Campaign Game List

Let’s see all of the games that I put on the list. We have several that are fantasy, really all are, one with more of an anime theme to it. And then we also have a legacy game on the list as well. Some are bigger campaigns, some are going to be more focused on shorter stories. But let’s see what they all are.

Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

Starting of with Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold. This is the continuation of what has happened before in Aeon’s End. Kind of an arc from Aeon’s End Legacy, two big box standalone games, and now Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold. You can see how the game plays down below, as I played Aeon’s End Legacy already. That said, I’d be really happy to play the new one.

Why do I want to play this one? Firstly, I know that I love the game already. My game play includes Aeon’s End, Aeon’s End: War Eternal, and Aeon’s End Legacy of the five, now six, games of the series. And I really love Aeon’s End Legacy as a jumping in point for the game. It teaches you how to play the game so nicely. The story was there, but the game was a lot of fun. So I want more of that from Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold. On the flip side it is one that I’ve kind of already showcased.

Folklore: The Affliction

Next up we have Folklore: The Affliction. This is going to be an RPG like board game. You get a character with a class, and you take them on adventures. I picked this one up because it seems to do a lot of things I like in RPG’s. And it’ll give me a chance to be a player in the game instead of always the dungeon master.

The darker theme of this game drew me in. Now, it doesn’t seem too dark, but it’s about werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and things like that. Those, I really don’t consider too dark, but more it seems to lean into a grittier and more violent world. I’m playing Roll Player Adventures that has some of that stuff, but has a much lighter tone. So I am curious to see the whole story of all that I have for this game.

HEXplore It: The Forest of Adrimon

HEXplore It is a series that I was only so interested in after watching a play through. I think I saw for the Sands of Shurax, and the game does seem fun. You go around, you find some adventures to go on, and you level up your characters.

This one interested me, though with that more grim forest setting than it did with the desert setting for some reason. And I am curious to see how the characters work for this game. It appears to be an interesting system without the heavy narrative driving direction of the story. It is more about the adventure and story that you find along the way.

Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1

Now, if we want to talk about a game with a ton of story, most definitely Middara: Unintentional Malum does the trick. This is the game that gives me the anime feel. You are from Earth, but you have a connection or genes that connect with this other world. And brought through a space gate, of sorts, you are transported to this new world where things are very very different than Earth. The themes and artwork might not be for everyone, but I am very curious.

Having an anime dungeon crawler seems like a no brainer for me. I really like anime, and I really like dungeon crawls. As for streaming this game, I am worried about fitting it all on the camera, or on the table, as there is a lot to it. That said, I still really want to get it to the table to dive into and experience the story.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Now for a game with a very different scope. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is just that, a card game, but like something like Arkham Horror: The Card Game or Apocrypha (which it is based on), this one uses cards as locations and builds up challenges for the players.

I am really interested to see what is different in the second edition compared to the first. I do have the pirate base game for the first edition as well. So I could play either. I know that it’s a system I find interesting and have had fun with. There is even a solid app that I should maybe download and play with again. But it tells a lighter story than some with good deck construction fun in the game.

Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift

I wrote about this one not to long ago, and this is another very dark dungeon crawling game. That said, it is an interesting take on it, and has some very nice components. It is also going to be very different than a lot of the games because it is nice a dice chucker. Instead, it builds it’s combat all around a rondel action system.

Each character has action points, and that determines how far they can, if they want, move around that rondel. However, action points are used for other things as well, which means that moving too far isn’t always the best plan. It is a really interesting puzzle with simpler mechanics than a lot of dungeon crawl games. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have depth, because picking the right options and setting up turns is tricky.

Solomon Kane

Finally, but not least, we have Solomon Kane. This is going to be a big story driven adventure game from Mythic Games. In Solomon Kane you play as virtues who are helping Solomon Kane go around through stories trying to keep the darkness at bay and figure out what he needs to do.

There are a lot of good reviews on this one, and I am very curious about it. Part of me wants to hold on a little bit, because I need to reach out to Mythic Games to get the updated rules and cards for the game. I didn’t back this on Kickstarter, I got it on eBay so that means I don’t automatically get it, at least not without contacting them. But this feels like a very different story and way of handling things in a game.

