Fantasy Flight Games | Eldritch Horror | Board Game | Ages 14+ | 1-8 Players | 120-240 Minute Playing Time

Eldritch Horror is a mid to heavy weight cooperative game set in a H.P. Lovecraftian version of the 1920s and 30s. There is a lot going on in this game and it has masses of replayability. It might be a bit heavy for a very casual gamer but don’t let that put you off. The rulebook is excellent and comes with an in-depth glossary with really helps with clarification. Certainly if you’re a fan of games like Pandemic then this isn’t really a big step up although there is slightly more complexity in the things you can do. I like this game. If you get yourself organised and familiar with the rules, it can be fast paced, tough and a lot of fun. Despite looking overwhelming, gameplay is actually deceptively simple. Each player has two actions, you then take it in turns to draw a card, fight a monster or both, then turn over one last card and everyone does what it tells you to. All the cards tell you what to do so you don’t need to memorise every tiny little detail of the game. As with all Fantasy Flight games, the components are excellent and the game looks really good out on the table. You’ll need a big one for this game as it takes up lots of space. Everything oozes theme. Every card, monster and story looks and sounds like it belongs in this alternative world. One of the best bits of the game is the reckoning mechanic. These are double sided cards that you flip over whenever the game (Usually a card) tells you to do so. Then, something unexpected, usually horrible and terrifying happens to you. It’s such a good idea and really ramps up the tension. You’re never quite sure if that bank loan you took out to buy a gun is going to come back and haunt you. The loan sharks could break your legs or it turns out that the contract gave away your soul in the small print. Theme in this game is SO strong that I didn’t even care when we lost because the story of how we lost was so much fun. A sailor won the affection of the cats of Ulthar and they helped him to close a portal to another world. An aged professor found a brain in a jar in the heart of Africa and it drove him into the depths of insanity. Then Cthuhlu rose up consumed us all in a watery takeover of the planet. It was great! There are so many good parts to this game. Every decision, the smallest of mistakes or bad dice roll feels like it could affect the outcome of the game. You have to work as a team with each character’s weaknesses and strengths playing a very important role in winning or losing. There are some negatives. They don’t detract from my enjoyment of the game but they are worth consideration. First problem I ready touched on when I mentioned organisation. There is a lot of stuff in this game; over 15 different decks of cards, hundreds of monster, health and sanity tokens and more. This is great for the game but a logistical nightmare as the manufacturers supply no form of organisation at all. No trays, bags or card boxes. Nothing. You will need to sort this out yourself or you’ll never bother to play it due to set up time. I built my own in box organiser out of foamcore, specifically with set up and take down in mind. I enjoy doing this and you’ll find lots of different methods online but, if you don’t then it could be a problem considering the hefty price tag. This does seem to be an issue with Fantasy Flight Games in general. Second problem is the twisting of Lovecraft’s fiction. Lovecraft’s work is about terror, the unknown and the insignificance of man in a universe that we don’t fully understand. Yes at times this manifests itself as monsters or aliens but virtually never does anyone actually fight these things. In part, because it is often impossible to do so. In this game all the creatures, monsters, aliens inter-dimensional beings etc can be shot, stabbed and generally beaten to a pulp. If you’re the sort of Lovecaft fan who finds this simplification of his work annoying then I would stay away from this game! For me the game was strong enough to overlook this and on the plus side there is none of Lovecraft’s racism, classism and lack of strong female roles in this version of his world.

I'm relatively new to the works of H P Lovecraft so I only became aware of this through a podcast. It's perhaps one of the luckiest mentions I've taken a chance on. It's a cooperative game in which players take on the roles of certain unique investigators who are attempting to prevent the return of an ancient terror. The box contains 8 diverse character sheets and 4 ancient evil or elder God sheets. The interesting thing is that the cards that you draw are themed to the ancient evil you will be setting yourself agsinst, and the variety of the cards being played make it highly unlikely you'll experience the same combination of story elements twice, which makes for excellent replay ability. I'm also fairly new to modern board games, where I understand the rules can seem a little daunting and off putting to the new player in the absence of a teacher to hold your hand first time out. Whilst the mechanics of the game allow a lot of choices to be played out, I found it very reassuring how quickly I was able to pick up the order of turns and before long my turn times speeded up as I grew in confidence. Prior to buying this game I would highly recommend you check out an introductory video of the product on YouTube as I did. I found it to make the process of comprehending the game so much easier, and there are a lot of good quality videos of fans explaining things in simple step by step terms. All in all its perhaps the best board game I own, and with expansions available I can see me enjoying this game a lot. Average play time for me is in the region of 1 hour 50 minutes to just over 2 hours, but on a day off its has been known for me to play game after game from 10am until well into the evening. The fact that I only won a couple of games didn't frustrate me in the slightest as it was a real adventure each time. Only downside I will be mentioning is that there are a fair amount of components in the form of cards, counters, tokens and the board of the world itself of course. The picture guide that comes with the game will tell you how to set it out, but be sure you have access to the dining table or other large gaming surface before deciding to play. Brilliant product. Another stellar bit of work from Fantasy Flight Games.

Great game but set up takes a little while. The game can last quite a long time and is easier with more people playing. This is really fun and contains different scenarios. It has items, characters, dice, the board, sanity tokens, health tokens, tokens to increase lore/observation/influence/strength/Sanity, clues to gain, rumours, scenario cards, shipping ticket and rail tickets included just to mention a few things! Once you start playing, the game is easier to get the hang of. Three phases: action (each player performs 2 actions or if the following: travel, buy a ticket, rest, test influence to gain items), encounter (draw a card based on where you are i.e. city, sea or wilderness space and whether you are trying to gain a clue or close a gate) and the final phase is the doom phase which usually involves everyone playing. It's a really fun game and although it can take a couple of hours with a few people, we really enjoy it. The box is sturdy and the board folda up well. There is actually enough space for extra cars and tokens if you buy an expansion set which we did. We also bought a little holder that comes in flat pack wood that you construct, to make storing everything easier as it can be fiddly to get it in the box space properly otherwise.

Altro gioiello per la serie Arkham Horror. Un gioco a sé stante che vi porterà in giro per il mondo (la plancia è il mondo!!) degli anni '20 a bordo di treni e navi. Dovrete investigare, combattere e resistere alla pazzia. Pe chi come me ha già giocato ad Arkham questo gioco non lo sostituisce ma è promosso in pieno in quanto non è affatto un sequel del suo fratello ma un gioco a parte con dinamiche diverse, veloci e comprensibili fin dall'inizio. Per la versione inglese si considera che lo sappiate bene l'inglese in quanto i testi narrativi delle carte sono molto complessi e richiedono una padronanza medio alta della lingua. Altrimenti beccatevi la versione italiana.

Amazing game - very easy to learn, difficult to win. Win or lose it's a lot of fun with friends. Would recommend getting at least one mini expansion though, for more encounter variety.

An interesting game, I recommend you to try it. Good quality of workmanship.

One of the best boardgames I played, a must in the collection

Çok istediğim bir ürün olarak aldım fakat ambalajı açtıktan sonra kutusunun hasarlı olduğunu gördüm. Köşeleri yırtık ve ezik. Bu yüzden de ürünleri saklamak ve kapatmak bir hayli zor. İçerisindeki ürünlerde herhangi bir hasar ya da eksik olmaması bir nebze de olsa iyi bir haber. Genelde çok kullanılan ve koleksiyon ürünü olan kutu oyunlarında ambalajın düzgün olması çok önemlidir. Çoğu yerde hasarlı ambalajlar daha düşük fiyata defolu ürün olarak satılır.