During exploration, if you reveal a Monster card, you can fight a Leviathan present on the track (and their illustrations are truly magnificent, a notch higher still!) or continue your exploration, in which case a new Leviathan will appear in a randomly determined area of ​​this track. To fight these creatures, you must gather the requested Allies and try to defeat the behemoth, which has 1 to 3 numerical levels that must be equaled and exceeded during a die roll. This adds even more heartbreaking decisions and choices to plan carefully!

This expansion now allows for 2 to 5 players. I've never tried the 5-player experience.

EXPANSION #3 – DE PROFUNDIS (2024)
This expansion, released to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary, includes only 10 new cards representing Lords who were once stripped of their status and banished for eternity. These characters now return determined to reclaim their possessions and power in the underwater kingdom of Abyss. These 10 new Lords allow you to steal locations from your opponents, including locations with loot, however popular they may be, thus creating new strategic possibilities and more direct interactions between players. This is a way to counter the lucky ones who have found high-paying loot, something that wasn't possible before this expansion!

In 2024, a superb playmat was released, including spaces for expansions! It's truly magnificent and really captures the atmosphere of the game!

A duo version is coming this year (2025) called legions.

TECHNICAL SHEET
Number of games played: 30+ (3-4 players)
Best player configuration: 4 players
Price paid: CAD 53
Level: experienced player, medium weight (BGG Complexity: 2.32/5)
My best score: 98

MY IMPRESSIONS
  I loved :
>> Accessibility and Depth: The game strikes a perfect balance between ease of access and strategic depth. There are only three basic actions, but a multitude of tactical choices are available to players.
>> Remarkable visual presentation: Although the atmosphere is very dark, the aesthetic is striking. Leviathan's illustrations are particularly impressive!
>> Fast-paced: The game keeps players engaged from start to finish, with very little downtime between rounds.
>> The exploration phase keeps players constantly engaged: other players can help themselves first, provided they pay pearls, which creates constant tension.
>> Excellent replayability: The variety of available lords guarantees a long lifespan for the game.

UPDATE AUGUST 6, 2025
Following the publication of this article, Yann Droumaguet of Bombyx gave me a great gift by sending me a replacement box as well as the book Abyss: The Empty Throne by Fabien Clavel. Really very nice of him! 😊 I also received a second box from Marc Beaudoin d'ILO !! A big thank you to both of you! I will be raffling off the second box on the Jeux de Société Québec Facebook group soon.

Abyss is a remarkable achievement among mid-level strategy games. It manages to create a rich and engaging experience without becoming overly complex. Its strength lies in the balance it strikes between refined mechanics, an immersive world, and a particularly polished aesthetic.

FUN FACTOR 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