Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
The second game in the Escape the Dark series, Escape the Dark Sector is a simple, sci-fi adventure game with a focus on atmosphere, storytelling and player cooperation – perfect for newcomers to tabletop gaming.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Paper-and-Pencil
Record choices and results directly on a personal sheet.
Cooperative Game
Players coordinate their actions toward a shared objective and win or lose together.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Push Your Luck
Choose whether to secure current gains or risk them for a larger reward.
Die Icon Resolution
Interpret rolled icons to determine which actions or effects occur.
Read the full game description
The second game in the Escape the Dark series, Escape the Dark Sector is a simple, sci-fi adventure game with a focus on atmosphere, storytelling and player cooperation – perfect for newcomers to tabletop gaming. It takes about 2 minutes to set up, lasts around 45 minutes, and no two games are ever the same. Playing as the beleaguered crew of an impounded starship, players find themselves confined to the detention block of a vast space station. Using a variety of advanced gear and weaponry, they will embark on a desperate mission to find their ship and blast their way home. Along the way, the crew will have to overcome a variety of dangers, traps, and terrors. From cyborg guards and faulty replicators to killer alien organisms, each challenge is represented by a large, beautifully illustrated chapter card. As these immersive chapter cards are revealed one by one, the game takes on the form of a shared storybook experience, with the players making decisions about what to do each chapter before using a combination of dice and item cards to complete the task before them. The goal of the game is to complete every chapter, and then defeat the final boss. To win, you must keep each member of the crew alive; if any player is killed, the game ends immediately!