Today we’re diving into Sleeping Gods. This is a narrative-driven, open-world board game from designer Ryan Laukat & publisher Red Raven Games. The game takes you on a fantastical journey in 1929 as the crew of the steamship Manticore tries to find their way home. So, let’s break it down – what it is, what’s good, what’s bad, & if you should pick it up. Let’s get into it.
What It Is
Sleeping Gods is a cooperative narrative campaign game for 1-4 players, where you & your group take on the roles of Captain Sophie Odessa & her crew. Lost in the mysterious Wandering Sea, your mission is to awaken the ancient gods by finding & delivering magical totems, all while managing your ship & crew through various trials. The game stands out for its open-world exploration & branching storylines, giving players the freedom to chart their own course through a vast, unpredictable world. It’s a sandbox-style adventure that unfolds over multiple sessions, offering a deep, immersive experience with plenty of replayability.
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Gameplay Overview
Sleeping Gods is a captivating board game for one to four players, blending adventure, exploration, and strategy in a richly imagined world. Players take on the roles of the crew aboard the ship Manticore, which becomes lost after a violent storm. The narrative, set in 1929, follows the crew’s journey from Hong Kong to New York, only to be thrown off course by a tempest. As they regain their bearings, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where ancient gods call for their aid. Their mission: to locate lost totems that will allow them to return home.
The game begins with the setup of a detailed atlas that reveals islands and oceans divided by regions. Players place the Manticore in a starting location and organize the shipboard based on the number of participants. Essential elements like a port tile and a market deck, featuring starting items such as gear and supplies, are laid out. The event deck is prepared by shuffling cards that represent mild, perilous, and deadly events, setting the tone for the challenges ahead.
Each player takes control of crew members, with Captain Odessa as a focal figure. The crew is evenly distributed, and players manage shared resources like meat, vegetables, and artifacts. These resources are vital for the crew’s survival as they venture deeper into the unknown. Tokens representing resources and artifacts play a crucial role in the journey, influencing how well players can sustain their crew and progress through the game.
The gameplay follows a structured turn system, starting with one player and proceeding clockwise. Each turn has four phases: performing a ship action, drawing an event card, managing challenges, and using abilities. The ship action phase allows players to move their ship figure to different rooms on board, each providing unique benefits, such as gaining command tokens or drawing ability cards, which will later prove essential in overcoming challenges.
Event cards drawn each turn present a variety of tasks, from simple choices to complex challenges requiring specific crew skills. Players must carefully decide whether to involve their crew members, as challenges are resolved based on skills like craft, perception, and strength. The outcome of these challenges is determined by drawing fate cards, and success or failure can dramatically affect the crew’s health, morale, and resources.
Managing crew health is crucial, as incapacitated members cannot contribute to the team’s efforts until healed. Status tokens like low morale or fatigue can also hamper a crew member’s abilities, making it essential for players to monitor their team’s condition constantly. Ensuring the crew is at their best is critical to overcoming the numerous challenges the game throws at them.
Outside of challenges, players can equip their crew with abilities that enhance skills or provide unique benefits. Equipping abilities requires command tokens, adding another layer of strategy as players must manage these limited resources carefully. These abilities can turn the tide in critical moments, whether in combat or other challenges throughout the game.
As a campaign-style game, Sleeping Gods unfolds through a series of chapters. The narrative progresses as players draw from the event deck and reach key moments in the storybook. These chapters deepen the storyline, introducing new challenges and quests that drive the game forward. The choices players make during these moments shape the course of the game, adding a sense of agency and immersion to the experience.
Sleeping Gods thrives on cooperative gameplay, where teamwork is essential. Each player’s decisions impact the group’s success, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared adventure. With its flexible playtime, modular events, and branching narrative paths, the game offers a high level of replayability, ensuring that no two sessions are the same. This, combined with its intricate mechanics and deep storytelling, makes Sleeping Gods an unforgettable gaming experience.
The Components
As with most Red Raven Games, Sleeping Gods delivers when it comes to production quality. The atlas & storybook are visually stunning, with Ryan Laukat’s distinct artwork bringing the mysterious world to life. The spiral-bound atlas is sturdy & easy to use, making exploration feel intuitive. The game comes with a multitude of cards, tokens, & miniatures, all of which are high quality but take up a lot of table space. This is a game that demands room to breathe, & setting it up can be a bit of a hassle due to the sheer volume of components. Thankfully, the included journey log & map help make saving progress between sessions more manageable.
The Good
The open-world design is easily one of Sleeping Gods’ biggest strengths. The ability to travel freely between locations, uncovering new areas & storylines, makes every session feel like a grand adventure. The game’s reactive storytelling system, where player choices lead to branching paths & different outcomes, ensures that no two playthroughs are the same. You get to feel like your decisions truly matter, which is something a lot of narrative games struggle to achieve. The storybook is full of engaging, well-written scenarios, with some unexpected twists that keep players on their toes.
