a day ago
Kickstarter Tabletop Alert: ‘Deep Regrets'
Can you keep your sanity while fishing up increasingly strange things from the ocean? What Is Deep Regrets ?
Deep Regrets is a strategic, horror-themed fishing game for 1-5 players, ages 16 and up, and takes about 30-150 minutes to play. The base game, along with the new expansion, Even Deeper Regrets, is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, with a pledge level of 65 British pounds sterling, or approximately $87 USD, for an all-in copy of Deep Regrets, the new expansion Even Deeper Regrets, and the mini expansion Lamentable Tentacles. Deep Regrets fulfilled from its initial Kickstarter campaign earlier this Spring, and backing this current campaign is the only way right now to get a copy of the base game. The Even Deeper Regrets campaign will run through July 17th, 2025.
While I did not receive a copy of Even Deeper Regrets to review, Tettix Games did send along the original base game, Deep Regrets, for me to take a look at.
Deep Regrets was designed by Judson Cowan and published by Tettix Games, with illustrations by Judson Cowan.
New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer. Everything that comes in the box. Image by Paul Benson. Deep Regrets Components
The game box contains the following: Omen Die
First Player marker
Life Preserver
5 Madness Cubes
Fishcoin
Day Tracker
5 Fishbuck Trackers
5 Boat Meeples
Port Board
Sea Board
Two-sided Madness Tracker / Ocean Survey Board
5 Two-sided Angler Boards
Ocean Survey Pad
15 Player Dice
24 Tackle Dice
Dice Bag
60 Regret Cards
25 Dink Cards
10 Reel Cards
20 Supply Cards
117 Fish Cards
10 Starting Provision Cards
10 Reference Cards
I was sent a copy of the Kickstarter version of the game, and before even opening the box, the theme can be seen in full effect. The main difference between the Kickstarter and retail versions of Deep Regrets, is that the Kickstarter version comes wrapped in newspaper, much as fish sellers used to wrap their wares. It's not actual newspaper, of course, but rather a thick paper printed to resemble an old-time newspaper. Your fresh game catch of the day. Image by Paul Benson.
Underneath the wrapping paper is the still-thematic game box. The box size is fairly compact, and will fit easily on a shelf. The Deep Regrets box. Image by Paul Benson.
Game designer Judson Cowan did all the artwork for the game as well, and his artistic skill is on display throughout the components. This is immediately apparent not just on the outside of the box, but also on the inside of the lid. The inside of the box gives you an idea of what you're in for with the game. Image by Paul Benson.
I'm quite a fan of Judson's art style, with its tongue-in-cheek portrayal of sea life that's unusual, to say the least. His artwork infuses the high-quality components throughout. As a matter of fact, I don't generally show pictures of the rulebook, but I think it's worth it in this instance: The well-organized rulebook. Image by Paul Benson.
Here's the Sea Board, where you will spend your actions out at sea on. There are three different depths that you will fish from, depending on how you've positioned your boat. The Sea Board. Image by Paul Benson.
Instead of fishing out at sea, you can return to Port, where you can sell or mount fish, and acquire more dice or equipment. Available actions, and their respective costs, are conveniently found on the board. You will also use the top of the board to track the rounds of the game. The Port Board. Image by Paul Benson.
While we're looking at boards, let's take a look at the one dual-layer board in the game, the Madness Tracker board. This board has room for all of the players' madness cubes, and shows all the effects that take place depending on a player's level of madness. Madness is determined by the number of Regrets that a player accumulates (hence the title!) The Madness Tracker side of the board. Image by Paul Benson.
The Madness Tracker board is double-sided as well, with the reverse side used for the solo/cooperative game.
Each player will take one of the 5 double-sided Angler Boards. These boards are solely for the player color and for personal flavor, and otherwise function identically. One side of the Angler Boards. Image by Paul Benson.
If you're a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, you may choose to use the reverse side of your Angler Board. You might even start out 'normal,' and flip your board over as your character descends into madness: Those days out at sea can change you…literally! Image by Paul Benson.