Final Thoughts

Firstly, here is the poll again now that you know more about all of the games.

But let me know your thoughts on what I should play. There are a number that I am interested in, and I think all, while being covered are going to be interesting ones to get to the table. And I’d love to start knocking out some of these campaigns that I can play solo. Especially before the likes of Frosthaven, ISS Vanguard, HEL: The Last Saga, and Isofarian Guard come in to add themselves to the mix as well.

I really probably need to stop getting more campaign games. But I did just add Middara Acts 2 and 3 through the pledge manager re-opening. So even more campaign to play. And I know I skipped mentioning other ones that I have backed as well, or that I will be backing Rogue Angels when it comes back to Kickstarter around the start of August.

Which one do you think I should stream?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Simple But Deep Board Games

10. Black Sonata

One of two solo games on the list. Black Sonata is about figuring out who the “dark lady” was in Shakespeare’s sonnets. But it is really fascinating because it is a solo game where the dark lady moves around in basically a hidden movement sort of way by an AI deck of cards.

What you do as a player is try and get ahead of the dark lady so that you can look for her, and basically find out clues about who she is not. So your turns are pretty simple. You move, or you search a location. But figuring out that pattern of where they are going is challenging. And then it is a Mastermind style puzzle, or so it feels, to figure out who the lady is. I really enjoy that puzzle aspect, but simple game to hit the table.

9. Century: Golem Edition (Or Spice Road)

This one is not a cheat having two games on it, Golem Edition and Spice Road are the same game. I prefer the Golem Edition because it looks better, and I like that. But this is a game that is about building up an engine of cards in your hand. But how you play is extremely simple. Mainly because you do a single action on your turn.

On your turn you pick up the cards you’ve played, you get a card, you play a card, or you get a golem. You never complete more than a single action a time. And turns fly because of that simplicity of all the actions and the single action. But when you get a card, how much you pay for it, how it works into your engine, all of those things make a very rich but simple game.

8. Quarto

This, I get is one that has depth to it but not one that I like. The game is pretty simple, you are trying to get four in a row. But you pick what piece your opponent is going to play. So you want to give them something that’ll set-up you with the options that they have left to give you. It’s a cool idea that I enjoyed the couple of times that I played it, but it didn’t grab me enough.

Still, for a lot of people, this is going to give them that feeling of outthinking their opponent in a game. Basically making your opponent give you a win. But all you are doing is either placing a piece of picking one for your opponent to place.

7. Potion Explosion

This one is maybe one of the less simple on the list. But what you do on your turn, or at least on every turn is very basic. You pull a marble and then any like colors that hit. Then you put them into a potion, trying to complete them. That is very simple and fun action for a turn.

But where the game is more complex or offers interesting decisions is when you get your potions done. Now they give you powers, and how or when you use a power offers great decision making space. Especially when you can chain a few potions together to complete a potion and then use that potion to complete another potion. It offers that nice combo and cleverness feel a game with depth in it’s decision making should give you.

6. The Fox in the Forest

I could have a number of trick taking games on the list. Matcha, The Fox in the Forest Duet, and others, but I just put The Fox in the Forest on the list. This is a two player trick taking game where you are trying to take some tricks, but not too many. Because if you “shoot the moon” you get no points. And if you just get a few tricks, but slightly too many, it reduces your points a lot.

It becomes a question of how you can give your opponent just enough tricks so that they score poorly and you can score well. Or to trick them into taking all of the tricks. And since it isn’t a one and done sort of game, it allows you to develop more strategy based off of your opponent as time goes on.

5. Letter Jam

Letter Jam is almost a party word game. But it isn’t because you need to figure out how to give good clues. Let me explain, in Letter Jam everyone has a scrambled word in front of them, or the letters for it. Unscrambling wouldn’t be too bad if you could see the letters. But you can’t see your own.

Instead, you have one facing away from you that everyone else can see. And they give clues, in the form of a word, by putting down chips in front of other people’s letters to help you. For example, if I have an R in front of me and someone else has an F, O, and M, you could give the clue FROM or FORM. But one clue is better than the other because FORM could be FOAM as well. So how do you give the best clue to get people to know their letter?

