A Teenager, Alien, and Terminator Time Travel in The LOOP
Travel through time to battle the evil Dr. Faux and his terrible clones that threaten to destroy the ages in The LOOP.
A good sign that I’ve completely forgotten about a new arrival is when said game isn’t even added to my collection list… Oh, dear! We’ll call it a time anomaly, for that aligns with The LOOP. This quirky theme about time travel and fighting a somewhat comical menace, known as Dr. Faux, has always intrigued me. At last, it was the right “time” to play solo!
Game Overview
Game Name: The LOOP
Publication Year: 2020
Designers: Maxime Rambourg and Théo Rivière
Artist: Simon Caruso
Publisher: Pandasaurus Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Agents must work together to battle Dr. Faux through all the ages of history. Rifts form dangers and left unchecked, vortexes might appear! There are all sorts of artifacts to pick up and use against Dr. Faux’s army of clones. Only by completing specialized missions will his time run out!
First Play
August 29, 2023
Complexity
3
Latest Play
August 29, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
N/A
Game Area
38" x 28"
Low Score
N/A
A Very Fun Play Area
This board leans into the quirky theme with 7 sides, rather than a standard hexagon. Each region is a different age, such as the beginning of time or age of robots. Neat!
Dr. Faux moves between the ages, causing rifts to form by dropping cubes in this really neat cube tower. It rotates and provides a fun level of randomization.
Many different game modes and difficulty levels are included, allowing for a very customized experience!
I was excited to play after I spent a little time reading the lore, particularly about the agents’ backstories.
Tracking Information
A dashboard provides a nice area to store the artifacts deck and game mode. There is a thick double-sided tile that covers all of these, helping put the details in the open.
Dr. Faux’s time travel uses a deck of cards that represent all of the ages. A maximum of 3 cycles may be utilized before an automatic loss happens… He’s dangerous!
Again, this information is shown here: Later cycles result in more clones coming out. Clones are bad. Very, very bad.
Note, too, that vortexes must be kept off to the side. Such a meddling time traveler. Vortexes are even badder!
Best Agents Around
The base game includes 5 agents who operate very differently, both with unique abilities and cards. I chose some of the simpler agents, all with excellent stories!
Solo involves controlling multiple characters, yet the mechanic is clever. All of their cards are shuffled together, and the first character to have 3 cards is activated.
Picking up artifacts allows those to be assigned as one wants, allowing more freedom in later rounds.
This solo mechanic isn’t one I’ve seen recently, yet it makes the solo experience very unique and interesting!
Evil Clones from Time
A lot of gameplay comes down to manipulating the clones, who begin in a specific age. If they’re moved to the age depicted on their monocles… Poof! They disappear.
The spread of clone types is excellent. Most begin within 1-2 ages of their origins, making it not too difficult to defeat them. Some need a little more work, though.
I liked the time traveling theme, but could also see a pretty deep puzzle… Even at the easiest difficulty level.
Managing rifts was going to be tricky, and I had to be careful about how the rare energy cubes were spent.
Finding a Way to Stand Out Cooperatively
There are plenty of cooperative solo games out there at this point, and most of them offer something unique. However, I always wonder just how different a new one will be. After all, there comes a point when a few solo games might feel too similar and it’s not worth it to keep them all around. I went into this one actually thinking I might pass it along.
Hold everything, though! What I found was a quirky theme that immediately got me intrigued with the setting. Maybe time travel isn’t novel in and of itself, but chasing Dr. Faux through time and tossing his clones around the ages made for a pretty hilarious storyline. Combined with the even quirkier characters, I was laughing through the rulebooks!
And I didn’t simply hang onto this for that hilariousness. Gameplay kept me entirely engaged. Just when I thought I had things under control, Dr. Faux moved to the one age I needed him to steer clear of. Vortex alert! I had a good handle on most of the aspects after playing for a bit, yet keep in mind that this is the easiest game mode to start with.
Plenty of additional components weren’t even removed from the box, and just a cursory glance shows how things can quickly ramp up in the difficulty department. So awesome! And since both expansions seem to be getting hard to find, I ordered both and expect to have a lot of fun with this one for many years to come. Such a great surprise in this box!
