- Publisher : Lucky Duck Games
- Designer(s) : Evan Derrick, Rafał Wojda-Wołkowycki
- Artist(s) : Piotr Arendzikowski, Jakub Chełstowski, Barbara Gołębiewska, Mateusz Komada
- Players : 1–4
- Playing time : 120–180 Min
- Weight BGG : 1.79
What's this?
The Dark Quarter: Cabals in New Orleans is a hybrid, digital, and cooperative adventure game . It transports you to Louisiana in 1981, to a New Orleans whose atmosphere can be summed up in three words: music, food, and magic . The game offers a complete and dynamic campaign, divided into several scenarios, where players take on the roles of protagonists whose destinies are inextricably linked to that of the city .
How do you play?
The game relies entirely on a free and essential app that guides the adventure, even offline after downloading . The goal is twofold: to solve an overall mission within each scenario (for example, a murder) and to achieve the personal and intimate objectives of your own character. These individual stories will eventually converge into the main narrative for a climactic conclusion.
Each player chooses a unique character for the campaign (at least two in Solo mode) . Their abilities are defined by four Attributes, tracked using cubes on an individual player board :
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Talent: Investigation, observation and agility .
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Combat: Attack and defense .
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Esotericism: Witchcraft and occult knowledge .
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Charisma: Attractiveness and communication, which often influences the number of questions the character can ask per turn .
Character progression is achieved through the evolution of cubes on the Attribute gauges (to the left for improvement, to the right for regression) following tests, abilities or during Interludes .
1. Interaction and Exploration (Points of Interest)
The main action is guided by the application .
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Points of Interest (POIs) : The game world is filled with Points of Interest (POIs) with which players can interact . These POIs represent elements of investigation such as people to talk to, objects to examine, or locations to search .
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Movement : The IPs are physically represented on the City board or Location cards by markers or Non-Player Character (NPC) miniatures . The application dictates the scenario’s progression based on the IPs you choose to explore.
2. Test Resolution (Attributes)
When an action requires verification (a test), it uses one of your character’s four Attributes .
3. Player Tools (Abilities and Consumables)
Players have cards to influence actions and tests. Interaction between the physical game elements (the cards) and the application occurs via QR codes (or barcodes) . At certain crucial moments in the scenario, the application pauses and asks players to enter a password (or phrase) that they are supposed to have discovered or deduced from the collected clues.
Is it good?
The Dark Quarter is first and foremost a narrative experience aimed at players eager to fully immerse themselves in a dark and oppressive world. The game borrows some mechanics from Destinies , such as points of interest, character quests, and cards that can be scanned via QR codes. These personal quests are not mere side objectives; they are effectively interwoven throughout the campaign and enhance the overall coherence. Skill tests and character progression via cubes on individual player boards remain familiar systems, though not always particularly compelling on their own. However, the game’s true strength lies in its story, its puzzles, its dialogue choices, and its decisions that genuinely influence the narrative, sometimes offering branching storylines worthy of an accessible role-playing game.
On the downside, the hybrid between physical hardware and an app is a double-edged sword: while the app brilliantly handles the narrative, it makes the game entirely dependent on a digital platform, which may displease purists of traditional board games. Furthermore, its narrative demands—requiring one player to read aloud, the others to remain focused on the clues, and everyone to closely follow the pace dictated by the scenario—can sometimes lead to sessions lacking dynamism. Some players may also find the games too long or certain phases somewhat repetitive.
Despite this, The Dark Quarter retains some strong qualities: an immersive cooperative adventure, a compelling narrative, meaningful choices, and impactful progression throughout the campaign. However, its reliance on the app and its highly narrative pace may not appeal to all players.
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The Dark Quarter review
Positives
- Dark and immersive storytelling
- Character quests well integrated into the story
- An application that effectively manages narrative complexity
- Index system
- Multiple-choice dialogues that actually influence the game
Negatives
- Potentially slow pace
- High narrative requirement (reading aloud and constant concentration required)
- Application dependency
- Some sequences can become repetitive.
- Mechanical mechanics we've seen before