And everyone needs to give clues too. So that adds to the challenge. I have a word, you have a word, and everyone does. So you need to give clues to help me, and I need to give to help you. It’s a very clever design that seems simple to start, but offers a lot of depth.

4. Floriferous

A drafting game, kind of, a set collection game, and a game where you are building up different scoring things. But how you draft is what makes this game so clever and gives it depth. Turn order for each round of drafting, since you pick from a limited set separately, is based off of the person who took the highest thing from a column the time before.

Let me explain that a bit more, in a two player game you have three rows. Two or them are flowers and one is a scoring card. The scoring card is always at the bottom. If I pick-up the scoring card, for my pick, that means that next time, since I’m at the bottom of the column, I pick last. So if there is something I really want in the next column, I would want to pick the highest thing in the column, just to guarantee I go first next time. But if you don’t get enough scoring cards, now you aren’t scoring many points.

3. Under Falling Skies

The next solo only game on the list. A few can be played solo, Under Falling Skies is a combination of Space Invaders meets Independence Day. That it in and of itself sounds pretty cool. But how does it play, what is simple about it. The game is basically rolling a bunch of dice and placing them so that one is in each column to activate things. That is pretty straight forward for what you are going to do.

The depth comes in with how you place the dice. The higher the number, the more the alien ship in that column descends. And if too many hit land you lose the game. So you need to blow them up, and you can do that by putting dice onto attack spots. But that then eats up other things you can do, and that also causes a ship to descend.

So you need to think not only about what power the die is going to give, higher means more, but also what it does to the ships. And you also still only have one die per column. And once you place it, it locks in. So if you aren’t careful, you end up placing a dice in a less than ideal spot with your last placement.

2. Calico

The top two were two that I instantly thought of. Calico is a very simple game with massive brain burning tendencies. In Calico you are making a calico quilt to get cats to sleep on your quilt. You score points by getting like colors adjacent for buttons. Patterns in certain groupings to attacks cats. And finally there are scoring tiles on the quilt that give you points based off of both pattern and color combinations.

That is a fair amount for scoring, but your turn is simple. On your turn you place a quilt tile onto your board and take one of the three available. But because the scoring overlap where you’ll use tiles for a button or cat in your quilt scoring. You really need to think through and plan out what you want to do. It’s a brain burner of a game. But I love it, and I love the limiting it puts on you, so you might be hoping for that one last tile you need to get pulled from the bag.

1. Hanamikoji

Instantly thought of this game, Hanamikoji is a simple game but such a brain burner. You want to win the favor of Geisha by giving them gifts. That isn’t that complex an idea, and the game gives you actions that you take to put gifts in front of the Geisha. But how you do that creates a fascinating puzzle of a game.

You must do all of the four different abilities. So whether that is putting one face down that you use at the end of the round, or discarding two face down that only you know are hidden, that limits what you know and your opponent. Plus then the other two actions are much trickier to figure out. You need to give your opponent the choice of one of three cards, you use the other two. Or two sets of two, they get one, you get the one they don’t pick.

And while those decisions are very tricky to make. There are so few of them that it doesn’t make the game too complex to play. You’ll just be worried about what is going to give your opponent what they need. And try and read their brain to see what it seems like they have.

Final Thoughts

I think I had about 25 games in my list that I sorted. There are some games that once I was further into them that are big games that now I realize are pretty simple. I’m going to mention Gloomhaven and Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift. These two didn’t make the list that I sort, but once you learn the core loop of the game, the card play in Gloomhaven and Rondel with card play in Perdition’s Mouth, they aren’t that difficult.

But that is only once you get to that point. Because if you play either of those games enough, you just know what the status effects do. But to get to that point with either of those games is going to take time. You need to learn the symbols and learn the game. But the core loops are simple and give great depth of game play. So they don’t quite make the list, but could fall into that category.

Just missing were the likes of Photosynthesis, Sonora, Hats, and Orchard. All of them have pretty simple base mechanics. But the optimize what you are doing and your scoring, you need to think a few steps ahead.

