**Disclaimer** - I’m a serious game fan, but a casual gamer. Examples and references below are based on my personal experiences and averages of the people I’ve played with. This review assumes you have familiarized yourself with the publicly available information about the game. (i.e. Advertized game descriptions, BGG game information entry, Possible publicly available rules, etc.) If you’re concerned about spoilers do not read this review. I try to limit details in my reviews, but some things have to be mentioned to give readers an idea of what is being discussed.

GAME:Descent: Journeys in the Dark


Components:

Design Quality – Fantasy Flight at its best here. They have included a ton of high quality components into a huge box. The components are made from stiff cardboard for tokens, high quality cardstock for cards / character sheets, and plastic for miniatures.

The tokens are made from the cardboard type that is often used in tile games of recent years. The printing and art is very good quality on the pieces. The pieces are large enough to be easily identified, but maybe just a bit too large as I’ll mention below. All the cardboard pieces are printed double sided, so no having to pick though a bunch of upside down pieces to find the one you want.

The cards and character sheets are made of the higher quality CCG type of cardstock. Meaning they’ll last for a while with average care. The plastic miniatures are unpainted, but come in two colors, red and tan. The miniatures are not exquisite works of art, but are high quality and quite detailed. The plastic used is similar to that used in the D&D Miniatures line. Having extensive experience with D&D Miniatures, I can confidently say the plastic miniatures in Descent will last for quite a while.

A point of concern is the Doors. Thick cardboard is used, but also with plastic bases. It’s the old trick where you stick the cardboard piece into a slot on the plastic base to get a self standing component. Typical wear tear issue. Owners will have to choose between risking the piece possibly bending while in storage, or wearing the cardboard through by putting the pieces together and them back apart with each game play.

Durability – Most of the pieces are going to last. The cardboard tokens are stiff and durable. They will last a while. Few pieces with points mean less chance of fraying. Aside from soaking the pieces in fluids, they should last for quite a while.

The cards for the game are of the same high quality most CCG’s use. So they should last. Finicky owners may choose to use Deck Protectors, but beware as space in the box will end up being kind of tight.

The miniatures were, for me, a pleasant surprise. In addition to their nice quality, they are made of a durable plastic which means they will last a long time even while being stored in a cramped box. Many of the pieces become bent while in storage, but this is easily fixed with the Hot Water / Ice Water trick. The worst violators of the bending are the dragon and demon wings. Skeletons tend to play limbo a lot too.

Functionality – There are a few issues with functionality. Board clutter can be a real problem when battle gets heated and a lot of creatures and status tokens come into play. If you choose to place tokens on or next to creatures, be prepared to forget which tokens go to which creatures. Also, be prepared to simply run out of room. If you place tokens on character sheets and self created sheets for monsters, (numbering them works), be prepared to forget to account for all tokens on any creature at any time.

Player areas can become a bit cluttered as well with all the skill cards, item cards, tokens, and character sheet. But not near as bad as the board itself.

The miniatures themselves are very nice, but can be problematic. Several of the minis exceed the base size by having limbs hang over. Especially noticeable with winged creatures. Placing a lot of minis in close proximity can be troublesome and at worst, down right aggravating. Player Characters have an indicator to tell if they’ve taken their turn, but monsters do not. If care is not taken during large battles, the Overlord (game master) may forget which creatures they have activated. With the clutter issues, piece orientation is not the best option for tracking use. And with oval base pieces, may not be possible.

There are simply a ton of pieces. Keeping track of all of them becomes a task in and of itself.


Rules:

Brain Burn – OK this is a Fantasy Flight big box game. So you know before you even open it up, the rule book is going to be a small novel. In this case you have two small novels. The second being the quest book, but this is a good thing. Thick quest book means more replay value.

You are going to be crunching a lot of mechanics here. A lot goes on during actions and several factors can come into play for anything. Keeping track of everything will require the average player to create and use quick reference sheets. The Overlord has the most to recall and is very close to being a full on game master for a role-playing game. The person handling this part of the game will need to be intimately familiar with the rules.

In addition to the rules, the players need to be aware of their goals and how to achieve them. They will need to work together and hard to obtain victory. Your first few games will probably end up with the player characters losing. Until they figure out the tricks to efficiently deal with obstacles, and many times which obstacles to just skip, they will struggle.

Interpretation – I found the rules to be a bit unclear in areas. This may be my own fault though. I’m familiar with so many systems that sometimes I’d confuse interpretation of the rules for Descent with other systems. Even so, there will be times when as owner of this game you will say, “Huh?”

Also, there are so many smaller mechanics to track, (Overlord gets a threat token every time they roll two surges, etc.). You are bound to forget or overlook things the first few times you play. Players often forgot some abilities from items or even their characters. Things like familiars were often forgotten as they where covered by miniatures.

Retention – There will be constant rules referencing. Some rules may not even come into effect during a game session. When it finally does you’ll almost certainly have to pull the book out. This is a game that requires frequent play to stay fluent with the rules. Long periods of down time will result in teaching your self the rules again.

