This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames.
Game: Star Wars: Outer Rim
Designer: Corey Konieczka & Tony Fanchi
Year: 2019
Country: U.S.A.
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Outer Rim is the Star Wars Arkham Horror. Or not really, because design-wise they’re quite different. Arkham Horror is a classic co-operative boardgame whereas Outer Rim is player-vs-player, with many opportunities to cause trouble for your opponents. In Arkham Horror, you seek to save the town from eldrich entities while in Outer Rim you’re looking out for no. 1, building a rep for yourself as a smuggler, bounty hunter or mercenary.
Yet there is one extremely important similarity between the two games, which is that they both allow for the exploration of a world. In Arkham Horror and Outer Rim both, you can go to locations to check them out. You draw encounter cards with little snippets of narrative. Each player controls a character moving around the map, from place to place. Because of this, Outer Rim creates a delightful feeling of being inside the Star Wars universe. Specifically, the most sordid, questionable side of it.
There’s not a jedi in sight, for Outer Rim is all about the scum and villainy. It inhabits this part of the Star Wars universe with great style, allowing just enough backstabbing between players to serve the vibe without making it really genuinely cutthroat.
You start the game with a character (such as Boba Fett), a beginner-level ship and a job or a bounty. Completing bounties, jobs and other tasks brings in credits and important reputation points, which allow you to win. During the game, you can gain crew members, switch to a better ship, fulfill character and ship based goals, and improve your character with equipment. Luck plays a major part in your fortunes but it feels like there is a lot of choice as what to do next.
Like a lot of Fantasy Flight Games releases, Outer Rim is messy, yet a lot of fun.