Paul Dennen’s Clank! series has been one of the most successful deckbuilding franchises in modern board gaming, and Clank! Catacombs, published by Dire Wolf Digital in 2022, represents the system’s most significant evolution. Instead of a fixed game board, the dungeon is built from modular tiles that players explore and reveal during play. Each game creates a different layout, with treasures, dangers, and secrets distributed across the tile stack. The core Clank! concept remains: build a deck, explore a dungeon, steal treasure, and escape before the dragon kills you.
Community reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with many calling Catacombs the definitive Clank! experience. The modular dungeon addresses the main criticism of the original (same map every game), and the exploration element adds excitement that the fixed board couldn’t generate. The game has quickly become the recommended entry point for new players and the preferred version for veterans.
A Dungeon That’s Different Every Time
Modular tile exploration transforms the Clank! formula. Instead of navigating a known map, players reveal new dungeon tiles as they explore, creating moments of discovery that the fixed board could never produce. Finding a treasure room when you need one or revealing a dead end when you’re racing for the exit creates narrative drama that emerges naturally from the mechanics. The unknown dungeon makes every game feel like a genuine adventure rather than a route optimization puzzle.
Deckbuilding decisions carry more weight when the dungeon is uncertain. In original Clank!, you could plan your deck around the known map layout. In Catacombs, you’re building a deck to handle whatever the dungeon throws at you, which rewards flexibility over specialization. Cards that provide movement, attack, skill, and noise reduction all compete for deck space, and the balance between these capabilities matters more when you can’t predict what you’ll need.
The push-your-luck tension is the series’ signature strength, and Catacombs amplifies it. Going deeper into the dungeon means better treasures but more danger. The dragon attack draws pull cubes from a bag that fills with your Clank! noise tokens, and every cube drawn that matches your color deals damage. The escalating danger as the dragon gets angrier creates a mounting pressure that produces genuine moments of dread when the bag is drawn. Deciding when to turn back is always agonizing in the best possible way.
The tile-based layout creates natural interaction between players. Exploring tiles reveals passages that other players can use, and the race to reach high-value treasures before opponents adds competitive urgency to the exploration. The shared dungeon means one player’s choices shape everyone’s options, keeping the competitive element alive throughout.
Artifact variety provides strategic direction for each session. Different artifacts offer different point values and require different depths of dungeon penetration. The tension between grabbing a nearby artifact and escaping quickly versus pushing for a valuable artifact deep in the dungeon gives players a meaningful strategic choice at the start of each game that shapes their entire session.
The Dragon’s Random Fury
The bag-drawing attack mechanism, while dramatically satisfying, can produce outcomes that feel unfair. A player who’s been careful about noise generation can still be eliminated if the bag happens to pull their cubes in a concentrated burst. This randomness is the game’s primary source of frustration, and players who build efficient, low-noise decks can still die to bad luck in the attack draws.
At two players, the dungeon exploration and competitive dynamics lose some of their intensity. With only two people revealing tiles and racing for treasures, there’s less urgency and less interaction. The game functions at two but doesn’t produce the same excitement as sessions with three or four, where the dungeon fills faster and the competition for treasures is fiercer.
Game length can extend beyond the intended 60 to 90 minutes, particularly with players who are new to the system or prone to deliberating over deckbuilding choices. The exploration element adds time because players are evaluating new tile information in addition to their standard card decisions.
Setup and teardown are more involved than the original Clank! due to the tile sorting and market preparation. The modular nature of the dungeon means you’re shuffling and organizing tiles before each game, and the cleanup involves sorting everything back into the box. For a game in this weight class, the logistics are manageable but noticeable.
Going Deeper Than You Should
The defining experience of Clank! Catacombs is the moment when you know you should head for the exit but the next tile might have something amazing behind it. That tension between safety and greed is what makes the game memorable, and the modular dungeon ensures that the temptation is always fresh. You can’t learn the optimal depth through repeated plays because the dungeon is different every time, which keeps the push-your-luck decision genuine rather than calculated.
Should You Play Clank! Catacombs?
This game is for groups of three or four who enjoy adventure-themed deckbuilders and want something with genuine excitement and replayability. If you’ve played original Clank! and wanted more variety, Catacombs is the answer. If you’re new to the series, this is the best starting point. The combination of deckbuilding strategy and dungeon exploration creates an experience that’s both mechanically satisfying and narratively memorable.
Skip it if you want a tightly balanced competitive experience with minimal randomness, if you primarily play at two, or if the setup time for a modular tile game bothers you. Catacombs trades some of the original’s streamlined simplicity for exploration and variety, and that trade-off isn’t right for every group.
The Verdict on Clank! Catacombs
Clank! Catacombs is the best version of the best deckbuilding adventure game. The modular dungeon solves the replayability issue that limited the original, the exploration creates genuine moments of discovery, and the push-your-luck tension remains as gripping as ever. Dragon attack randomness can sting, and the game shines brightest at higher player counts. But for groups looking for a game that combines strategic deckbuilding with the thrill of exploring the unknown, Catacombs sets the standard.