Barnes on Games- Darkest Night in Review (part one), Eldritch Horror returns, more Argent

VPG rides again

Hey look! A co-op fantasy adventure game where you flip tokens/cards and roll dice! It's like the olden days of gaming...last week. Darkest Night certainly doesn't come across like the most original game out there, but the good news is that it is actually a DAMN good example of its genre. The main thing that I think sets it apart are the something like 30 characters across the base game and all of its expansions. Each of these has a unique deck of Power cards (with some cool iconography) that cause each one to play totally different from the others. I don't know if I've ever seen a board game handle class distinctions so well. Pathfinder had some of that, but it's even more pronounced in this game.

And there's this cool stealth theme going on, which makes up for the lackluster setting. You aren't supposed to just charge in and fight the bad guys. You've got to do this kind of guerilla war/Fellowship thing.

I really like Darkest Night a lot, there's a TON of game here. But I think it's actually best for solo players, unless you want to hear endless complaining from the guy that drew the Alchemist and either can't sort out how to play him or winds up with a few too many turns where he feels like he doesn't have anything to fight or roll a die at.

Review is the Review Section.

I don't think Darkest Night is quite as good as Eldritch Horror in this particular style of game, but it's up there. I got Strange Remnants in and I've messed around with the Syzygy GOO. Both games were, weirdly, too easy. One of them I had the waitress and the new chef character because...well, I just had to. It's an odd expansion, it doesn't really add anything other than cards and it repeats some of the mechanical ideas. Now there's a Mystic Ruins deck that works just like the Expeditions. So much for Eldritch Horror being a more streamlined, accessible take on the AH concept. It's got card creep going on.

Argent is still hot with my folks, and I'm perfectly fine with that because it's one of the best things I've played in a while. We've tried the expansion, 'Mancers of the University, and at first I thought it was something to wait and see about but the additions are easy to implement and they really do a lot to enhance the setting. Which should, in a just world, be Harry Potter.

Imperial Assault stuff is coming from MM, we'll see how that goes. I understand that there's a new "mini campaign" in it, which is a step in the right direction IMO.

Charlie and I are in the middle of doing a head-to-head review on the very workmanlike Forbidden Stars, it should be a good one.