Kingdom Death: Monster

BaBalleflassstar6,0

I used to own everything from season 1 and 2, but I only played about 70% of the core box before I got tired of its flaws. This game started as a 9/10 for me the first 2-3 fights, then it went downhill from there as the game just threw all kinds of negative effects on you until you just dies before even reaching a fight because of hunt cards and settlement events. The rulebook is great and also has an awesome tutorial that eases you into the game. I love the monster reaction cards and that damage to the monster removes reaction cards to symbolize the monster being more tired/broken, which is a mechanic I find to be a simple and great solution. Some of my problems with the game is the huge swingyness and randomness with very few ways to mitigate it. You do have "survival points" that allow rerolls and you do have some gear items that lets you look at and rearrange monster AI cards to kinda predict what it will do, but at the end of the day, it all depends on being somewhat lucky with the D10 die rolls, but this is not much different from other games. The worst problem is the hunt phase where you often draw cards that is very crippling for your group right before you enter a fight where you don't really have a chance unless you start at peak performance. After having drawn a bunch of hunt cards and settlement events you'll grow tired of never having a fun boss fight as one of the players often starts with a huge negative effect making the boss fight kinda boring for that person. This is a 1-2 player game IMO as that will let the players often have at least 1 survivor that "works". I dont like that you need to mine/gather materials during the boss fight. Why cant the items that are left on the board at the end of the fight be auto-gathererd/mined unless they gets destroyed by the fight itself? I prefer this over Aeon Trespass when it comes to the total package as I love the settlement phase where you build buildings and craft items. The emergent storytelling is also fantastic. But at the end of the day, this is a boss fighter, and it gets boring for me when all a fighter can do is move + swing weapon unless they have a headband that lets you peak on the next AI cards or dodge. I'm more into the Middara , Gloomhaven and Street Masters camp where every character has a bunch of different cool abilities/skills they can use every turn. So I sold it.

cscschacalstar9,0

This is not a game it is an experience. If you like long campaign thematic games this is your game (if your wallet can afford it). This game is about surviving killing grotesque mosters in a nightmarish world. You will command a settlement and you will have to manage its population giving them equipment and weapons. You will see them die (a lot) and giving birth to new generations. Hunting monsters to obtain resources is the engine of the game and the monster's AI is one the strongest points of the game. Every monster has its own AI deck and has to be deal with in a different way. The only issues with the game in my opinion are the price and the lack of variety in quarries during the same campaign (you can select different quarries for new campaigns)

Lockterstar9,3

I really like the game and I want to play more. See how things develop and the story unravels in tiny bits. For me the best phase is the settlement one. Choosing what to craft or build, in which things spend endeavours are really thrilling and have a huge impact in the future. The combat in the showdown is pretty awesome too. At first it seems very simple but when you start gaining new survivals actions, fighting arts and gears and you learn how to combine them it changes everything. The combat have more tactic than - get next to the monster / hit / repeat - The hunt phase is the least phase I like. It's just ok. It shows you some lore from the world and things that happen in it. But there is little decisions to make. This keep the game from a 10.