Hengst2404

This game is very much a situation where you will get from it, what you put into it. It does feature a lot of rules, a ton of components and a box that will cry out for an organizer. On top of that it is highly challenging at times, but let’s take a closer look.

Taking place in Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Horror series, this game is the follow-up to the popular Arkham Horror. Having said that, this game is a beast all it’s own. It is streamlined from Arkham Horror, featuring far fewer rules, but still having the familiar theme of working together with other investigators, in an effort to prevent the Ancient Ones from rising up and destroying mankind.

Players take turns moving around the globe, acquiring weapons, spells and allies to help them in their tasks. Ever present is the doom counter, which will tend to move on nearly every turn and if it gets to one, the Ancient One awakens and you are really in for a world of hurt.

I enjoyed this for its cooperative nature, coupled with an often sadistic opponent in the form of the game mechanics. Every round you have a mythos phase, where you sometimes get more enemies, a rumor that can cause you to lose the game if not addressed, not to mention events that can cause you to become injured or lose some of your sanity points. Unlike Arkham Horror, when you lose all of your sanity or health, you are essentially done and forced to draw a new character in order to continue.

I could go on, but take a look at the game on youtube and see if it suits you. The games can run from 2-5 hours, depending on the experience and number of players. I must warn that the game has some seriously hard Ancient Ones, a level of randomness that can undo the best players and additionally a total of 7 expansions that each add new characters, Ancient ones, enemies and often new play mechanics that can make the game more interesting.

This is currently my favorite cooperative game and we try to play this at least once a month. It can be played solo, although make sure you use at least two investigators. Bear in mind that random numbers of players often makes it more challenging for reasons I have not yet figured out. There is a wonderful online community out there that is very passionate about this game, do not hesitate to reach out and use them as needed!