Descent 2nd Edition Review

Descent 2nd Edition - Journeys in the Dark

2-5 players

Play time 2.5 hrs avg

Setup time 20 mins

Teaching time 20 mins

"Descent: journeys in the dark second edition is a narrative board game in which one player takes on the role of the treacherous overlord, and up to four other players take on the roles of courageous heroes. Featuring double-sided modular board pieces, countless hero and skill combinations, and an immersive story-driven campaign, descent: journeys in the dark second edition transports heroes to a vibrant fantasy realm where they must stand together against an ancient evil.this updated version of the classic board game of dungeon-delving adventure features a host of enhancements, including new heroes and monsters, streamlined rules, a class-based hero system, campaign play, and much more"

I had the privilege to play this with an introductory board game group (A group that introduces new board games). Two sets of Descent were opened and two overlords ran two games simultaneously. We played Fat Goblin Encounters 1 and 2. It was an awesome experience altogether. I played a hero necromancer who reanimated a skeleton over and over again. It might be just me but I felt like the overlord was being lenient on us. The first game went by without the overlord using any of his overlord cards. He lost and we, the heroes, won. The second game, the overlord wanted to win so he used advanced monsters to up the challenge but we tied that game. The dice wasn't on his side that day but I did feel that the overlord could have won that game if he made the right choices. 
Okay okay too much blab, on to the review...

Gameplay 9/10

I did research this game a bit before I played it which made me want to buy it. Now that I have played the game, I really want to buy it!

Mechanics are very simple to teach and the details can be taught as the game plays out. It takes some time to setup the maps and choose the heroes and monsters. It is pretty straight forward - Refer to the quest guide (mostly one page per quest), fix up the puzzle maps together as shown on the quest, read out the objective and special rules, heroes are chosen by the players playing heroes, overlord choosing his/her open monsters. As soon as the objectives of the quest is understood and the players know how to read their hero cards, the game can begin.

Everything here makes sense - the movement of heroes, the straightforward objectives (the overlord has objectives as well), the attacking using dice, etc. It is a dungeon crawl encounter that makes sense, definitely up my alley. Every turn, a hero gets to perform two actions, whether to move and attack, attack and attack, move and move, stand up (after getting knocked out), or rest (to heal fatigue). You can also move, attack and then continue with your leftover movement for two actions.

For monsters, they also have movement and attack dice, almost exactly like the heroes. The lieutenants that the overlord controls (boss monsters) are exactly like the heroes with stats and everything. However in Descent, you will not see any adding up of points and stats like you see in DnD games. They streamlined this to make it accessible to everyone. Which doesn't take away much from the game at all.

There is a really creative, strategic mechanic that is added called "Fatigue". You use fatigue to do extra moves, but your fatigue is limited so you'll have to strategize when best to use it. It adds to your decisions which gives seasoned gamers good strategies to incorporate.

The dice really add to the game. They have creatively created different colored dice to represent the intensity of one's attack or defense. On some of the faces, each die has a lightning bolt symbol as well which represents surges. These you use to activate different skills and spells your hero/monster may have. Range is also embedded in the dice for range attacks. All these add both luck and strategy to the game.

There are 20 quests in the scenario book. You can either play them as individual encounters or link 16 of them in campaign mode. Campaign mode offers so much more as you get XP to increase the skills of your heroes or overlord cards for the overlord and the heroes also get gold to spend in between Quests to get better equipment. I love games that allow leveling up. It just allows one to be the character instead of just playing it.

Some players would like this - no one dies in this game. They just get knocked out and lose a turn to come back around the next time, or another player can use one of his/her actions to revive a hero adjacent to him/her.

The Experience 8/10

The experience is good. There are some balancing issues where the first few quests are easier for the heroes. I guess that just makes the challenge more worth the win for the overlord. I have not played the later quests yet, so I cannot say much here.

Replayability 9/10

I see this getting many plays especially in campaign mode. Whether we will get tired of this, I'm doubting. With 16 Encounters to complete, this is definitely replayable. The number of cards you can get also attracts you to play more. The monsters, however, remain the same few so you'll be seeing a lot of them being reused in various quests as you play.

The fact that this is only semi-coop would mean that it is definitely replayable to see who can be the best overlord. The number of heroes that a player can pick can also be factored in.

There are so many big and small expansions available for Descent 2.0 that it looks like the game is endless. As an adult who has a day job to keep, my time in board gaming may be only twice a month. So this game would probably last me way more than a year if I consistently play this.

Components 9/10

Oh gosh how do I begin. The map tiles are beautifully printed and sturdy. They will last a lot of games. They fix together to form a stable map (not easily broken if the table is knocked). 
The cards are durable and beautifully designed. Hero cards are big but skills and equipment are small - probably to reduce the play area. 

The miniatures, and oh so many of them, are sweet... Monsters in red and white, heroes in grey. the heroes are pretty small. Would prefer bigger ones but it does not hinder the gameplay. The lieutenants (evil bosses), however, are in token form (like what?). Yea, they didn't have enough cash to make these into miniatures so now they sell the miniatures separately and each one cost a bomb, well to me at least. It would be nice to have them with the base set, but oh well.

There are many tokens for conditions, health markers, fatigue, etc. The tokens are thick and coin sized, which I appreciate over pea size ones. I hate losing my pea size tokens.

Overall, really good components. Opening this will be just like opening a toy box.

Overall 9/10

I might give this a 10 once I own it and have played a few more quests. Every moment I'll be thinking about the game. But currently, it is sold out at my favorite board game store. 
A dungeon crawl that is a must have for any board gamer into dungeon crawling/delving and leveling up. One of the best productions of Fantasy Flight Games. Go get it!

Pros:
Gorgeous components
High replayability
Engaging gameplay
Rules make sense
Character enhancement

Cons:
Needs the right group to play with (Some over-competitive people take an hour to make one decision)
Balancing issues between the Overlord and the Heroes


How did you find this game? Let me know if there are some things i might have missed out that you wish to hear...



























Awesome components
Awesome gameplay
Awesome experiences

Lieutenant tokens? Are you kidding me?
May be a bit complicated for the light gamer