Higgen

A role-playing game in board game form. Your adventure will offer you many of the tropes that you would expect of such an experience, but in cleverly executed ways. For instance, take the simple act of monster slaying. Initially, I felt overwhelmed by the difficulty they presented. Even the early creatures present a fair challenge, and you many need to kill a few in order to progress far enough to get the absolutely critical benefits of leveling up.

After planning for it and garnering my resources, I managed to get enough fame to reach the next level, but at the cost of wounds which hindered me. The process engaged me, but I also felt that the game was very difficult, possibly too much so. Soon, though, I was discovering that there are many powers, abilities, minions, and resources that enable you to prevail against what the game throws at you.

Therein lies the genius of this game. This is only my initial impression, but it is one that steadily grew in my mind throughout the game, and which only solidified itself as I continued to play. The game is balanced. Exquisitely so. You do not become so powerful that challenges are trivial, nor do you never have the ability to chip away at a problem.

To elicit the sense of achievement I felt, and to engage my imagination as it did, were why I enjoyed this game. However, I will not be purchasing it, at least not right now. Why, may you ask? Because this game only rewards you if you give it the attention that it deserves. If you are unwilling to do so, you will not enjoy this game.

The game requires that you learn its multitude of rules and their nuances, that you explore the depths of its strategies, and that you set aside a fairly large block of time (or table space to leave it set up). These are not things that most people I play board games with would be willing to commit, and that is not their fault. It’s just not the type of game they are into. I also do not play board games solitaire, so that aspect of it does not appeal to me. However, I can certainly see how it is fun, and am extremely impressed that they can pull that off, but it’s just not for me.

If you and/or your friends are interested in such an experience, and aren’t put off by the effort required to enjoy the game, then I highly recommend you give Mage Knight a try.