What are some of your favorite simple but deep games?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

April was definitely a slower month for gaming. Family came to town which definitely slowed it down. But also, I had a COVID exposure, no COVID though, which caused the monthly game night to be cancelled. May is already going much more smoothly for getting gaming in. But let’s see the 27 plays that I got in last month.

April Gaming Recap

Orchard – 8 Plays

This was me feeling like I wanted to play more games. Like I said, gaming didn’t happen as much last month. And towards the end of the month, I was missing playing games. So I decided on a day that I had time to just watch some YouTube videos and knock out a handful of games. Orchard is great for that.

Tainted Grail – 4 Plays

Tainted Grail is done, well the Last Knight campaign is done. Not this week, but the following we start playing the Age of Legends campaign. And I must say, Last Knight, I don’t know if it is quite as good as the main campaign, Fall of Avalon, but is basically there. Since we knew what we were doing, it took us less time to play. There are some cool different things, though, in the Last Knight campaign to checkout and changes to mechanics that work well.

Village Green – 3 Plays

I actually streamed some Village Green. You can watch me play it and mess with the solo version of the game to make it something I prefer. Plus there is some chatter about GenCon which is going live for it’s events on Sunday.

Black Sonata – 2 Plays

Another solo only board game, Black Sonata is about the dark lady in Shakespeare’s sonatas and trying to figure out who it is. The really cool thing is that as a solo game, it is a hidden movement game. The game itself controls how the character moves, and players need to try and identify the pattern and search for clues to figure out how the dark lady is. It’s a solo game with some set-up, but it is worth the set-up you go through.

Fox in the Forest – 2 Plays

This is a very fun two player trick taking game. It’s only three suits of cards and you don’t want to win every trick. Losing every one, not bad, but winning every one, that is going to give you fewer points. Fox in the Forest is a trick taking game that is really about how my manipulate the tricks that you take or manipulate it so your opponent takes tricks. Very fun idea for a game that is executed very well.

Foodies – 2 Plays

Foodies is a game in the Machi Koro style of game. You roll and everyone gets things, and is a race to victory points. While it is a fun game in that style, it is very light as well. Too light for me to keep it on my shelf, but I think as a gateway game, it’d be a fun one to play. I just want more variability in what you do in the game.

Super Mega Lucky Box – 2 Plays

The one game that I got in with family. Super Mega Lucky Box is always a good time and always a fun roll and write to play. The game is so simple, but I like it to mess around with different strategies to see what all I can do. And sometimes it works out, other times, well, it just gets going a bit slowly. But never is it dull to play.

Roll Player Adventures – 1 Play

We’re through three scenarios of Roll Player Adventures now, and I am still really enjoying the game. I do think that it is a pretty easy game at the full player count. Whether or not that is a bad thing, that is up to you. For me, I don’t mind it, it means I can really explore the full story, at least the direction that we are going. That is a cool element for the game, you beat a scenario and you can end, or you can continue to play around.

Perdition’s Mouth – 1 Play

I was sent Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift to cover, and I have to say, it is a cool dungeon crawl game. Gone is the randomness of the rolls, instead you figure out everything that you want to do by spending action points. And it has a rondel system that is pretty fun to play around with. Plus, once you get it down, what you do on your turn is pretty simple, while giving you challenging decisions to make.

Dice Throne – 1 Play

Always up for more Dice Throne. I think we’re probably a month and a half away from having Marvel Dice Throne in. When that happens, expect to see Dice Throne show up pretty often.

Bandido – 1 Play

I do not like Bandido. I barely finished a game of it. Put that in comparison with Perdition’s Mouth where I got in one full play, plus messed around with the game more. Bandido is a little card game, but not one that offers interesting choices. The game might end up with a best strategy but I don’t want to figure that out because it’s not worth the effort. And for a very small package game, it is a table hog.

Yearly Totals

So, like I said, it is a bit slower this month, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t do decently well. 27 plays in the month of April, so just off one per day. Plus, right now, in may, I am at 177 of 365 plays. So as we near June and it’s end, the middle of the year, I am likely in May to hit 50% of the way there, if not further.

Thus far, I think it is fun to do the challenge again. And let’s talk about unplayed games. 5 new to me games where played with Perdition’s Mouth, Bandido, Fox in the Forest, Foodies, and Black Sonata. Out of those, I think I like Black Sonata best, but Fox in the Forest and Perdition’s Mouth are sticking in my collection for sure.

