Dungeon Petz: Dark Alleys Review

Dungeon Petz didn’t need an expansion. It’s already medium/heavy, well contained, and deeply interesting. Nevertheless, Dark Alleys slides seamlessly into the base game, provides new and interesting actions, and succeeds in providing more challenge while doing so in a way that allows players to elect which additional challenges they want to take on.

Dark Alleys adds the titular feature, a side board with four new action spaces. The spaces include a black market where players can buy one of several items like a cage, a pet, or a bodyguard. There are also the facilities where players can get an extra automatic action, the fortune teller that allows you to understand the upcoming needs of your petz, and the Slug Shop where you can buy new toys for your petz.

There are of course new petz, cages, and add-ons as well. Plus, the new actions are fun little additions. The bodyguard helps you out by being added to your imp groups when you see who gets to select first, but he won’t play with or chase petz and he won’t stay on the platform. And the Slug Shop sells trinkets that will add needs to your pets granting even more exhibition or sale points – if you can meet them.

But this expansion isn’t about just getting a few new petz and action spaces. No, the expansion is about giving veteran players even more challenge in raising their petz while not straying from the core of the game or even forcing players to enter the Alley at all. Veterans can make use of the trinkets. Adding needs to the petz can force experienced players to walk the razor’s edge. The rewards can be substantial and that encourages riskier play.

But novice players aren’t left behind. In fact, the main board is still the center of attention. A new player might ignore the Dark Alley board entirely and still be extremely competitive. Plus, the fortune teller and facilities are great ways to give them a little boost. Going to the facilities can use up a precious action that might have been better elsewhere. But the free action every turn thereafter may be worth it. In fact, facilities tend to be better the earlier you get to them, but that’s also the time you’re desperately trying to get your cages and petz set up. It definitely adds to the tension of the early game.

But the most interesting slot in the Dark Alley is the black market. In the base game, there were only three pets that could be sold in a given round. With four players present, that meant that at least one player was going to have no pet on the first turn. Now, that fourth player can head over to the black market and buy a pet. Boom, four petz on the first turn.

The nice thing is that no one gets left out. On the other hand, now all four players are likely to be competing for food, addons, and other pet items instead of just three. It can make competition on the main board that much more cutthroat.

Dark Alleys invites you to further explore the Dungeon Petz world. It’s still populated by imps who seem to engage in activities slightly beyond their capabilities. And it isn’t shy about stirring the pot of what it means to raise dungeon petz. For example, all of the new petz have special abilities. In the base game, petz were mechanically the same and differed only in which need cards were drawn. But with the expansion, each pet also has a unique power. The soulful-eyed lemur, for example, can have a play need met simply by watching another bet be played with. Meanwhile Wreckie doesn’t run away if his anger needs aren’t met. Instead, he simply destroys cages and addons on your board.

Not only do these petz add some great color to the game – which was already doing well in that department – but new challenges and ways to synergize your petz. Some will be more suited to a multi-pet strategy of trying to keep three or four cages full. Some will serve you better with a focused strategy of trying to raise one or two petz at a time for maximum profit.

Dark Alleys isn’t the kind of expansion that will bring you to love the game if you hated it to begin with. In truth, those expansions are exceedingly rare. But it is the kind of expansion that takes the base game and delivers on the central promise and motif. Dungeon Petz is about raising creatures that are somewhat out of your control. Dark Alleys introduces new ways to make your control more tenuous for added benefit, but also a few ways to get more control – at the cost of actions.

If you like the base game, checking out this expansion is a no brainer. It’s fun, increases the decision space, is thematically on pace, and opens new strategies, opportunities, and competition for your Dungeon Petz game.