You'd think the guys in charge of naming starships would know better. Naming a starship Pandora Celeste was surely asking for trouble, summoning, as it does, images of the Greek myth of Pandora's Box and the 19th Century mystery of the Mary Celeste. Mike Ibeji's design tho' reveals method to this madness: the USP for Pandora Celeste is the way the box folds out to create the compartmented insides of your space ship and the playing board for the game. A Pandora's Box indeed! A Mary Celeste-like mystery is then offered by the game itself.
Pandora Celeste is a semi-cooperative space-themed game that is very strongly inspired by classic science fiction movies, and most especially Alien. Up to six players control up to six characters, each of whom represents a classic sci-fi movie archetype, including an android who is likely to be following a 'company' objective rather than one that is in the best interests of all the other players... The different characters each have their own deck of cards and it is these cards that determine the character's actions. They are asymmetric in that the various characters have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Tho' Guntower Games haven't tied Pandora Celeste to a specific IP, movie buffs will recognise the characters and you'll almost certainly slip into role to make this a tabletop role-playing game.
The game comes with various scenarios but you can expect to have to negotiate a path through the ship, searching out the tools you will need to accomplish tasks like getting past locked doors. Whichever scenario you play, expect things to hot up as you progress, with compounding dilemmas that make for a tense exciting game that forces players to make tough decisions. You'll of course be facing (or hiding from) shipboard monsters. Oh, and the ship's computer is about as helpful as HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. To cap it all, players each have their own secret agendas that may not always be mutually compatible...
Ridley Scott's Alien movie has already spawned a number of licensed board games, including Alien: Fate of the Nostromo (Ravensburger), alongside several unofficial board games such as Lifeform (Hall or Nothing) and Nemesis (Awaken Realms). This game has obvious similarities with those earlier Alien clones but it has its own distinctive charm, including better use of those ever-present crawlspace conduits. Crucially, this game's clever foldout box design makes it a cinch to set up. With Pandora Celeste you can be up and running before anyone can hear you scream.
With art by Rick Bastos, James Dunn and Kristian Fosh, Pandora Celeste is due to launch on Gamefound on 9 July. There'll be options to back a basic version with cardboard standees or a deluxe version with acrylic standees and more content. And for those who want minis, those will be available as an optional extra. We'll add a link to the campaign when it goes live.