Ever since Blood On The Clocktower hit the mainstream, hidden role games have been on the ascendance. At one point this year my “to review” pile had four different group deception games in it! Even so, Feed The Kraken stands out amongst the crowd.

The premise of the game is ship navigation; you are the crew of a 17th century vessel, sailing towards one of three possible destinations; Bluewater Bay, the home of noble Sailors; Crimson Cove, a rascally Pirate hideout; and the Kraken, where a Cult waits to sacrifice the ship to an aquatic monster. Each player gets a blue token for Sailor, red for Pirate or yellow for Cult member, with routes on the sea hexes matching these colours and - as with all hidden role games - you have no idea as to what faction your fellow ship-mates belong to.

Each turn a route card is chosen that leads the ship towards one of the locations. There are three players involved in choosing a card, and all other players can mutiny if they fancy a change of management. So mechanically it's quite simple, except that in this genre the real mechanic is actually in arguing passionately that “OF COURSE KATHERINE IS A PIRATE, JUST LOOK AT HER HORRIBLE LYING FACE! DON’T YOU DARE MAKE HER NAVIGATOR!!!”

People, opinions and bare-faced lies are the special sauce here and at this Feed The Kraken excels. As the Captain hand-picks their Navigator and Lieutenant, and all take part in selecting the next route card, the choices of who not to trust layer on top of each other. The other way that Feed the Kraken stands out is in placing your group’s ship on a map. It stands as a visible reminder of which faction has the upper hand, and puts each turn into the context of a wider arc of betrayal. Too many hidden role experiences rely on things being almost completely in the mind, whether in Werewolf’s taps on the shoulder or Coup’s face-down cards. Physical representation helps to ground the experience (and the arguments) in something tangible.

The high-end production quality is worth a mention here - even the basic version has a chunky ship which provides a comforting solidity to each move you make. The cards are large with a tasty linen finish. There’s even a ridiculous, plastic-drenched Kickstarter edition, though personally I'd stick with the normal version.

Now, it’s not a perfect game. As is often the case with this type of game, Feed The Kraken really shines at higher player counts, ideally seven or more, to give enough clout to each faction, but even with five players it’s still fun and runs at a very manageable play time of 45-60 minutes at any number. There’s a range of Character Cards to differentiate players a little more with one off bonuses, but most of these are only minimally useful; I don’t think the game would really be any different without them. The mutiny mechanic is also maybe a little too distributed to really get a proper handle on. This is by design; everyone makes a blind vote with little wooden gun tokens, so you never know how much everyone else is spending until it’s revealed. This is fun in that it prevents tactical voting - or allows it with the addition of lies - but it also can disassociate one from the action somewhat.

Overall though, Feed The Kraken creates an opportunity to be thoroughly deceitful to your friends, provides an excuse to talk in terrible pirate voices and with its tight running time pitches at the perfect length to remain enticing without ever outstaying its welcome.

Game Design: Maikel Cheney, Dr. Hans Joachim Höh, Tobias Immich
Published by Funtails

This feature originally appeared in Wyrd Science Vol.1, Issue 5 (Dec '23)

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