Many of the player components are screen-printed wood. Each player will have both a Boat Meeple and Madness Tracker in their player color: Boat Meeples and Madness Cubes. Image by Paul Benson.
Each player has 3 Player Dice in their color. There are also Tackle Dice which you can purchase (though you randomly draw them), and an Omen Die tied to an Artifact that you can fish up. The dice are not your typical shape, and several have different sides from each other. All the dice in the game. Image by Paul Benson.
Fish have different numbers, to indicate what depth they're found at, as well as illustrations of the fishes' shadows on the backs of the cards which hint at what size the Fish is. The bigger or deeper the Fish, the more difficult it can be to catch. Fish can be either fair or foul, and as a rule of thumb, the deeper you go, the higher the percentage of foul Fish. A sampling of some of the many fish in the game. Image by Paul Benson.
There's one metal component, a Fishcoin. Certain fish have an ability that requires you to flip the coin and resolve either the heads or tails effect accordingly. Both sides of the Fishcoin. Image by Paul Benson.
All the cards in the game have a linen finish. That, combined with the many wooden components, give a luxurious feeling to the game. How to Play Deep Regrets
You can download a copy of the rulebook here. The Goal
The goal of Deep Regrets is to fish, sell your catch, and end up with the highest score by the end of the game. Setup for a 2-player game. Image by Paul Benson. Setup
Each player takes an Angler Board and places it in front of them, either side up. They then receive a Fishbuck tracker in their color, which is placed on the '0' space, 3 Player Dice in their color, 2 Reference cards, 1 Can of Worms card, and 1 Lifeboat card.
Each player's Boat is placed at Depth I on the Sea Board. The First Person Marker is given to the player who has had the most regrettable day. An example of a Player setup. Image by Paul Benson.
The Port Board is set at the end of the table, with the Day Tracker placed on Monday. All of the Tackle Dice are put into the bag, which is placed nearby.
Shuffle all of the Regret cards, then take 10 cards per player and place them in a single pile next to the Port board, creating the Regrets deck. Return the rest to the box.
Shuffle the Rods, Reels, and Supplies decks and place them below the Port board face down in their respective spots. Some of the Rod, Reels, and Supplies cards. Image by Paul Benson.
Place the Life Preserver, Fishcoin, and Omen Dice nearby, as well as the Madness Tracker. Place each player's Madness cube on the top row of the Madness Tracker.
Place the Sea Board beside the Port Board. Shuffle the Dinks deck, and place it in the designated space at the top of the board. Some of the Dinks cards. Image by Paul Benson.
Shuffle all of the Depth I Fish and deal them out in piles of 13 to form a row of three Shoals at Depth I. Do the same for Depths II and III, leaving space for Graveyards to the right of each Depth row. Gameplay
Deep Regrets is played out over the course of 6 days, or rounds. Each day is broken up into 4 Phases: Start, Refresh, Declaration, and Action. Phase I: Start
Note: this phase is skipped on the first day. Move the Day Tracker up, pass the first player token clockwise, and discard all revealed Fish at Sea. Trigger any Day effects shown on the Day Tracker: Wednesday and Friday, all players flip their Can of Worms face-up. Thursday, all players gain $3. Saturday, all players take one orange die from the bag.
All players at Sea must move their Boat up one Depth, if they are not already at Depth I. Phase 2: Refresh Each player takes all dice from their Spent Pool, adding any number of dice from their Fresh Pool, and rolls them. They then choose dice to place into the Fresh Pool until their Max Dice limit is reached. Leftover dice are placed into the Spent Pool.
The player who has the highest total of Fresh Dice values takes the Life Preserver and gives it to another player of their choice. The Life Preserver can be discarded at Sea to reduce the difficulty of a single Fish by 2, or at Port to reduce the cost of visiting a single Shop by $2. Image by Paul Benson. Phase III: Declaration Starting with the First player and proceeding clockwise, each player declared whether they will spend the day at Sea or Port by placing their Boat at the appropriate location.
