Agemonia

I've only played the first three tutorial missions so please take my review with a grain of salt. Firstly, the missions themselves I feel are designed well but do leave something to be desired. Slowly introducing concepts can be effective but can also cause some disconnect between missions as the pace has to grind to a halt for someone to read the rulebook or teach the others how the new concept(s) come into play. Granted there are quite a few mechanics so I know it can be difficult either way, but it does seem cumbersome at times. Secondly, the mechanics themselves are simple and pretty intuitive. I don't have to do significant calculations or wonder which skill applies to which check and the numbers are all relatively low. Movement and exploration seems fluid but can cause a serious time sink on certain turns depending on the range of events and certain checks. There are times, especially in the third mission, where one character turn would take 5-10 minutes. With four players that is an obscene amount of time between turns. Finally, the difficulty seems completely off. The random initiative each round is a cute mechanic but can create wildly difficult and almost unfair situations. Having monsters go last and then immediately go first next round seems unfair. This is not typical but the amount of times a monster group would go twice before my character took another turn seemed too often to feel fair. Especially when combat almost seems secondary. I am completely on board with the idea that punching all the things doesn't have to be the solution, but when the monsters are strong as hell and beefy to boot it almost seems insurmountable at times. Overall, I do like the game despite my critiques. I think the game is beautifully illustrated, the story is captivating, and the gameplay is fairly easy to learn. It is incredibly satisfying to find a secret and complete a skill check and receive that unique reward. There was an idea behind this game and you can feel it throughout the gameplay. This is a narrative driven adventure with elements of combat, not the other way around. All in all, I am very excited to play through the campaign and look forward to what it brings.

My first campaign game and it comes as advertised! Literally can’t wait to play it again!