Ars Cardboard reviews Oceans, North Star Games’ evolution-themed card game

Ars Cardboard, Ars Technica’s weekend tabletop column, reviewed Oceans, the latest card game from North Star Games.

The game shares concepts and mechanics with North Star’s earlier title Evolution: players assemble creatures from trait cards and release them into a shared ecosystem of swimmers, predators, scavengers, and other sea life where they must eat. That process can produce odd but plausible combinations—examples in the review include filter-feeding parasites and tentacled schools of transparent fish—and traits range from Speed and Apex Predator to novelty promo cards (the review notes one promo, “Scare The Crap Out Of Fourteen-Year-Old Dan,” is not available).

Reviewers say the central dynamic is an arms race of adaptation—defenses prompt counter-evolution with sleeker fins, sharper teeth, or ink-squirting abilities—and that while Oceans resembles Evolution, its differences become apparent almost immediately and, for the most part, make it a more confident and interesting game.

Key Topics

Culture, Oceans, North Star Games, Evolution, Board Game, Trait Cards