Today on “Decent, But Massively Overrated Cooperative Campaign Games” we have The 7th Continent. Real talk, it seems like all it takes these days to garner universal praise and shoot up the BGG rankings like an express elevator is a couple clever gimmicks and an expensive Kickstarter. It’s by no means terrible, but The 7th Continent is about as mixed a bag as I’ve ever seen. Interesting one minute, groan-worthy the next; constantly building anticipation, then clumsily deflating itself. It’s loaded with creativity and promise, but bloated by repetitive mechanisms, dumb puzzles, egregious admin, and terrible pacing. So many disparate ideas are crammed into the game alongside one another that it seems like whether or not they actually worked well together was secondary to sheer volume. And, like Gloomhaven beside it, the video game wannabe vibes here are off the charts. Alas, though I do agree there is a lot about The 7th Continent to be impressed by, it’s hard for me to be super enthusiastic about a game that every one of my experiences with has been more arduous than fun. In theory, The 7th Continent is a co-operative exploration/survival game. In practice, it feels more like a filing cabinet simulator. Reason being, the players must build the board of The 7th Continent as they play using hundreds and hundreds of numbered-and-color-coordinated cards that they must keep carefully organized with trays and dividers. And not just for the board, these cards are used for practically everything in this game: skills, items, health, experience points, random encounters, puzzles, you name it…