🗺️ Projekt A.R.T. — Ocean’s Eight in Japan?

⭐ 2/10

⭐ Rating: 2/10
Players: 1–6
Playtime: ~40 min
Difficulty: Medium (resource management + co-op + heavy randomness)
Game type: Cooperative / Adventure / Family

Project A.R.T. is a cooperative board game where you become part of the Art Rescue Team, chasing down the criminal syndicate White Hand that’s stealing masterpieces around the world. From Japan and Egypt, through the USA and Scandinavia, to Polynesia and Rio de Janeiro – each map has its own twist and fresh challenges.

You’ll juggle shared resources (fuel, weapons, radios, health), fight enemy agents, and collect clues. Four difficulty levels – from “easy” to heroic – promise replayability, at least in theory.

🎯 Objective
Recover enough stolen artworks before White Hand overwhelms the cities or wipes out your team.

🛡️ How a turn works

• Each player draws 2 mission cards and picks one.

• Cards show costs (resources), where agents appear, and clues (icons).

• The group decides which cards to play and in what order.

• After resolving the card, players may move (spending fuel) or fight agents (dice rolls modified by weapons and radios).

• Three identical icons = a crate with stolen art appears. To claim it, you must reach the location and clear all agents.

🔥 Why I (don’t) like it
Pros: gorgeous Vincent Dutrait artwork, variety of maps, solid production, that cool “special mission” vibe.
Cons: the game lives and dies on randomness — what cards you draw, what dice you roll. In bigger groups, it works a bit better. But in 2 players it felt like every turn we were short on something — fuel, radios, or time. The rulebook is “simple,” yet winning demands replaying scenarios over and over. After a few tries, my motivation was gone.

🏆 How to win in Project A.R.T.

• Manage resources carefully – don’t burn everything at once.

• Radios are key – without extra dice, fights are pure luck.

• Split roles – one fights, one gathers clues, one handles crises.

• Watch the clock – the deck runs out faster than you think.

☕ Impressions
I bought this game for Japan and art – I wanted the Ocean’s Eight vibe and to play Sandra Bullock. Instead of a clever heist, I got endless resource-management grind. With 3 players it was tough but playable. With 2, it felt like trying to play co-op without resources — everything was missing.

Solo didn’t work for me either. The Japan map looked great, the rules seemed clear, yet I just couldn’t find the rhythm. I kept losing, and there was nothing fun or ironic about it. Life already throws me enough losses; I don’t need a game that makes me fail again and again. I play for fun, not for self-punishment 🙂

🎯 Final rating: 2/10
+1 for the beautiful art, +1 for the maps.
The rest? Too much randomness, too little satisfaction.Game given away.