Escape the Dark Sector: Mission Pack 3 – Quantum Rift Expansion

The very fabric of what you consider real is shattered as you hurtle through time and space – coming face to face with legendary dangers of the distant past… Quantum rift is the third mission pack expansion for Escape the Dark Sector. Based on a series of time portals being opened in the dark sector that allow temporary travel to different times and places. It is similar to the previous expansion Mutant Syndrome in terms of offering content with new characters, items, encounters, and new boss to face. It also has a new dice mechanic in the form of the quantum rift.

New Content

The new encounters are all based around the idea of time travel and have you facing foes from many varied encounters such as Roman legionaries and even a cheeky nod to Escape the Dark Castle. These new encounters also trigger the new dice mechanic as each event requires the rolling of a new rift dice. This generally has some negative effects including the loss of an inventory item or shuffling equipped items around. This can be absolutely crippling if encountered early on with some bad luck and even late game may force you to lose a valuable item right before the boss.

However, the time encounters do have the chance to gain powerful new artefacts from those time periods such as a legionary scutum. It is a balancing act that feels a little unwieldy as a tip in either direction can be either a massive drawback or a massive gain. There are two encounter types included in the pack. Standard encounters that can be mixed in as is and the new time travel cards that have the same backing but are played slightly differently, requiring the rift die to be rolled and with the potential to gain a new numbered artifact card which makes them a little less random that other encounters as they will always grant the same rewards if successfully completed and do allow a little meta gaming.

The new characters in Quantum rift, are once again aliens as with the last expansion. They also come with a Split Double option on their crew dice. This counts as a double and a block but only applies one of the two symbols shown. This makes them versatile but given that only one of the two traits is applied it is not as overpowered as it first seems.

The new boss is as dangerous as the others and it is always welcome to have another random option to face at the end of the game. Araknochron is a horrifying time travelling spider cyborg who uses the rift die to add random negative effects to your crew members at the start of combat. These are all powerful and potentially deadly effects and the potential to wipe a party at the start of the encounter without any prevention is possible so he is definitely one of the harder bosses to face.

Theme

The quality of the components is high. The cards and dice are all great and enjoyable to use. The time travelling theme is also quite interesting as it is a fair break from the standard sci fi darkness that is the core of Dark Sector. It can also be a bit jarring as one moment you are raiding a mutant inhabited shanty town and then you are on a desert island looking for pirate gold. It is a little immersion breaking, especially if you are making use of the Dark Sector Spotify playlist (Which is highly recommended that you do).

Although it is definitely part of the B-movie sci fi madness that is the Dark Sector there is a definite tonal shift. Although in saying that the art of the new cards is beautiful and a refreshing difference from the previous artworks. I think it comes down completely to personal preference whether you enjoy the theme or not but even if you do not care for the time travel shenanigans there are still several encounters that stay on theme and can be mixed in straight out of the box.

Final Thoughts

Quantum rift is certainly a blast. It ups the difficulty and the wackiness of the Dark Sector. Combined with the other two expansions it certainly adds a lot of varied content and massively expands on the core offering with meaningful player choice which was an issue with the core game. The artwork and component quality are high and the expansion easily blends with the existing content.

The only real negative is the abstract and conflicting nature of the theme which given how thematic Dark Sector is certainly feels like a step away from that. But in terms of gameplay and mechanics it does add a lot of fun and challenging gameplay. A worthy addition if you already have the other expansions but given the difficulty, I would not recommend this as the first or second pick and would instead advise to pick up either Twisted Tech or Mutant Syndrome first.