Side Quest: Nemesis Cooperative Puzzle Game

About this product

The ship is silent. The cargo is waiting. Something else is aboard.

Standalone cooperative puzzle adventure • 1–4 players • Ages 14+ • 60–90 minutes

Investigate a silent spaceship, solve interconnected puzzles and make difficult decisions as you uncover what happened aboard in this standalone adventure set in the Nemesis universe.

Product Description

Side Quest: Nemesis is a standalone game. You do not need to own or know how to play Nemesis.

Captain Jessica Kowalski and her crew have been offered what should have been a straightforward job: locate the missing cargo ship Petya, assess its condition and make sure its valuable cargo reaches Earth.

Then they find the ship.

There is no response to their calls, but the onboard scan detects signs of life — including alien organisms known as Intruders.

In Side Quest: Nemesis, you and your fellow players step into a story-driven puzzle adventure set in the dark sci-fi universe of Nemesis. Work together to examine information, connect clues and solve a series of challenges as the mystery aboard the ship unfolds.

The game combines deduction, observation and creative problem-solving with difficult decisions and an atmospheric narrative. Instead of relying on the tactical combat system of the larger Nemesis board games, Side Quest focuses on puzzles, discovery and cooperative storytelling, creating a self-contained experience designed to test how well your group can think beyond the obvious.

Something is hiding aboard the ship.

Complete the mission. Avoid infection. And find out what happened before it is too late.

Why You’ll Love It

• A complete standalone adventure: Enjoy the Nemesis universe without owning any other Nemesis game.
• Solve puzzles together: Share ideas, examine clues and work as a team to overcome interconnected challenges.
• Strong sci-fi horror atmosphere: Investigate an abandoned ship where silence, uncertainty and hidden Intruders keep the tension high.
• Story-driven gameplay: The mystery develops as you progress, combining puzzles with narrative and meaningful decisions.
• Tests more than memory: Observation, deduction, creativity and thinking outside the box all play an important role.
• Designed for 1–4 players: Investigate alone or bring a small team aboard for a cooperative experience.
• From the creators of Escape Tales: Side Quest brings escape-room-style puzzle design into the world of Nemesis.

Quick Details

• Players: 1–4
• Recommended Age: 14+
• Playing Time: 60–90 minutes
• Game Type: Cooperative narrative puzzle game
• Category: Deduction Puzzle
• Mechanism: Cooperative Storytelling
• Theme: Science-fiction horror
• Designers: Jakub Caban and Bartosz Idzikowski
• Storyline: Andrew Lynch
• Publisher: Board&Dice
• Universe: Nemesis
• Standalone Game: Yes
• Nemesis Base Game Required: No

Good to Know

• Side Quest: Nemesis is not a Nemesis expansion.
• No previous experience with Nemesis is required.
• The game focuses on cooperative puzzle solving and narrative rather than the tactical survival-combat system of the main Nemesis board games.
• Players investigate clues and work together to progress through the story.
• The game does not use a separate traditional rulebook; information and gameplay instructions are introduced through its card-driven structure.
• An Answer Matrix, Answer Tiles and Hints Sheet are included to support the puzzle-solving experience.
• The box creates part of the physical play environment, alongside additional components used to build the game's three-dimensional setting.
• Be careful when looking up solutions or discussions online, puzzle spoilers can reveal parts of the experience.

• Storyline: Read the Side Quest: Nemesis Storyline (PDF)

Components

• 54 Game Cards
• 1 Answer Matrix
• 8 Answer Tiles
• 1 Hints Sheet
• 1 Character Board
• 1 Life Support Token
• 1 Crew Figure
• 1 Storage
• 8 Supplies Tiles
• 4 Sets of Resource Tiles
• 6 Intruder Tiles
• 8 Energy Wings Tiles
• 1 Core Tile
• 3 Sheets for Creating the 3D Environment