Apollo Melo
8 de enero de 2015
Most Importantly: Better than Arkham Horror.
Let's make something clear: this game is not for everyone. It's likely that if you're reading this review, you're already a hobby boardgamer and looking for something a little on the "heavy" side to play. Eldritch Horror fills that roll admirably without becoming cumbersome.Years ago, Fantasy Flight games released "Arkham Horror," a take on Lovecraftian fiction set in the town of Arkham. The premise of the game was simple - monsters spewing through gates, investigators trying to stop them, and a great ancient evil biding its time until it arrived to destroy the world. If the premise was simple, the actual gameplay was the complete opposite. There was very little intuitive about playing the game. In a way, the fact that players were so hapless and helpless fit the theme of Lovecraft very well. A compelling story could be told... in between the hundreds of time one might stop to clarify something in the rulebook.Eldritch Horror is a much better game than that. In fact, it's a great game. The theme still shines, and is in fact helped by taking the adventure to a global scale, rather than just the city of Arkham. Starting with the second time I played the game, it takes me between 20 and 35 minutes to set up the game, depending on how many players I have. Perfectly reasonable for a game of this scope and magnitude; it looks big on the table, but trust me when I say you shouldn't be intimidated. Unlike many heavily themed, hobby-level board games, this one actually makes sense as you play it.Skill checks are handled simplistically through dice rolling. It's a system that works, and is so accessible you can teach even the most casual gamer to play. Here is where I stopped to consider whether I would give this game only four stars, though. While you're working on maximizing your character's stats to roll the maximum number of dice (successes are represented by 5's and 6's), something things just *happen* to your character, things which are inherently unfair, and if they happen too soon in the game, could go as far as to make things feel "unfun". Here's the thing, though... that inherent disparity of power between your investigators and the world fits Lovecraft so well. True horror isn't the capable adventurer staving off every threat with his quick wits and impressive luck. True horror is a powerless victim against an unknowable evil. In most other games, I would have knocked off the star, but Eldritch Horror gets to keep the star for their consistency.The game, however, has a pretty cool mechanic to make up for what happened. Once an investigator is knocked from the game, you can get another character out of the box, place them on the board with their starting goods, and get back to work. The game is not over for any player who was just unlucky, unless of course the team does so poorly that they start losing all the characters in the box. Further, with the exception of a couple methods of death (such as being "devoured" on a few cards) usually the character hangs around the place of their untimely demise as a potential encounter. This is a wonderful mechanic! Characters are killed off, sure, but they receive their final curtain call if you have time to spare for your fallen comrade - often giving their items or other assistance to the new characters.Finally, this game is perfectly playable as a solo adventure. I like solo board game. I'm married to a gamer, but she's quite picky about just which games she'll play and some of these heavier ones aren't her thing. I don't have a local gaming group, either. That's okay! A reasonable twenty minutes to set up, and off I go. While the game does work (and officially supports) using just one character, most solo players prefer playing with two characters. Use as many as you feel like, since this is a cooperative game the decision really is up to you. One warning with this: the game is easy to understand, but after two characters I feel like the normally reasonable amount of detail you need to keep up with for each character suddenly becomes a slog. Playing with four characters was cool, and made a board that was full of action and synergy, but I found myself forgetting about my character's abilities when I needed them.If you have a serious board game hobby, I hope you give Eldritch Horror a try. It's deep enough to keep you coming back for a long time, and easy enough to teach your less experienced friends without scaring them off. Enjoy!Ver másVer menos
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