What all did you get played last month?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Simple vs Complex

Simple vs Complex can actually be broken down into a couple of different ways. One is going to be for learning a game, the other is going to be the actual playing of the game. Mainly, because I think that some games can be a bit of both. Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift, which I wrote about yesterday, I think that game play can be simple. But learning the game is a challenge.

Learning

A game is complex to learn when the rule book is difficult to get through. This can be for a number of a reasons. It might be that a game is challenging to get through because of a lot of different reasons. It might just be a big rule book, or a lot of specific side situations. Or just a poorly done rule book that is hard to reference when you need to.

Versus a simple rule book, that is going to be one where it lays out out clearly and the game is not that challenging to pick-up. Even with a more complex game, a simple rule book is going to give you the information you need and not much more.

Playing

For playing, simplicity and complexity can be in two different areas. Firstly, if a game is simple, turns are going to be simple. I do one thing on my turn, and it’s done. So I know what I want to do right away, I do that action, and I know how that action is going to go. Something like Century: Golem Edition (or Spice Road) is an example of this. On my turn, I get a card, I pick up my played cards, I get a golem, or I play a card. I do one of those things and all are straightforward.

A more complex board game is going to create more questions in what you are doing. When you select an action, it branches into many more things that you can do. Kind of like a bunch of combos happening. Sonora, for example, is complex for a roll and write because everything combos into everything else.

Another way board games add complexity is through housekeeping. This is the idea that you don’t just need to know what you do on your turn, you need to know what the game does. One that’s a bit more simple for this is Pandemic. Unless there is an epidemic, you flip a card and put out a cube. But there are games, Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth, for example, where there is a lot that you need to do.

Shallow vs Deep

But now let’s talk about shallow versus deep for a game. Because, I think at times, people get the two concepts confused a little bit with how I talk about them. A shallow board game is going to be one where the decisions I make are pretty straightforward. I don’t need to think about the complexity of a game when considering if a game is shallow. A game with depth is going to give you a lot of meaningful decisions. It is the space where you need to consider and weigh your actions carefully.

For example, the actions while playing Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift might be simple as you execute them, but the decision space for what action you take at what moment that offers real depth for the game. Compare that to Sword & Sorcery, where the execution of the action is not that complex, but the turn is a bit more complex as a whole, but what you should do on your turn is not that deep.

What Combinations Can Board Games Be?

So, I think that there are three combinations of this that I like. And the rule book is it’s own thing, so that won’t factor in too much. I think too complex rulebook especially if it’s not laid out well, is a barrier to entry that is just a bit too steep. And so a lot of gamers won’t get to see if the game itself is complex or simple, or shallow or deep.

The first combination is shallow and simple.

I like this one for my party games, filler games (generally) and dexterity games. I don’t want the game to feel like it’s too much. Pulling out the game should mean that I can teach it and play it fast. Something like Wits & Wagers is a game that is shallow and simple. Same with something like Ice Cool.

The next one is deep and complex.

This is going to be your bigger games, something like Gloomhaven stands out this way. There is a lot in Gloomhaven to keep track of, and the decision space of what cards you choose to play is really intriguing. So, the decisions really matter and you need to keep track of a lot of rules, statuses, things like that, in your head.

Finally we have deep and simple.

I love games in this area. Ones that give you good decisions to make while not bogging you down in a ton of rules. Res Arcana is a game that does this. I can build out an engine with eight cards, and my goal is just get it running faster and better than yours. Or Hanamikoji is also great. You only do four actions in the game. But when you do each one, and which cards you use, it’s so tough.

I don’t like shallow and complex.

Needless to say, there is one that I don’t like, that is when a game is shallow and complex. In that case, it seems like they are just adding in rules to make the game seem more challenging, but when you get down to it the base of the game is very simple in what you are doing. If you have a thirty page rule book to cover all the one off scenarios but I only ever use 10% of the basic rules in my game and it’s always obvious what to do, I’m am not going to be interested in the game.

