Woken by the Ship’s Computer, the crew of the CSS Pandora discover that their Ship may be even more deadly than the menacing Nasties lurking in its dark corners. Because, as every Crewmember knows, the Ship's Emergency Protocols are there to protect the Cargo - they're not designed to protect the Crew.
Players play Action Cards from asymmetric personal decks to race around the ship searching for the elusive cards that will help them survive, in a semi-cooperative action-selection game with elements of deckbuilding built into it. But hidden amongst those cards is a Pandora's Box of evils from the Sci-Fi universe that trigger when their cards are revealed.
The Crew's first task is to work together to shut down the logic puzzles of the Emergency Protocols (number based on difficulty). This then triggers a twist in which a Big Nasty emerges from the shadows and each player is transmitted a Hidden Agenda. Some Crew are looking for the Smoking Gun that will bring the Company down. Others are working to protect the Company's interests. All are trying to survive. Because what doesn’t make you stronger will probably kill you!
Everything they do generates Noise, but unlike most games in this genre, Noise can be used to manipulate the Nasties hunting you, sending them in a different direction - or even diverting them towards another member of the Crew!
The game ends when any member of the Crew Decouples one of the escape modules and gets away - but to do that without the other Crew on board, they have to first achieve their Agenda: otherwise they must wait for all surviving Crew to board before the module will let them evacuate the Ship.