Another highlight is the combat system, which is more tactical than typical dice-rolling mechanics. The grid-based approach forces you to think strategically about where to target enemies & how to mitigate damage. It feels thematic & tense, especially when you’re facing off against tougher monsters that could derail your progress. Additionally, the character management system is deep & rewarding, offering a lot of flexibility in how you build your crew’s strengths & deal with the challenges you face.
The Bad
While the narrative & exploration are fantastic, Sleeping Gods has a few issues that may frustrate some players. First, the game’s complexity can be overwhelming at times, especially for those new to heavier board games. With nine crew members to manage & a wealth of items & options available, it’s easy to suffer from analysis paralysis. Some players might find themselves stuck debating the best course of action, which can slow down the game considerably. This isn’t a huge problem for experienced gamers, but it might turn off more casual players or groups looking for a lighter experience.
Another drawback is the length & commitment required. A single campaign can take upwards of 15-20 hours, & given the game’s freeform nature, it’s hard to predict how long any given session will last. This can make planning game nights tricky, especially if your group can’t meet regularly. Also, setting up & tearing down the game is no small feat, & while the journey log helps, it’s still a bit of a hassle. If you don’t have a dedicated space to leave the game set up, that could become a dealbreaker.
The Verdict
Sleeping Gods is a remarkable achievement in narrative-driven board gaming. Its expansive open-world exploration, combined with its deep story & tactical gameplay, makes it an unforgettable experience for players who love getting lost in a game’s world. The quality of the storytelling is top-notch, with a dynamic, reactive world that truly responds to your decisions. There’s a lot of content packed into the game, with tons of replayability through different quests & endings. The sense of discovery is palpable, & every session feels like a new chapter in a grand adventure.
That being said, Sleeping Gods isn’t for everyone. It’s a long, complex game that requires a serious time investment, & not everyone will enjoy the slower pace or the weighty decision-making. For players who prefer lighter, quicker experiences, this game might feel like more of a chore than a thrilling adventure. Additionally, the logistical challenges of setting up & maintaining the game between sessions could deter groups without a permanent gaming space.
Final Thoughts
Sleeping Gods is one of those games that I’ll be thinking about long after the campaign ends. It’s immersive, it’s vast, and it really nails that feeling of being lost at sea in a world full of mysteries to uncover. From the moment you start navigating the Wandering Sea with Captain Odessa and her crew, it feels like you’re stepping into a living, breathing adventure. There’s so much to explore, and the open-world design gives you the freedom to go wherever you want, at your own pace. I loved how organic the whole experience felt—there was always something unexpected just around the corner.
That said, Sleeping Gods is definitely not a game you casually pop onto the table. It’s a commitment. Between the time it takes to set everything up, manage all the components, and dive into a campaign that could stretch out over multiple sessions, you really need to plan for it. If you’ve got the space and the time, it’s absolutely worth it, but if you’re looking for something quick or don’t have a regular group, it could be tricky to fit into your schedule. I’d say this is best enjoyed when you can leave it set up and keep coming back to it.
What really kept me hooked was the storytelling. The choices you make have weight, and the way the narrative unfolds based on what you do is really impressive. It’s not just a game where you’re moving pieces around a board—you’re making decisions that change the course of the story, and that kept me coming back to see how things would play out. Plus, the writing is solid. The characters you meet, the places you visit, and the situations you find yourself in all felt well thought out, making the world feel rich and alive.
On the gameplay side, managing all nine crew members was more strategic than I expected. You’re not just sailing around—you’re making tough calls about who to send into combat, how to allocate resources, and which crew member’s skills to prioritize. Combat itself was surprisingly engaging too, with a grid system that forces you to think carefully about where to strike and how to minimize damage. It’s not an easy game by any means, and there were moments where I felt the pressure, but that tension added to the overall experience.
However, I’ll admit that the game’s complexity might be a bit much for some people. There’s a lot going on, and it’s easy to get bogged down in decision-making, especially when you’re juggling multiple quests and trying to make the most of each action. If you’re prone to overthinking, this game could easily cause some analysis paralysis. But for me, the depth of the mechanics and the challenge made it all the more rewarding when things went right.
Overall, Sleeping Gods is a game I’d highly recommend if you’re looking for an epic, story-driven adventure that you can really sink your teeth into. It’s not for everyone—if you prefer lighter games or don’t have the time for long campaigns, this might not be a great fit. But if you enjoy games that let you explore, make meaningful choices, and really get lost in a world, this is absolutely worth checking out. Just be ready for the long haul, because once you start, it’s hard to put down.
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