Back in 2008, Matt Leacock’s Pandemic launched the ongoing craze for cooperative games where the players work together to beat the system rather than against each other. But Pandemic itself was partly inspired by an earlier cooperative game by prolific German designer Reiner Knizia called Lord of the Rings and based, of course, on Tolkien's epic fantasy novel. In a surprising closure of this ring, Leacock has now created his own take on a cooperative Middle-earth game by adapting the Pandemic system in Fate of the Fellowship.
So, can this spiritual sequel live up to everything that came before? Considering how beloved Pandemic continues to be (it's on many lists of the best board games for a reason), that's going to be a tall order... but it's one Fate of the Fellowship is able to meet.
