Descent: Journeys in the Dark

EvEvanstar4.6

One player takes on the role of the overlord controlling the monsters, and a team of up to four players take on the role of the heroes. The game can be quite long, but compelling in a number of ways that I don't often see in other games of this genre. There is some character customization, but the process happens very quickly as opposed to the tech tree slog of Descent 2. Additionally, as the players progress, the map gets revealed gradually, and most maps have a secret puzzle of sorts that the players need to work out in order to win. Additionally, since each level is a one-off, over the course of a single map, players go from having a feeling of being low level scrubs into being high level masters across a single session as they collect better and better gear. That being said, the game can at times be frustrating. It could work out that several hours into a session, the players lose the game to a puzzle they didn't have the answer to. It could also be that players happen to get multiple cards together that each removes the overlord's action tokens making the next few turns a hero-steamroller rather than a proper back and forth experience. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ☆ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★☆☆☆ Raw enjoyment

FiFinnTrollstar8.0

somehow i like this game despite the loads of dice