I think that a game that kind of falls into that trap is Sword & Sorcery. Now, there are interesting decisions to make, early on, when you play Sword & Sorcery. However, the more you play, the more you just drop into a routine of what you are doing. Move, fight, is your best ability on cooldown, use the next best one, repeat. The decision space shrinks as you go because there are obvious choices in what to do.

Final Thoughts on Different Types of Board Games

I think that players are going to have those different sweet spots. Some people are really going to want to play those heavy and crunchy games that take a lot of complexity to remember everything and give you a lot of decision space. And I even like some of those games.

But when a game can really pull off the simple but deep combination it is a gem to play. Stuff like Res Arcana, Hanamikoji, or Century: Golem Edition stand out as amazing games this way. They offer really fun decisions and interesting decisions without bogging you down in a ton of different edge cases or steps to your turn that you need to keep track of.

For me, complex and shallow is just going to be a killer, though. If I need to put a lot of effort into playing your game, I expect a full and rewarding game play. And if that doesn’t exist, well, that’s an issue. At that point in time, it makes learning the game and playing the game feel like a chore, or work. It’s a bit like a task at work where you need to copy information from 30 e-mails into fields in a spreadsheet. You need to make sure everything ends up in the right spot, but you don’t need to think about it too hard.

Which is your favorite intersection for a board game with Shallow and Deep, as well as Simple and Complex?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

How to Play Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift

There is a lot going on in this game, and I want to do it justice, but there is just too much to talk about everything that is going on. So let’s just go over the basics of what happens. Perdition’s Mouth is a cooperative dungeon crawling game. Players take on the roles of heroes, from tanks, to spell casters, rogues, and more trying to get through either a campaign or one off scenario.

Players, on their turn, use action points to move around a Rondel and select the action that they want to do. This can be move, charge, attack, a special action, rest, defend or a combination of those or variation on those. And that is the characters action for the turn. It means you can really plan out everything that you are doing, and you know how much you can do because of how many action points you have. Those are what you spend to move around the Rondel or move across terrain.

Then after the players go, the insectoids and cultists go. They also have a Rondel which determines what action they take. And unlike the player characters who activate a Rondel action, the cultists and insectoids activate all of them they pass over. So you can get some really big turns of spawning monsters, them moving and attacking.

In the end, the players goal is to get their characters off of the map and ready to move onto the next scenario, if you are playing the campaign version.

What I Didn’t Like?

The rule book for Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift is just okay, and this is the revised edition. The issue with it is somewhat that there is a lot to it. And there is a lot to it without there being an index at the end. Give me an index to find things quickly while I’m playing and learning the game. The game itself is pretty easy to follow when you play. But the rules could be done better for learning.

That’s my main negative. I do think for some, the darkness of the theme will be too much. It leans into that Kingdom: Death Monster thing where it is dark and shocking for the sake of being dark and shocking. For me, it doesn’t bother me that much, I get that this is supposed to be a grim and dark world. But at times, it seems like a bit too much.

What Did I Like?

I really like that all the characters are different in the game. In my campaign I ran a tank and a caster. The caster has less defense, less healthy, but some more powerful abilities, especially with movement. And in a game where you want to get out of the scenario, not always kill everything, movement is good to have. And of course, a caster can attack from range. The tank needs to get in there and take those hits when they can. And it feels like a good balance of characters.

I also like how simple the enemies are to activate. You flip a card and see how many spaces they move on their Rondel. And then you activate them pretty easily. So even though they might move a random number of spots on the Rondel, you can kind of guess what they might do. And then a card flip for an attack modifier makes it simple to play them. You don’t need a ton of rules to figure out what each enemy does.

I also like that characters use cards to boost their actions. And you play them out from your hand. But the enemies use a modifier deck. It means as a player, I can pick precisely what I am doing. But as the enemies attack me, I don’t know what they are going to do exactly. It is the right level of randomness. I know mainly what the enemies will do, but sometimes they’ll get through and do more than expected.

But, you can see more thoughts on Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift in the video I did on it below:

Who Is This For?

Dungeon crawler fans and euro fans. I think if someone is looking to move the more perfect information Euro style games, this might work very well for them. Because Perdition’s Mouth is a game where you do know almost all the information.