Tracking Dr. Faux
As time unfolded and everything was destroyed but started over again, it felt like a true sci-fi experience!
I liked how the dashboard had spaces to keep all of Dr. Faux’s cards. The beginning of a cycle was very random, but it soon became possible to estimate his movement.
Since he only visits each age once per cycle, this can help with identifying the most important ages to focus on. Keeping clones and rifts minimal was vital to success!
My agents were pretty awesome, though, despite the fact that there was a time vortex early on. It’s fine, I tell you!
Age of the Clones
I was completely engaged in this awesome experience! At one point, the clones were getting out of control. Rifts were piling up, too, and I had to make decisions.
Since Dr. Faux had already visited the age of robots, it was a simple solution: Send all the clones there! I could reasonably manage the rifts, too. A perfect idea!
New artifacts kept opening up new possibilities, too. I just had to be smart about ending movement in the right ages.
Such a neat puzzle! I could see Dr. Faux getting more and more powerful as things started to unravel near the end.
The Time Prowler
Perhaps the strongest member of the team was the Time Prowler, courtesy of her ability to remove a rift cube. That prevented many more vortexes from forming, thankfully!
With just a single round remaining, the last mission was nearly completed. Fortunately, some of the fancy artifacts picked up during play helped out immensely.
Note how the digital watch shows the Time Prowler’s symbol, yet the others may be assigned to anyone.
I might have used a different character, but this was a problem that could only be solved by this young hero!
Victory Lap in Time
Success! These agents nearly ran out of time, quite literally, but completed the final mission before Dr. Faux could claim his own victory on the timeline.
What a cool experience! I constantly had to work out the puzzle and figure out what I could do with the artifacts.
Managing a trio of characters was also really easy with the shared deck. Later on, I had a lot more chances to choose who would activate each round, which was awesome.
However, it didn’t seem like Dr. Faux was vanquished… It was time for me to reset to play just once more!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: S.A.B.O.T.A.G.E. Mode at Easy and Normal
Outcome: 2 Wins
I upped the difficulty level to see how my team would fare. This time, they managed to defeat Dr. Faux before the end of the second cycle! It was still difficult, though, especially with the awful version of the vortexes in play. The other game modes introduce more components and challenges. I can’t wait! Also, I’ve just noticed how Cztwyzzek, or Steve, looks like he’s wearing a monocle here. Hmm…
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the characters feature unique abilities and starting decks, allowing for many different types of strategies.
- The solo mode requires multiple characters, yet the use of a shared deck is easy to use with interesting mechanics.
- Battling Dr. Faux and his clones across time is a thrilling sort of theme that comes through with quirky artwork.
- Many different modes of play and difficulty levels are included to try out challenges and improve with time.
- Gameplay moves along quickly and may not be particularly short, yet decisions keep the experience engaging.
- There are tons of different artifacts to pick up and use, allowing all sorts of really cool combinations during turns.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Placing the artifacts around the different ages can take up extra table space and make things a little crowded.
- There isn’t a huge amount of variety with the missions, although different game modes add new components.
- Without an insert, the box feels a little too large for the contents and everything is apt to move around quite a bit.
- Some of the cubes don’t move far from the tower, so it can be hard to see them on the opposite side of the board.
Victory Conditions
Complete All Objectives
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win the S.A.B.O.T.A.G.E. mode at the easy difficulty level.
Win the S.A.B.O.T.A.G.E. mode at the normal difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you tried the solo mode for The LOOP? What are some of your favorite elements of this quirky game? Such a great experience! I didn’t know if this would feel different enough to be enjoyable, yet I convinced myself to immediately pick up the expansions. So much fun to look forward to! Or wait… Did it already happen when Dr. Faux came through? Ha!
Glad to see you were able to play at least a little !
The Loop looks completely bonkers to me. In a good way. I haven’t had the chance to play it though.
Thanks! Luckily, COVID came on after I went through and started playing a bunch of solo games. It’s been nice to be able to write about these sessions in short bursts, although I miss my games! Hopefully, I’ll be back to play more soon.
“Bonkers” does seem to describe this one! It’s really interesting to think about what’s happening on these turns, yet the puzzle holds its own. Really glad I finally played my copy!