This rules set is not for the non-gamer, or the casual gamers who like a lot of variety. The rules will require a higher level of mental investment.


Implementation:

Set Up – Look to spend about a half hour to an hour setting this game up. Sure expert gamers can pull it off in less time, but others will take longer. Set up delays can be caused by allowing Players to choose their own characters. They will want to read them all and consider their options.

Setting up the map, pulling out all the tokens, setting up each character’s starting array of tokens, items and skills, setting up the Overlord’s monster review, etc. all takes time.

Turn Time – Turns can take quite some time. Players will debate their options and try to come up with the best, most efficient use of their actions. Since turn order among player characters is not regulated, this can take some time during critical battles.

The Overlord’s turn takes a while simply due to everything they have to control. Experienced Overlord’s can move pretty quickly, but inexperienced Overlords will be slow at best. I’ve experienced a single round lasting more than 30 minutes due to debating and rules referencing.

Roadblocks – Rules referencing was the biggest violator. I find the rules book gets pulled out a lot. Often the book isn’t put away, as one player references the book while another takes their turn. After the turn the book gets handed off to someone else to check something. In a game which boarders on role-playing, I fully expected this. The problem, as I see it, is no table of contents or index for the rules. There is a reference sheet on the back of the quest log, but otherwise rule searching is by memory or flipping page by page. This can be frustrating to players.

Board clutter can become so bad at times; it slows game play as everyone has to figure out what goes with what.

Line of sight was another flow breaker. Its center of square to center of square, but the map tiles do not include dots in the square centers to use as a guide. Having the dots can ruin the art in the eyes of some, but not having the dots leaves room for debates about a millimeter here or there.


Theme:

Design Depth – Very deep theme. This game ties into the same fantasy world as the Runebound games do. The big difference is, while completing a campaign of contiguous adventures in Runebound, you are completing a single adventure in Descent.

Everything in this game drives home the fantasy setting. Many of the mechanics are designed to represent fantastical effects of a fantasy world. The pieces, miniatures, and game play are all designed to help you forget your world and live in the world of Descent.

Thematic Elements – Characters are drawn from the same fantasy world the Runebound games are set in. The miniatures are wonderful representations of fantasy creatures. The effects, and tokens representing them, include some of the most common elements of the fantasy genre. (web, stun, poison, etc.)

The art and design of the game lend a lot in the way of helping immerse one in the fantasy element. The quest stories are not the greatest examples of fantasy writing but with a little imagination fulfill the game requirements well enough.

Quirks – The design of the game allows everyone to have fun, but often an adversarial attitude arises. The game is effectively one against many, with the Overlord trying to beat the player characters and vise versa. I have seen Overlord players become vindictive towards a particular player. I have also seen Overlords who, after the game, mentioned they felt bad because everyone wanted them to lose. I was kind of surprised by this. Having played a lot of role-playing games and being an experienced game master myself it hadn’t occurred to me this might happen. Looking back at my growing pains in role-playing I remember all those elements. This game can draw upon all those same feelings and emotions.


Immersion:

Down Time – Player options can slow game play, players review and consider their options thoroughly. But rules referencing causes for most of the sit and wait issues. The lack of a table of contents or index in the rules only adds to this.

The game design itself causes periods of down time. When player characters enter an unexplored area, everything has to stop to allow the Overloard to set up the new area. It takes time to locate and place all the monsters and tokens. This was often used as a scheduled break time for the players to use the washroom or gets snacks.

Line of sight debates also made for game flow interruption.

Time Warp – I haven’t really sensed time warp with this game. Yes time passes enjoyably. But I haven’t ever looked at the clock and said, “Where has the time gone?”

Others may easily experience time warp, but I believe this won’t happen unless I poor more time into familiarizing myself with the rules. Which as a casual board gamer, I don’t see myself doing.

Where Am I? – I believe this game has all the elements to make this possible. They game uses some elements of role-playing and role-playing games are designed to allow you to escape reality for a little while. I don’t see myself becoming that engrossed in this game, but am sure others will.

Summary:

The return on investment is fair. You get quite a bit from this game and its all good quality. The rules are above average complexity and have many situational elements, which may only come up occasionally. You will definitely be reviewing the rules occasionally, and possibly visiting BGG or Fantasy Flight web sites for clarifications. The theme is thick and deep enough to allow for one to lose them selves in the game. Yet, frequent pauses in the action can ruin a person’s verisimilitude.

I consider this game a nice distraction and glad it’s in my inventory. I won’t play it a lot meaning I have to keep re-teaching myself. This detracts from my enjoyment, but not so much that I feel I need to avoid the game. Personally the expansion aspect of a game this costly is a bit of a turn off. I’m an admitted completist collector and the number of expansions for this game is foreshadowing.

Thank you for reading my review. It makes the effort worthwhile.