I also think this will work well for people who want that darker game like Kingdom: Death Monster, but don’t want the massive commitment. The fact you can play a one off for Perdition’s Mouth is nice. And then if you want a campaign, you can have one, but it isn’t hundreds of hours to get through it.

Final Thoughts on Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift

I do have quite a number of things I like about the game. But one negative, and it’s not a negative of the game, but more so of the space, which I haven’t mentioned. Perdition’s Mouth is a dungeon crawl game. So when I look at it, I need to compare it to other dungeon crawl games. And I do think this one is good, but it isn’t upper echelon for me.

On the flip side, it likely will stick in my collection for at least a while, because of one big thing. I can play it as a one off. It is nice for a few reasons, you don’t have the randomness, but the big one is I can pull it out and play without committing to a big experience. If I want to, I can play a short campaign. Gloomhaven was 150-200 hours of my time, Perdition’s Mouth will be less to play a campaign.

Finally, and this could be in the things I like, I do like the no dice. That’s one thing that I’ve found is that something like Sword & Sorcery compared to Perdition’s Mouth, I don’t miss the dice at all. I don’t strongly dislike dice, but it offers a more interesting long term puzzle for the game.

My Score: B-
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: C-

Notes:

Generally for casual gamers, I am going to rate these bigger and heavier games lower. I think a casual gamer learning this would be a difficult experience. I also think that Perdition’s Mouth with an experienced teacher and casual gamers wouldn’t be too bad. But purely everything being done by a casual gamer, it’d be hard for them.

Also, Thank You to Dragon Dawn Production for sending me a copy of the game to review.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Sleeping Gods Direction

So, this is a topic I suspected I’d talk about at some point in time. The direction that Sleeping Gods was going to lead me in as a player, what is it? Sleeping Gods promises an open world game where you can explore whatever you want, go wherever you want, and try and awaken the sleeping gods however you can, but how you do that, something to do with getting totems most likely.

So, is that a flaw of the game? That I don’t know where to go next, or is that part of the experience? Should everywhere I go give me a new lead to track down something else?

I think the answer is maybe both. Yes, it is a flaw of the game, because the game is open world, though. I can do anything I want in the game, so I don’t need it to lead me around. However, now that we’re getting nearer the end of the game, and I don’t feel like I know what to do, it is a bit more of a flaw.

The answer is probably get more totems, and find more totems. But I think exploring the game for the first time, I’d like to it hand hold that for you a tiny bit more. The tutorial to start at the beginning is great. It does give you some of the story of the world, but having an optional read when you reset the deck of events for the second time, I wouldn’t mind if they told me what my final push should be towards. And just for the first game.

Once I know a general idea, I can go for whatever I want. In future games I’ll have a better idea of what it all means, but right now, I feel like my direction is lacking. That isn’t to say that the story doesn’t compel me, it does. That isn’t to say that I don’t want to explore more, because I do. But, it means right now, and for the first time, I need to find another totem without that little bit of direction I’ve had before.

The Drink

So last nights drink is a take on a Negroni. Instead of using Campari, a grapefruit liquor, I used Aperol. Aperol is a bitter apertiff so it works. But it is not as bitter as Campari. Nor is Aperol as alcoholic. The upside is that it means you can drink more. But for me, it also means that it is missing on that harder bitter note.

I think that, though, about it is that it does still have that bitter note. Aperol is going to be rhubarb as part of the flavor profile. So it isn’t too sweet, but with gentian and cinchona. It works well mixed with gin. And I could see just mixing it with some club soda on a really warm day as well.

Upcoming Streaming

So, I think it’ll be one week left of Sleeping Gods and we’ll see how we do. At most it will be two weeks. After that I am going to stream a game play of Spire’s End by Greg Favro. And after that, we’ll see what we want to play. I think it might be some more one-off solo games, I know I have Under Falling Skies and Ratcatcher that I want to get played. Plus some Final Girl as well.

Let me know if there are any solo games that you want to see me play. Should, after a few weeks off of a campaign, I jump into something bigger like Solomon Kane or Folklore: The Affliction? Let me know what you think I should play down in the comments below. Or, better idea, pick one from the poll below.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.