In terms of taking the board game and simulating it in a digital game, this does an A+ job. Everything is pretty clear, at your finger tips, and there's no room for human error in applying rules. It looks great, it presents the settings and characters so well, and the added sound effects and animations make it a great port. The map is beautiful and strategically sound. If you like the board game, you'll like this. Personally I wish there were more options to speed up gameplay though. The gameplay in a way pays fidelity to the source material in that parity is paramount, the game is designed to keep things relatively close, without one house totally dominating. This is both the game's strength and it's weakness. This is very contradictory, but so is the game. There are a lot of caps and rules on how many units one can have and how many units can be in one army. This hamstrings anyone from becoming too dominant. Things move in kind of waves of attacks and counter attacks. Any house can beat another as they cycle through their character cards. You can't be everywhere all at once and your neighbors are going to exploit your weaknesses. It leads to a grindy affair. Sometimes winning is losing (taking a stronghold with a siege engine only to be unable to hold it upon counterattack losing both). Sometimes losing is winning (you get rid of your last card, and although you lost, your units retreated and will counterattack with a fresh set of cards next round). Sometimes you are strongest when you're pressed back on your heels and weakest when you over extend. It's all very contradictory, but that's the essence of the game and what makes it both interesting and frustrating. I haven't played multiplayer, but due to the grindy nature I feel there's not a lot of replayability.. I'd almost prefer playing the board game face to face with friends/family.
This additional game mode falls short for me. It's kind of an open world, unfettered by the main quest/narrative, which for me is what pushed the game forward, and breathed life into the game. In this mode there are some side quests, and the familiar exploring, upgrading, hunting, adventuring, and surviving but instead of being in service to a darkly epic showdown with Moby Dick, it's become a weird competition with the other AI whalers, which is ultimately much less compelling. I would've loved that an expanded map, quests, content etc, even the captain's competition to be ADDED to the "story mode". Instead the new content is only available in an inferior game mode. It seems kind of pointless and unnecessary for me such as it is.
