If you don't play a boardgame once a week, if you don't have a group of geeky friends like you that you call up for yet another gaming session, if you don't enjoy sitting around a table playing the same boardgame for hours on end, if you're not a TRUE GAMER, then stop. Read another article. Close the tab. E-mail your grandmother. Just don't read this, because it will be an absolute waste of your time.
On the other hand, if all of the above is false for you, go ahead. Keep reading. And bask in the Horror. The Horror of Arkham.
Published by Fantasy Flight Games in the year 2005, Arkham Horror is based off of H. P. Lovecraft's infamous short story "Call of Cthulu," a pulp horror concerning an apocalyptic organism slumbering in the darkest depths of the ocean, soon to emerge and wreak havoc on the world.
The game itself follows a similar plot: the supreme beings known as the Ancient Ones are awakening.
Yes, that means the players are all on the same team. Yes, it's one of those games.
In the fictional city of Arkham, Massachusetts, during the 1920's, players take on the role of investigators, certain individuals who are noticing the horrific changes taking place on the city. Luckily, there's around twenty of them, so you don't have to worry about being last to pick and receiving the one you didn't want. So far I've used a different Investigator each of the times I've played, and I've enjoyed all of them.
Each investigator has their own qualities. The two most important stats are 1. Health and 2. Sanity. If either of them goes to zero, you are sent to a hospital or asylum and get a nice vacation from the dangers at hand. Also, for each character, their health points and sanity points add to 10 (such as 7 health and 3 sanity, or 5 health and 5 sanity), so there is a sense of balance between the characters.
There are also three pairs of statistics: ____ ____ and ____, and for this is where the characteristics get a little unique. Essentially, these stats will change throughout the course of the game. That is, if you want them to.
Let's take Lore and Luck, for example. My investigator has 4 pairs of numbers along a horizontal line. One of the numbers for each of the pairs represents my Investigator's Lore, and increases from left to right. The other number in each pair represents my character's Luck, which decreases from left to right. My Investigator can only have one pair of the number's active at any given time, which is shown by a small slider circling both numbers.
In essence, each turn you can change your character's stats for that pair by moving the little slider. The closer you slide it to the left, the more the Investigator's Luck increases. The more it is moved to the right, the higher my character's Luck gets. Customization! Hooray!
However, you can only slide the marker so much. Each character has a focus value, ranging from 1 to 3. You can only move one slider a single space for each focus point. Thus, I could move all three of my sliders to the right, or I could move just one of my sliders three times to the right.
But I'm getting way too far into this. Let's move on, shall we?
In this dangerous town of Arkham, you are running around to certain locations on the board trying to acquire helpers, weapons, and spells to help you close the portals that are opening across the city. You pretty much have to go through as many portals as you can and close them, which slows down the awakening process of the Ancient One.
*Side note: There are 8 different Ancient Ones, each with their unique characteristics, resulting in a different game every time!
In order to close a portal, you have to go to the location it's at, go to the space the portal leads to (there are spaces on the board representing the 8 or so Other Worlds the portals lead to), and stay in the Other World for a turn. After exploring it by drawing 2 event cards and participating in the requirements, you return to Arkham and close the portal. Then, if you actually want to win, you have to try to seal the portal by making a skill roll. If you rolled the right stuff, you have sealed it and a portal can't appear on that space again for the duration of the game.
There are two ways to win Arkham Horror: seal a certain number of portals, or defeat the Ancient One after it has awakened. It is much easier to seal the required amount of portals, as the Ancient Ones are pretty tough to kill. But it is possible! I've done it before, singlehandedly. Is there an award for that? Because there should be.
So this sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? Well, I haven't even covered the worst part: the monsters.
For every portal that opens up across Arkham, a monster appears. And monsters move. Toward you. Actually, only some do. There's a pretty complex system to moving monsters, but I'm not going to take the time to explain it. Let's just say some of the monsters are pretty deadly. But if you kill one, you get a trophy! And trophies earn you awards! And awards help you seal gates!
But there's a monster limit to the city. It sounds pretty helpful, right? No. It's not. You see, if the monster limit is exceeded, the terror level of the city advances, and the Ancient One is that much closer to awakening. The terror level is directly related to the Ancient One.
Just a hint: when playing competitively, there is a way to add up how important to the team each player was. And believe me, monster trophies rack up a lot of points. So kill them. The monsters.
I'd say the only problem about the game (besides the monsters) is the time requirement. A single session of the game has taken four hours before. Luckily, you can choose the Ancient One (if you want to be picky), and if you want a shorter game you could pick a weaker Ancient One. This also works the other way: a powerful Ancient One makes for a longer game.
