PC Gamer - UK (2022-01)

Gloomhavenisat its heart a dungeon
crawler, where framing stories read
bya narratorsit alongside missions
that takeadventurers through a series
of rooms and monsters
toaccomplishfairly
simpleobjectives.
Everythinginbetween
questsisa choose-your-
own-adventure, where
decisions are madeand
givestaticbonuses or
penalties toeitherthe
campaignasa whole or
the next adventure. Bothmodes can
beplayedbyyourself controlling one
tofouradventurers, orwithupto
three otherscontrolling one each.
Dungeonsare card-driven tactical
battles, someof the bestyou can find,
that use a flexible systemwhere you
choosetwo cards eachturn, then
execute the actionfromthe top of
one cardand the bottomof the other.
Monstersplayout simply, no
complex AIhere, but eachround is
planned inadvance: you don’t know
what the monstersare going todo
until you’velockedinyouroptions.
Eachcardalsohas a numerical value,
its initiative, which iswhenyou act in
the round. Weirdly, the AIoften takes
quite a while todetermine its action
after you move– odd, given thatit’s
entirelydeterministic behaviour.
Sofor a given round, your
Tinkerermight picktheir StunShot
for initiative20, which isa long-range
stunattackontop and a fourspace
moveonthe bottom, and their
Flamethrower, anareaof effect burn
weaponontop and a shieldauraon
the bottom. Thatcombo of two cards
can comeout totwo verydifferent

turns: a rushforward toroast some

enemies, ora stunningshottoa

tough enemy and a defensive buff to

nearbyallies. Asyou use cards they’re

discarded orburned.

Burnedcards leave

play, while most

discarded cards

eventuallyreturnto

yourhand. Run out of

cards orhealthand

you’ll betaken out of

the fightfor the restof

the mission.

GLOOM RAIDERS

These fairlysimplerules makefights

intoa slewof tough tactical choices

and tight timelimitsinany given

fight. Missionsare hard, and eventhe

baseeasydifficulty can and will beat

tactics veteransintoa pulp. A single

misplayed turncan set you onthe

pathtodoominsomescenarios, asa

tight timelinecombineswitha

limited numberof cards toburn

beforeyou’reout of the fightentirely.

It’ssomeof the besttactical playin

gaming, and someof the most

delightfullydifficult choices you’ll

evermakeina dungeon crawler.

Bafflingly, Gloomhavendoesn’t

haveanundobutton. Whatwould be

simplefixesinthe tabletopgame(a

wrong move, a declaredability, using

anitem) are impossibletotakeback.

Misunderstandingthe rules can be

extremely frustrating, and withno

comprehensive rulebookinthe

menus I had toconsult the tabletop

rulebookattimes.

Nonetheless, the campaignisa

blast withfriends and far fasterthan

a boxed game. Fourhours atthe table

will get you a singledungeon, withits

encountersbeforeand after, played.

Fourhours inthe digital campaign

will let quick players ploughthrough

asmanyasthree dungeons. If you

feast onthiskindof tactical playlike

I do, thenGloomhaven’sruggedly

narratedadventuresare exactly what

you wantfromthe genre. They’re the

simplest framework toplayout a

seriesof dungeon brawls, just

engagingenougha framework to

keepyou wanting morenight after

night. You chart a fantasy epic,

improving and buildingupthe town

of Gloomhavenasyouradventurers

level up, retireand get replacedby

fresh young blood.

The new Guildmaster modeisjust

icing onthe cake, asisthe built-in

level designerand modding support.

The campaignisgreat co-operatively,

while Guildmaster providesan

experiencemadewithsoloplayin

mind. It’sthe thing all goodtabletop

adaptations shouldhave: a reason

why I’d playthisratherthansit

arounda table.

87

One of thebest dungeon

crawlersever madeis

now onyour PCand is

brilliant, especiallyif you

don’t owna big table.

VERDICT

D

ungeon-crawling, campaign-adventuringGloomhavenis
surelythe mostwidely-praisedhobby board gameofthe
pastdecade. The digital edition replicatesthe sprawling
Gloomhavencampaigninits entirety, addsanentirelynew
secondmodeofplaycalledGuildmaster, and networks
thembothwithonlinemultiplayer: anadaptationofthe tabletop
experiencethatleavesnothingbehind. Nonetheless, occasional poor
performance, the lackofkey featureslikeundo, and a healthysprinkling
ofbugsholdGloomhavenback.

SWORD AND BOARD

GLOOMHAVEN brilliantlytranslates thebelovedboard game toyour PCscreen

ByJon Bolding

A single

misplayedturn

cansetyouon

thepath

todoom

INSIDE THE BOX

The world oftabletopGloomhaven

GLOOMHAVEN

The original smash

hit board game.

Kickstarted in 2015,

it was an enormous

success and enjoyed

almost universal

critical acclaim.

JAWS OFTHE LION

A standalone game

designed as a more

accessible path into

Gloomhaven. It’s

smaller and cheaper

with an easier ramp

into the rules.

FROSTHAVEN

A hotly-anticipated

sequel that’s still in

the works following

another Kickstarter

campaign. It moves

the action to an icy

wasteland.

NEED TO KNOW

WHATIS IT?

A turn-based

dungeon crawler based

on a wildly successful

board game

EXPECT TO PAY

£35

DEVELOPER

Flaming Fowl

PUBLISHER

Asmodee Digital

REVIEWED ON

AMD FX-8350, Nvidia

GeForce GTX 1070 Ti,

32GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

Yes

LINK

bit.ly/3r1aPGo

Gloomhaven

REVIEW