SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence review

Czech Games Edition | 1 to 4 players | 14+ | 40 - 160 minutes

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, you lead an institute dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life. Using Earth as your base, you explore space by detecting signals and launching probes. Step by step, you gather more knowledge about what might be out there.

During each game, you discover two alien life forms. The base game includes eight in total, so no two games will play exactly the same.

What makes SETI stand out for us is how strongly it is rooted in real science and technology. The images on the cards refer to real missions, instruments and discoveries. Even the ways you conduct research in the game closely reflect how it works in reality.

The information on the cards is genuinely interesting too. Even if you are not deeply into space research, you will probably recognise things from the news or science stories you have come across before. Because of that, the theme feels like an important part of the game rather than just a layer on top of an engine builder. For us, that made the whole experience much more immersive.

Gameplay

SETI is played over five rounds. During each round, you choose from different actions, usually paying with energy or money.

On your personal player board, you gradually improve different parts of your research. Upgrades unlock more and more possibilities. When researching signals from space, for example, you can improve your scanner. This may allow you to scan larger areas, listen deeper into space or gain extra benefits whenever you scan.

It therefore pays to invest in specific areas of your research. As the game progresses, your actions become more powerful and you can get more out of each turn.

One of the most interesting parts of SETI is its moving solar system. Certain actions cause the planets to continue orbiting the sun during the game. Any probes travelling with them move as well. A journey that looks easy at one moment can suddenly become much more difficult later on. At the same time, a new planetary position can also create exactly the opportunity you were waiting for.

You score points for your research. After five rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Our impression

SETI is a beautiful and fairly heavy expert game. Almost every turn gives you plenty to think about. Cards and tokens can often be used in several different ways, and there are multiple routes towards victory.

The alien life forms in particular add a lot of variety. The ones we have discovered so far all played very differently and changed the way we approached the game. The moving solar system also keeps forcing you to adjust your plans along the way.

At the same time, SETI keeps growing as the game progresses. You expand your options, and as a result your turns become longer too. We actually felt that the fifth round was a little too much. By that point, we had built up so many possibilities that the game continued longer than it needed to for us.

Our playtime was also considerably longer than the stated 40 minutes per player. Our first two-player game took around four hours. The second still took us about 3.5 hours.

Surprisingly, the downtime did not feel particularly high. During the other player's turn, I was usually already busy considering my own options and planning my next move. That says a lot about how much there is to think about throughout the game.

You do need to enjoy that kind of experience. The cards contain quite a lot of text, and there are many rules and effects to keep track of. Especially during your first few games, you will regularly find yourself reaching for the rulebook. SETI is therefore not always a particularly quick or effortless game to play.

If you are looking for an expert game that you can reliably finish within a fixed amount of time and barely need to check the rules for, SETI is probably not the right choice.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy a heavy game where you can spend plenty of time puzzling over your options, keep discovering new possibilities and gradually build up your plans, SETI has a lot to offer. The different alien life forms also provide enough variety to make us want to bring it back to the table. We certainly will, as long as we can make enough time for it.