Review Details

Arkham Horror 3E: Core Set

Product Review (submitted on November 5, 2018):

I want to start this review off by saying I am a fantasy flight Cthulhu fan boy. I have all of their other products and Arkham Horror 2nd edition is one of my favorite games. All that being said I think I can keep this review objective.

I was like a kid on Christmas morning when my boxed showed up Saturday. Inside was the new AH3E. I immediately tore it open and punched the components. They are the usual FF quality with thick cardboard and great color. If I had a complaint it would be the odd card holder that you assemble from cardstock. I am sure there will be a cooler solution I can buy later.

I set up a 3 player version and started playing it out. The quick start rules do a great job of doing step by step set-up and I was up and running in no time. I was excited to find that each scenario has a different set-up. If I had a single complaint about AH2E it would be that the game doesn't change much with the different gods. Now the whole game changes. You seed a monster deck and there is an adventure deck which keeps the theme relevant. The adventure deck adds cards to the existing locations so you have encounters at the locations that are related to the scenario. Along with this is a codex that gives you conditions but doesn't let you know exactly how to win. No longer can you start the game and start sealing gates. You have to follow the story and see it unfold. It's super cool.

The turn sequence is an investigator phase, a monster phase, an encounter phase and the mythos phase. For the investigator phase the mechanics are very similar to mansions of madness and eldritch horror blended together. You get two actions per turn and each must be different. Moving up to 2 space (2 more for $2), getting $1, focusing a skill, or removing doom are examples of actions. Monster phase the monsters move given a criteria and then attack if they get to you. Then the encounter phase gives you a chance to discover clues or have other interesting things happen. There are no longer preset actions that you can do at some locations like in AH3E. This makes it harder to plan but adds some mystery to the game.

The mythos phase is no longer a deck of cards as it was in AH2E and is replaced by chits drawn from a bad or cap that have an effect. This made me happy and sad. I loved the mythos events of the previous edition but many times they made no sense. Now there is just doom and clues added, monsters generated or a scenario specific event that occurs that is tailored to the scenario. It is way more themeish or themey (is one of those a word?)

Overall the game is faster to play and has a much better streamlined feel and the theme of a specific scenario is more present throughout. It was a shorter game and will likely hit the table more often now. Replayability is down some from the previous version because I could see the scenarios being easier after playing them a couple times because you have a good idea what will happen in each.

I will play this game but the old version is not going to the funeral pyre anytime soon.