Friday 23 January 2015

Arkham Horror

Who knows what evil lurks in Arkham....? The Investigators know!....

Type: Strategy / Board
Players: 1 to about 6
Time to explain to others: About 20 to 30 min
Time to play: A minimum of a few hours. Depending of number of players, 5 isn't unreasonable
Difficulty: To play 6/10, Game difficulty 9/10
Portability: Non-existent. Hundreds of tokens.
Overall: 9/10

Arkham Horror is a name spoken in whispers wherever two or more geeks meet. It is a name spoken in hushed tones, as you hear described how long it took to play, how many were killed by monsters.... And how amazingly fun it was.

The game is set in the Lovecraftian universe, in the titular town of Arkham, Massachusetts. Once again, it looks like the stars are right, for the Great Old Ones are restless in their sleep....

And are about to wake.

And they're hungry.

As the action progresses, portals start to open all over town. From these portals, nameless obscenities are crawling forth, heralding the coming of the End.

The players will have to move one or more characters around the board (both in Arkham and in other dimensions), fighting monsters, closing portals and trying their best not to die. Horribly. In pain. Pretty much forever.

To try and describe the intricacy of this game would be a disservice to it. There are layers upon layers and circles within circles of complexity, that just add atmosphere and depth to the game.

The fact that, like most Lovecraftian games, you feel like you're playing against unwinnable odds, has a tendency to unite players. That's another thing, you HAVE to play cooperatively. Even then it will be damn hard. There are a number of expansions, that introduce a number of SECOND town boards (more fictitious town in the area, like Innsmouth), taking the dial all the way to 11.

Rui's conclusion: Not for the faint hearted, it will last a bunch of hours. Oh you have hours? And a half dozen geek friends? And you're in the mood to go tentacle-busting? Then stop whatever you're doing and play this. Highly recommended.

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