In conclusion, Arkham Horror is pretty much the game to play when you're feeling like an adventure. With it's unique mythos, complex system of gameplay, and just the general horrific atmosphere it creates, this game is one to look out for. All in all, this game deserves a solid:
On the other hand, if all of the above is false for you, go ahead. Keep reading. And bask in the Horror. The Horror of Arkham.
The game itself follows a similar plot: the supreme beings known as the Ancient Ones are awakening.
Yes, that means the players are all on the same team. Yes, it's one of those games.
In the fictional city of Arkham, Massachusetts, during the 1920's, players take on the role of investigators, certain individuals who are noticing the horrific changes taking place on the city. Luckily, there's around twenty of them, so you don't have to worry about being last to pick and receiving the one you didn't want. So far I've used a different Investigator each of the times I've played, and I've enjoyed all of them.
Each investigator has their own qualities. The two most important stats are 1. Health and 2. Sanity. If either of them goes to zero, you are sent to a hospital or asylum and get a nice vacation from the dangers at hand. Also, for each character, their health points and sanity points add to 10 (such as 7 health and 3 sanity, or 5 health and 5 sanity), so there is a sense of balance between the characters.
There are also three pairs of statistics: ____ ____ and ____, and for this is where the characteristics get a little unique. Essentially, these stats will change throughout the course of the game. That is, if you want them to.
Let's take Lore and Luck, for example. My investigator has 4 pairs of numbers along a horizontal line. One of the numbers for each of the pairs represents my Investigator's Lore, and increases from left to right. The other number in each pair represents my character's Luck, which decreases from left to right. My Investigator can only have one pair of the number's active at any given time, which is shown by a small slider circling both numbers.
In essence, each turn you can change your character's stats for that pair by moving the little slider. The closer you slide it to the left, the more the Investigator's Luck increases. The more it is moved to the right, the higher my character's Luck gets. Customization! Hooray!
However, you can only slide the marker so much. Each character has a focus value, ranging from 1 to 3. You can only move one slider a single space for each focus point. Thus, I could move all three of my sliders to the right, or I could move just one of my sliders three times to the right.
But I'm getting way too far into this. Let's move on, shall we?
In this dangerous town of Arkham, you are running around to certain locations on the board trying to acquire helpers, weapons, and spells to help you close the portals that are opening across the city. You pretty much have to go through as many portals as you can and close them, which slows down the awakening process of the Ancient One.
*Side note: There are 8 different Ancient Ones, each with their unique characteristics, resulting in a different game every time!
In order to close a portal, you have to go to the location it's at, go to the space the portal leads to (there are spaces on the board representing the 8 or so Other Worlds the portals lead to), and stay in the Other World for a turn. After exploring it by drawing 2 event cards and participating in the requirements, you return to Arkham and close the portal. Then, if you actually want to win, you have to try to seal the portal by making a skill roll. If you rolled the right stuff, you have sealed it and a portal can't appear on that space again for the duration of the game.
There are two ways to win Arkham Horror: seal a certain number of portals, or defeat the Ancient One after it has awakened. It is much easier to seal the required amount of portals, as the Ancient Ones are pretty tough to kill. But it is possible! I've done it before, singlehandedly. Is there an award for that? Because there should be.
So this sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? Well, I haven't even covered the worst part: the monsters.
For every portal that opens up across Arkham, a monster appears. And monsters move. Toward you. Actually, only some do. There's a pretty complex system to moving monsters, but I'm not going to take the time to explain it. Let's just say some of the monsters are pretty deadly. But if you kill one, you get a trophy! And trophies earn you awards! And awards help you seal gates!
But there's a monster limit to the city. It sounds pretty helpful, right? No. It's not. You see, if the monster limit is exceeded, the terror level of the city advances, and the Ancient One is that much closer to awakening. The terror level is directly related to the Ancient One.
Just a hint: when playing competitively, there is a way to add up how important to the team each player was. And believe me, monster trophies rack up a lot of points. So kill them. The monsters.
I'd say the only problem about the game (besides the monsters) is the time requirement. A single session of the game has taken four hours before. Luckily, you can choose the Ancient One (if you want to be picky), and if you want a shorter game you could pick a weaker Ancient One. This also works the other way: a powerful Ancient One makes for a longer game.
In conclusion, Arkham Horror is pretty much the game to play when you're feeling like an adventure. With it's unique mythos, complex system of gameplay, and just the general horrific atmosphere it creates, this game is one to look out for. All in all, this game deserves a solid:
8/10
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