Nemesis Lockdown takes the blueprint of the Nemesis base game and expands on it further with a few new gameplay mechanics. This time you are on a secret base on Mars following the events of the first Nemesis game. The base is rapidly losing power and you have to manage the facilities power as intruder attacks and events are more punishing when you are in the dark. A great new feature is that noise is removed from corridors in sections that are powered. The game introduces new characters each with some cool new abilities.
If you don't die, you can isolate yourself in the isolation room or you can escape by sending yourself off the base using the cargo sending system, or jump in the rover and drive to the bunker. However, the Corporation's secret contingency plan will determine which of those escape methods are safe or not. You need to work with the other players to discover what the secret contingency plan may be. Again, all players have their own secret objectives so you may not always be able to trust them.
I'm a fan of the original Nemesis and I loved this new take on Nemesis. They've taken a really solid game and made it even better. Playing Nemesis Lockdown required learning a few more rules than the base Nemesis game. This is OK if you are already familiar with the original Nemesis game but may take a bit of effort if you are a new Nemesis player. Also, some rules aren't explained well in the rulebook so I would suggest referring to a video tutorial on YouTube or checking out Board Game Geek for rules clarifications. The games I've played so far have been about 2.5 – 3 hours, slightly longer than my base Nemesis playthroughs.
Both the base Nemesis game and Nemesis Lockdown are awesome games, and I love them both. If I want a shorter game and setup with fewer rules I'll play Nemesis. If I want a deeper experience then I'll play Nemesis Lockdown.
