Stellar Dread is a science fiction deck with an unsettling tone that offers, alongside a themed design, a puzzle game built into the cards themselves. The story casts the player as the sole survivor aboard the ship Edenetheus, where robots controlled by an artificial intelligence have turned against the crew. This is the special edition of the AI line, one of the collection’s two storylines (the other is Virus).

• DesignStellar Dread line, AI storyline, special edition
• Tuck boxhatch that opens with a cogwheel
• Contents55 custom cards with a built-in puzzle

Design

All 55 cards are fully custom. The back shows the hatch of the ship Edenetheus, and the court cards in this edition depict rogue machines that have been corrupted and want to wipe out humanity; in the standard edition of the same line, by contrast, the court cards are robotic sentinels with specific roles on board.

The most striking part is the tuck box: it imitates a hatch door that opens when you turn a cogwheel, revealing the cards. The standard edition uses a simpler box with ventilation lines.

The puzzle

The deck hides messages that must be deciphered to outwit the artificial intelligence and escape the ship. It is a common feature of the decks in this line, designed for people who enjoy clue-based games as much as cards.