Into the Past, Present, and Future Times with The LOOP
Chase Dr. Faux through time to destroy his evil clones and use both historic and fantastic items to save the universe in The LOOP.
My gaze settled on The LOOP when I was peering at my game shelves the other day, and I realized it seemed to exist in its own paradoxical time loop… I last played years ago! This is a quirky sort of threat management solo game with an unforgettable theme, plenty of humor, and a really great set of mechanics. Time to time travel to defeat the evil Dr. Faux!
Game Overview
Game Name: The LOOP
Publication Year: 2020
Designers: Maxime Rambourg & Théo Rivière
Artist: Simon Caruso
Publisher: Pandasaurus Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Across 7 ages, Dr. Faux travels with his Machine, creating rifts and cloning himself. Time itself is in peril, yet agents must time travel to clear these threats with amazing items as they work to complete missions. Saving the universe is no big deal… But vortexes and time paradoxes definitely are!
First Play
August 29, 2023
Complexity
3
Latest Play
August 1, 2026
Expansions
2
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
6
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
N/A
Game Area
38" x 24"
Low Score
N/A
Excellent Adventure
I’m often surprised to see that this one didn’t seem to have a larger release. Finding a copy nowadays is hard, especially one that includes the expansions. But what a great game!
The theme is about time traveling through various ages. Items show up that feel aligned with these time periods, often in humorous ways. And the threats! Very challenging.
Dr. Faux moves to a new age each turn, yet there is a record of his travels each cycle. This information is vital to win.
Describing it in a few sentences is difficult with all of the components, yet it all comes together in a wonderful way.
The Dream Team
This solo mode stands out because it’s about randomly activating characters, but this slowly becomes one filled with more agency as the game progresses. Really clever!
Anywhere from 2 to 4 agents may be used, yet the recommended trio worked for me in the past. Here we go!
A cat magician, a being from the beginning of time, and a robot killer? YES. These are the sorts of agents to utilize. Ha!
Each features a unique ability and starting deck. All of these cards are mixed together, and only when an agent has 3 (or 4 for Catruman) cards assigned do they take a turn.
Not the Machine!
The Machine! Dr. Faux focuses this on the age he travels to each turn, and a number of rift cubes are dropped. This means that there are 3 ages that might be affected.
This randomness keeps things interesting, and can lead to a safe turn… Or utter disaster. Unpredictable Dr. Faux!
Yet clones also exist. Moving them to different ages is how they’re destroyed, as the monocle shows their origin age.
It all sounds chaotic when I seem to yell about it in excited way. Ha! The flow is quite excellent, though, and every turn features some interesting choices about how to proceed.
Universal Items
There are plenty of thematic items in each agent’s starting deck, all with some sort of unique ability. I loved telling little stories about why these items helped out in their own ways.
At first, an agent activates based on the order of the deck. Starting cards show an agent in the bottom left, so it’s simply a matter of drawing 3 (or 4) for a single agent.
Later on, new items don’t show an agent and can be assigned to anyone. It doesn’t change the requirement, but…
So many choices! I really enjoyed how new items opened up gameplay a lot and allowed me to customize my play style.
A Silly Sort of Fun and a Great Time at the Table
When it comes to science fiction, I often enjoy the quirky or comical side over the more serious, horror-related elements. It’s a mystery why I haven’t played this one more! The time traveling element comes with a healthy dose of humor, from jokes in the agent profiles to the sorts of items that can be found. I had a really great time as I laughed over Dr. Faux!
Well, I did lose a few times, so maybe Dr. Faux is no laughing matter. Whoops… Ha ha! It was still a lot of fun to imagine these agents zipping through time as they knocked clones into other eras or quietly took a famous relic along. Was it really stealing if the goal was to save time and the universe? Maybe that’s what happens to all of the lost socks of the world!
Part of what makes this game so great are the solid mechanics, but I don’t want to gloss over the theme. It doesn’t feel pasted on, at least to me. I’m not moving cubes and tokens around: I’m out there battling Dr. Faux, closing down rifts that might threaten the Mona Lisa, and randomly appearing across the ages without questions asked. It’s sci-fi gold, I tell you!
Disaster at the Start
Each age can hold up to 3 rift cubes and still remain safe. But look at this! Vortexes formed nearby and it looked like disaster. Indeed, as I dropped the final cubes, it was bad.
Go figure that the loss happened by destroying the beginning of time. It was a difficult defeat with how close I was to winning, but I definitely didn’t manage everything.
There is a neat balance that needs to happen, and it’s easy to forget about the missions. They’re vital to win, though!
So the agents failed on this timeline, but as this is a game of time travel, nothing bad happened… Just a new time reset.
The Final Success
I played through the starting mission at the easiest difficulty setting a few times before things started to come together. Do not trust me with saving the universe. Ha ha!
However, I think this play came together thanks to Robofinisher 404 getting pretty upset. I mean, look at that serious face and just imagine the monotone voice box.
An Emergency Meteorite fell at the right time, courtesy of a cat magician, and suddenly, the missions were complete!
This was a hard-fought victory and I loved every moment. A great game that I’ll spend more time with! In the future…
Session Overview
Play Number: 3-5
Expansion 1: The LOOP: Fur Brigade
Expansion 2: The LOOP: The Revenge of Fauxzilla
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: S.A.B.O.T.A.G.E. Employee of the Month
Outcome: 1 Win & 2 Losses
Hurray for using some interesting items to achieve victory! Actually, the Cursed VHS Tape led to a loss, and I think Catruman may have either watched it, or unwound it. Ha! There are lots of other modes to change up gameplay, and I can’t wait to see what else is waiting for me across time!
%
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)
- Managing the threats constantly changes and provides an ongoing puzzle that’s both fun and very challenging.
- Each agent plays very differently with unique abilities and cards that allow them to help in their own unique ways.
- A good amount of humor is present in the quirky theme, which makes the game memorable and enjoyable.
- Multiple modes and difficulty levels exist to tailor the experience to whatever might seem like the right option.
- The solo mode seems simple at first, but there are nuances to picking up new item cards and activating the agents.
- Play time moves quickly with a clear sequence of play and constant action, along with insight into Dr. Faux’s next era.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The board state can look chaotic at times with the different components and items in all of the eras plus the Machine.
- Even with decent planning, bad luck can result in a vortex or instant loss even when the odds are pretty safe.
- There is a lot of extra space in the box, yet the rulebook is sized to be as large as possible, which can be unruly.
- Some agent meeples are the same color or a similar overall shape, which can make differentiating them tricky.
Victory Conditions
Complete All Objectives
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win S.A.B.O.T.A.G.E. mode as Employee of the Month.
Win S.A.B.O.T.A.G.E. mode as Employee of the Year.
Win Sayan Supa Clones mode as Employee of the Month.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like the most about The LOOP? Is there a mode you prefer to play with, or a particular set of agents you enjoy? I had a blast working through the puzzle, and this was at the easiest difficulty level! So many moving parts keep each turn engaging, and I’m excited to see how the solo game changes with different modes. Glad this wasn’t lost in time forever!
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