Are you ready for your first mission on the Lost station?

If there's one thing Secrets of the Lost Station can't be accused of it's a lack of ambition, perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise as it comes from a company called Everything Epic Games. With over ninety story driven missions spread over a core campaign and umpteen additional campaigns we're squarely in Gloomhaven level of content here meaning you've got to admire its confidence if nothing else.

Opening up the large box for the first time and wading through it feels impressive with its multitude of tokens, map tiles and decks of cards, not to mention the huge ring bound storybook that dwarfs everything else in there. That giant book contains the heart of the game, each mission is detailed across pages of story and event text that tell a thoroughly enjoyable yarn as you work your way through it.

From a gameplay point of view we're firmly in traditional dungeon crawling territory here. Missions see your band of heroes explore the continually reconfiguring space station they've arrived at (the reconfiguring station aspect is a neat little narrative trick to explain why map tiles are randomised each game to keep the layout fresh). On their turn players perform actions for movement and interactions, enemies are battled with handfuls of chunky dice and each turn ends with the flip of an event token which can trigger all sorts of fun from more enemies spawning, little character set pieces, station wide calamities or just the next section of story.

This continual flow of events gives each mission a welcome sense of momentum and tension since they also serve as a built in timer, you run out of event tokens before finishing your mission and its game over. The number and type of these events are predetermined by the mission you're playing but the inclusion of some blank tokens into the mix gives a degree of randomisation should you need to repeat a mission.

Added onto all this are an array of unlockable character skills and party items as well as the ability to gain control of some of the space stations more interesting features for you to use as you play. Unlike some other campaign games Secrets of the Lost Stations characters stats and ability upgrades aren't directly carried over from mission to mission. Instead each mission setup lets you pick a fresh loadout from your characters currently unlocked abilities allowing you to retool depending on the challenge posed by each mission while also stopping you from ever becoming too overpowered.

There's also a pleasing understanding that not everyone wants to spend ninety plus missions playing the same character. While some missions may stipulate that a certain one must be in the party generally you're free to pick whoever you feel best suits the situation.

Combat is fast and satisfying, attack and defend both worked out from the same single roll of a dice pool. It’s easy to grasp and doesn't hold up the game which is really refreshing in a genre often weighed down with complex combat rules.

One potential downside of the sprawling narrative nature of the game is the need for one of the team to keep half an eye on the Scenario Triggers card to ensure certain sections of the book are read when needed (outside of the end of turn events I mentioned earlier). Some story segments need to occur when certain rooms are uncovered or creatures defeated etc to keep the story responsive to the players actions but the game can grind to a halt if the nominated players misses a cue causing the team to waste turns not realising they’re missing crucial information. Some players may also just want to focus on the game and not enjoy the responsibility that kind of admin role involves so it’s worth picking your person carefully.

The game itself comes in two flavours, the core box comes complete with cardboard standees for the characters but there’s also a more expensive version which adds a huge box (honestly, its genuinely huge) of resin miniatures for added wow factor. Personally I love the table presence of minis but you'd absolutely not be ruining the experience with just the standees since the artwork is lovely.

These kind of big story driven experiences aren't for everyone, it’s a big time (not to mention financial) investment and as much as I love it there's probably nothing original enough in Secrets of the Lost Station that will convert you if you're not a fan. But, for the rest of us, this ticks all the boxes without getting bogged down in the some of the complexities that can overwhelm other similar games and provides a grand Sci Fi adventure that will keep you coming back for more.