Expand your competitive escapades or dive into a thrilling cooperative campaign solo or with a friend 👫🗿

Quick Info

• Lost Ruins of Arnak: The Missing Expedition on BGG
• Designers: Mín and Elwen
• Publisher: Czech Games Edition
• Artists: Roman Bednář, Štěpán Drašťák, Ondřej Hrdina, Jiří Kůs, Jakub Politzer, Milan Vavroň
• Release Year: 2023
• Affiliate Purchase Link

Overview

The Missing Expedition is the eagerly awaited second expansion for Lost Ruins of Arnak, a game that has already earned a spot on many gamers’ favorites lists, including mine. The first expansion, Expedition Leaders, added asymmetry and additional content to enrich the base game. Now, The Missing Expedition ups the ante with even more content and a brand-new mode of play. This expansion brings a solo or two-player campaign spanning six chapters, filled with new twists and an atmospheric storyline.

When Arnak first hit the scene, it featured a basic solo mode, later expanded with a free solo-only online mini-campaign. The Missing Expedition takes this concept and turns it into a robust, purchasable package well worth the investment.

Whether you’re interested in the new campaign or not (and you should be), there are additions to the multiplayer game that may interest you as well—new items and artifacts, new asymmetrical characters, new temples, and the ability to use some campaign cards as a new mechanic.

Even if the campaign doesn’t pique your interest (though it should!), there are plenty of new additions for multiplayer enthusiasts—new items and artifacts, new asymmetrical characters, new temples, and some new, optional, mechanics to add.

Art and Presentation

The Missing Expedition carries on the tradition of Arnak’s stunning art design. As I mentioned in my previous review, the artwork and design in Arnak are integral to its thematic immersion. The new artwork in this expansion is equally impressive, and the manual is beautifully illustrated with helpful diagrams, continuing Arnak’s tradition of intuitive and engaging presentation.

Mechanics

The campaign is driven by a campaign book and a deck of cards—no app required. While this means no risk of app-related issues, it does necessitate careful reading of setup instructions and specific rules for each chapter.

Each chapter in the campaign introduces unique setups and challenges, whether it’s a focus on exploration or overcoming guardians. You can choose any leader, including those from Expedition Leaders or enhanced versions of the base game setup.

New additions include two temples: the waterfall temple and the tree temple, each bringing fresh twists to the temple track. Plus, there are two new leaders: the journalist and the mechanic.

The journalist adds article tokens around exploration spaces. By spending the travel cost again, the journalist can write an article and gain bonus resources. The mechanic features a gear wheel on her board, unlocking powerful actions and gaining a third assistant— her monkey—in the third round.

Review

The Campaign

I’ll avoid spoilers but will give you a taste of the campaign’s strengths and weaknesses after my roughly 8 solo hours with it.

The Missing Expedition includes two rulebooks: a campaign book detailing story and setup for the co-op chapters, and a rulebook for the new leaders and temples. This setup can be a bit cumbersome, requiring frequent references to three manuals (you’ll need the base manual too).

In both solo and two-player modes, you’ll introduce a rival character using solo rules from the base game, with twists based on the campaign chapter. Despite my lack of solo mode experience, I found managing the rival straightforward.

Players must use a leader in the campaign, choosing from new or existing leaders. I alternated between the journalist and mechanic across chapters, finding both engaging. This would be a difficult entry point to Arnak, so I’d advise that players play the base game a few times before diving into the campaign.

The storyline is enjoyable if not groundbreaking. It offers a primary narrative with side objectives that unlock additional story elements and bonuses for future games.

A critique: losing a game can lead to either replaying it or facing penalties in the next chapter, while winning and hitting objectives grants bonuses that make subsequent chapters easier. These bonuses can be quite powerful, and while the penalties aren’t overly severe, I could certainly see them leading to a snowball effect where struggling players continue to struggle.

The campaign’s highlight is how it cleverly mixes up Arnak’s rules, presenting varied and engaging challenges focusing on different game aspects. Each chapter feels like a fresh puzzle with competing priorities. One chapter may emphasize exploration and opening up new locations, while another will emphasize overcoming guardians. Each twist is a really fun puzzle with multiple competing priorities to manage.

Playing solo, I found each chapter to be the right length and engaging, making this one of my favorite solo gaming experiences ever. The campaign offers substantial content without being overwhelming, and the story, while not riveting, is sufficient.

The “More Stuff”

The new characters are a delight. Alongside the six leaders from Expedition Leaders, the journalist and mechanic stand out as perhaps the most interesting and engaging. They are not overly complex but provide fun and gratifying gameplay twists.

New items, artifacts, and guardians are hit-or-miss, with some requiring careful reading and checking the manual for clarification. There are some gems, but some complexity could have been avoided.

The new temples add welcome variety. The waterfall temple’s shifting costs keep players on their toes, while the tree temple’s idol sacrifices requires players to balance exploration and research.

Overall, The Missing Expedition is a solid expansion whether you’re drawn to the new solo/co-op campaign or just want more variety in multiplayer. The new leaders and temples alone are excellent additions. It’s perhaps not quite a must-have because there are a few missteps, but it’s an excellent expansion to one of my favorite games.