If players own any Rods or Reels, they may equip one of either or both to place in the appropriate space on the Player Board. These remain equipped until the next Declaration Phase. Phase IV: Action
This is the bulk of the game. Starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, each player can take one action or pass. The actions will be determined by whether they are at Sea or at Port. This continues until all but one player has passed.
Once a player has passed, they are skipped and can no longer take actions, eat Fish, or use items or Dinks until the next Day. Passing Rewards: When a player first passes, and each time they are skipped in turn order, they may either draw a Dink, or discard one random Regret card.
Last to Pass: Once everyone but one player has passed, the remaining player gets 2 more turns, then play proceeds to the next day. Sea Actions
On your turn, you may either Fish or Abandon Ship. Cast: Select a Shoat at your current Depth or above. If the top Fish of the Shoal is facedown, flip it over to reveal it. If it's already revealed, skip to step 3. Trigger: if you revealed a fish with this action, check to sea if it has any reveal abilities. If so, resolve them. Pay: Check the Fish's Difficulty in the upper right-had corner of the card. To catch the Fish, you must spend dice equal to or greater that the Fish's Difficulty. Spent Player Dice are moved to the Spent Pool, spent Tackle Dice are put into the dice bag. If you cannot afford a Fish or choose not to pay it, you must spend one die of any value and draw the top card of the Dink deck instead. Catch: If you catch a fish, check if it has any catch abilities and resolve them, and then take the card into your hand. If you ever catch the last Fish in a Shoal, you immediately draw one Regret card. Catching fish will often result in randomly drawing Regret cards. Image by Paul Benson.
Once per game, if you are at Sea and your Lifeboat is face-up, you may, as an action, flip over your Lifeboat to immediately Make Port. Your Boat is then moved to the Port Board, and for the rest of the Day, you may only take Port actions. However, a flipped Lifeboat increases your Regret Value by 10. Every player has a Lifeboat card. Image by Paul Benson.
There are also a number of Free actions you can take on your turn, that don't count as an action: Drop Sinkers. Before fishing, you may spend a die of any value to move your boat down one Depth. You must spend one die for each Depth you wish to descend.
Use your Can of Worms. Before revealing a Fish, you may flip your worms to peek at a Fish on the Sea Board and decided to put it back either on top or bottom of its Shoal.
Eat Fish. If a fish has an Eat ability, if may be used at any stage of fishing by discarding it from your hand.
Use the Life Preserver. Discard to reduce a Fish's Difficulty by 2.
Use Dinks & Items. Some Dinks, Rods, Reels, and Supply items can be used at Sea for various benefits. Port Actions
On your turn, you may Sell, Shop, or Mount.
Immediately upon arriving at Port, players will first: Take all dice from their Spent Pool, adding any number of dice from their Fresh Pool, and roll them. They then choose dice to place into the Fresh Pool until their Max Dice limit is reached. Leftover dice are placed into the Spent Pool.
Flip your Can of Worms Face-Up.
Discard 1 Regret Card. The Can of Worms, before it is flipped faceup. Image by Paul Benson.
After you have done the above steps, you are now free to start taking actions at Port. The actions a player can take are: Sell Fish. Choose any number of Fish in your hand and sell them for their Value, modified by your current Madness on the Madness Tracker. Take the correct amount of money and discard all Fish to their respective graveyards.
Shop. You may only visit each Shop once per day. Pay one of the amounts indicated on the Port Board for the particular Shop, and then draw and keep the number of cards shown for the amount spent. If you purchase additional dice, immediately roll them and place them in your Fresh Pool.
Mount Fish. Choose up to three Fish from you hand and mount them in any empty slots at the top of your Angler Board. Mounted fish get multipliers to their value at the end of the game.
As Free Actions, you may also on your turn: Use the Life Preserver, discarding it to gain a $2 discount at a single Shop.
Use certain Dinks, to reduce the cost of a Shop. Game End
The game ends on the final day, once all players have passed. At that point, players reveal and count the value of their Regret cards, also adding 10 to that value if they flipped their Lifeboat during the game. The player(s) with the highest total Regret value must discard a Fish according to player count.
