Dissenting opinion: my wife and I find In Too Deep very good in person.
The components are nice, which helps with the setting and immersion. I’m sure it also helps when you don’t have to deal with the clunkiness of a VTT and have for all the components and markers on the table.
The game is short and light enough that we didn’t have an issue with the luck aspect. It’s there, but not overbearing. After all, you have varied criminals with different powers to complete your story missions and side crimes. Using their ability once you are hooked on deep enough is crucial. You can also draw more side crimes to help you get more rewards and complete more missions through boost tiles.
For us, the joy is in creating those combos with the criminals letting us complete more than one objective a turn.
And having played several games, the aspect of going in to deep and what it means for your play style is definitely a strategic consideration.
It’s a pick up and deliver puzzle game. We feel it does the genre justice. But I can understand it’s not for everyone. Different tastes and all that, obviously.