Gloomhaven

This is an excellent adaptation of the board game that removes all the nuisance of time-consuming setup, teardown, and monster management. Fans of the board game will love it. For those not familiar with the board game, it's a tactical puzzle, not an RPG. Don't play this if you want story or characters; this is battle chess on steroids and the characters are really just chess pieces with 20+ different "moves" vs. 1 or 2. The reason it's a puzzle and not just another turn-based tactics game is that you have a max number of turns you can take based on how many cards you have, and you must manage those turns carefully to complete the scenario before you run out of cards. As in chess, if you want to win, you have to know what all the pieces do. The monsters in this game - the opponent's "pieces" - follow a strict AI logic and order of operations in determining who they'll attack and what they'll do on their turns. Success at this game absolutely depends on understanding that logic, and after hundreds of hours at this game, the digital game just doesn't give you the knowledge you need to succeed. That's fine if you can learn it by playing, and some of it you can, but not all. Without reading the board game rules, there WILL be times you'll say "why did he attack this character and not that one? why did he move here and not there? why didn't he move at all??" and miscalculating will be the difference between winning and losing. That's bad, because it will drive new players to frustration and feeling the game's stacked against them. It is a fantastic brain-burny game that's so rewarding for strategic players, but my advice to new players - read the board game rulebook section on monster focus and movement. Or, remember that it exists for when you get mad. :)

I thought I'd love the game..... but strategy wise it just... doesn't seem to do _anything_ other games don't do better. Tutorial is very long, and not really challening... there might be challenge somewhere down the line, but it just feels like a chore to try to get to that point. The top/bottom of the card mechanics seemed like it would be interesting tactically.... but it just was not. I don't know if the strategy aspect would get better, but it's one of the few games that just felt completely like a chore.

The core idea of of the game is very good but it is one thing what makes me put the game into the bin: The scenario difficulty comes along with the charakter average level and how many chars you are using. This mechanic alone does not destroy the game yet, but you hold all the experience and money you get in a dungeon even if your merceneris get killed or are out of cards. So if you stuck on one scenario it will be more and more difficult if you cannot handle it on the first place. What you get for every level up does not help you enough because you still need to rely on some level 1 cards and e.g. 3 damage is nothing if all monsters have like 14 HP. If you are not able to beat an scenario fast, you get into a vicous cycle with all the experience points you gain unvoluntary. Additionally you cannot save so you cannot reverse the negative efffekt if you failed.

countless hours of fun with friends

Tons of hours of gameplay! Great tactical combat