New Game Preview: What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark?

What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark? is a new and innovative game that is being written by Tomas Gimenez Rioja, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Itch.io. Tomas is from Argentina and has freelanced on a few TTRPGs in the past like Stuck and Wretched, The Fallen Star — A One Page Dungeon. Tomas also writes for Tribality and Gnome Stew, a full list of his stuff can be found here.

This game is set to be a story telling game with a major focus on traveling to a location and creating a story in that location.

Have you ever stepped foot in a place and just gotten a feeling that you can’t really shake? Well this is what I think of when I got this press kit. The above image of a lighthouse with its light on at night reminds me of when I lived in South Portland [Maine] and would see the Bug Light Lighthouse at night. It does not look quite the same but it did remind of the thoughts I have had about what it might be like to explore the lighthouse and look out over the ocean, wondering if the light was making it to a ship out there and helping to guide it away from the shore. This would inevitably lead me to thinking about a lighthouse on an island in the middle of the sea and a storm crashing waves along the rocks and a ship lost in then swells. A creature rising up from the ocean and taking hold of the ship dragging it down beneath the waves, just out of sight of the lighthouse, the last bit of civilization the crew of the ship having being the light that slowly swings across the horizon…

Yeah, I think this is a cool idea for a game.

A simple game design is the goal, taking very little time to learn the rules.

The game and rules will be card based, rules fitting on three cards. The set of cards will have 14 cards with two questions to choose from (this Halfling hopes for something akin to Avery Alder’s A Quiet Year prompt cards) to push the direction of the story. A set of three special cards that will have a game changing effect. Finally an X card is also included so that players of the game can have a safety net in case of the story becoming too much in whatever way. The deck of cards rounds out with a few extra cards that have some inspirational photos to help set the mood or drive the narrative of the game during play.

There are some cool ideas for stretch goals as well here including upping the size of the cards to Tarot (nice!), upgrading the quality of the inks used on the cards (metallic and shiny!), a game coin (bling!), and additional expansions (the Halfling is personally hoping for some additional cards with some Spooky Rusty photos on them!)

The time to play is anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours, but I’m sure as with any game like this it depends on the group and play could continue well into the darkness of the night with the right group. It is slated for 2+ players but I imagine you could even possibly play is solo maybe just needing a couple of house rules for yourself while you play.

The rules should be quick and easy to pick up and learn and would be the perfect fit for a group of friends out on the town, adventuring into the woods, exploring an abandoned place, or just exploring a new back road in a new town.

I am excited to see how this shapes out and I welcome all of you to check out the crowdfundr that Tomas has created for the game, give it a follow and get notified when it starts, come on, I have, you should too. The crowdfundr campaign starts on June 12, 2023.

Derek Bizier, the Anticipative Halfling Master