Next, players add: The values of their Fish in Hand modified by their current level on the Madness tracker.
The values of their Mounted Fish first modified by their current level on the Madness tracker, and then multiplied by the mount modifier.
1 point for every 2 Fishbucks
The player with the highest score wins. Tiebreakers are lower total Regret value, followed by fewest Regret Cards. Ocean Survey
This is a solo/co-op mode that is included in the base game. Each game you'll spend 5 days trying to reel in as many Fish as possible. You play it as a campaign, checking off every Fish on the Ocean Survey sheet until you have ultimately caught everything and brought it to Port. The instructions on how to play the Ocean Survey can be found in the rulebook. There's a whole pad of sheets for the Ocean Survey, so you can repeat that mode as many times as you want. Image by Paul Benson. Even Deeper Regrets
The Even Deeper Regrets expansion adds several new elements: 117 new Sea Fish
Inland fishing, which adds another board and Fish supply that can be chosen to visit during the Declaration phase. Most fair Inland Fish also reward the player with Clout, which can be spent at Port or used for endgame bonuses.
Pets which may be purchased as Supply cards.
Polyps, which become more valuable the more of them that are caught.
The Even Deeper Regrets expansion can be pledged for by itself for approximately $34 USD if you already own the base game, or as part of the 'All the Regrets' bundle with Deep Regrets and the Lamentable Tentacles mini expansion. Why You Should Play Deep Regrets
Have you ever played the horror fishing video game Dredge? Are you a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's classic story The Shadow Over Innsmouth ? Do you like the macabre but humorous cartoon artwork of Gahan Wilson? Then Deep Regrets is definitely your thematic cup of tea! Judson Cowan even admits to Dredge being a huge inspiration for Deep Regrets.
This is a gorgeous game where the artwork definitely fits the theme. The components are top-notch, with the screen-printed wooden pieces having a slightly off-kilter quality in keeping with the offbeat nature of the game. I also appreciated that the Player Boards were made of cardboard instead of cardstock. The First Player token and Day Tracker. Image by Paul Benson.
Deep Regrets is easy to learn how to play, and to teach to others. It definitely helps that all of the information you need to play can be found on the cards and boards used in the game, as well as on the two double-sided reference cards, of which every player gets a set. All four sides of the 2 Player Reference cards. Image by Paul Benson.
There is a fairly high luck factor in the game, as you often won't know what exactly you'll find when you flip over a Fish card. It does generally help to know the size of a Fish based on its shadow on the back of the card, but that doesn't let you know what abilities it might have, or whether it is a Fair or Foul Fish. Yes, you have your Can of Worms, but this must be used judiciously as it will only be reset when you either go to Port, or when you reach Wednesday and Friday on the Day Tracker.
Supplies, Rods, Reels, and additional Dice can help manage that luck, but those are only available in Port, and you have to balance your Port visits with the time needed out at sea fishing, so that you have something to actually sell when you return to Port! Obviously, there's a lot of risk/reward decisions at play in the game.
I enjoy the gameplay quite a bit, but I also enjoy the theme, which definitely helps contribute to my overall enjoyment of the game. If you're not drawn to the dark comedy of Deep Regrets, you may not enjoy the gameplay as much. I also wish that Deep Regrets played a little faster. 30 minutes per player seems a bit long for the gameplay. You can optionally play a shorter game by starting the Day Tracker on Tuesday, but then it feels like you don't have enough time to get everything accomplished that you want to in the game.
Overall, I'm very fond of the little offbeat horror fishing game that is Deep Regrets. I'm very intrigued by the gameplay additions in Even Deeper Regrets: they seem to add some nice variety and endgame scoring options without adding much to learning the game, and may even solve my problems with the game length. Of course, I won't know that until trying out the expansion myself, but for the moment, it looks to me like a very promising expansion and possibly even a 'must include' for rounding out Deep Regrets. And if nothing else, there's a bunch more of that wonderful Judson Cowan artwork to enjoy.
For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Even Deeper Regrets Kickstarter page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
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