I do agree with everything you say, except for the Aesthetics... I'm not saying it's not good looking (even tough I find the tiles a bit too dark...) but they really could have invested in SOME new art. Many objects are identical to EH, MoM and the LCG. Especially the player "boards" Oh man Wendy has been polishing that glass since the 1990... Come on... I'm not saying to change them completely, but give them another pose... let them look a bit newer... I don't know... it's just starting to get old, that's all I'm saying XD
Sure, but in the case of these games, the length compounds the fact that the gameplay is superficial. Shallow games like this are fine for shorter periods of time, but a 3 hour game that is the equivalent of eating rice cakes is just too long.
@@EclecticCamel Very much agree. Strangely, in modern cinema, in particular the tasteless rice cake movies (like Last Jedi) take way longer, then they should.
Personally I liked Arkham Horror 3rd edition but I still like Eldritch Horror better. While Arkham Horror has a more focused sort of storytelling I've never had a problem with the random encounters in Eldritch Horror, I like never knowing which encounter is coming up next. Also I didn't like the mechanic of drawing two mythos tokens per player every single round to determine all the mythos effects, it felt a little cumbersome and actually felt less interesting than just drawing a single mythos card with story text on it and a few mythos effects on the card to handle. (It felt slow with even a few players, I can only imagine how much it would drag drawing all those tokens with four or five or six players.) In terms of setting I like the globe-hopping of Eldritch Horror over exploring a single city per scenario, and in terms of amount of content and encounters and items and characters I already have Eldritch Horror with all the expansions so going to Arkham Horror 3rd edition with just the base game seems like a step down in variety. So it's a good game but I'll probably prefer to stick to Eldritch Horror if I have the choice.
@@MazariPL Thanks! Don't get me wrong, Arkham Horror 3rd edition is a fun game, so who knows, maybe you'd like it better or at least enough to own both it and Eldritch? If you can find someone else who owns it and play a game with them first that would be your best bet if possible.
I have acquired both EH and AH3 in the last 3 days. Haven't played either one, but I am a bit more excited to try out AH3. Mostly because, from what I gather, it seems to do a better job with the storytelling. Either way though, I also appreciated your comment. I'm excited to try them both!
@@keving82383 hey Kevin, could you please share your experience with both games? I'm considering purchasing one of these to move away from AH 2ed and would like to know your opinion.
Sorry I'm not Kevin but given this was posted recently and having played E.H. since it's inception and also doing research on this Arkham Files game and considering picking it up, I thought I could help. First, it depends on two main points. 1. How expandable do you want it to be? So how much replay and variety do you want your game to have and 2. Do you want more story and narrative or more gameplay and kind of a build your own story around a main mystery and Ancient One? Eldritch Horror is expandable to a point where you can consider it "done." As in you will likely *never* play the same game or build the same story twice. However, since it's done it's not growing from here. (It doesn't need to in my opinion.) Arkham Horror 3rd Ed. is just starting and can go anywhere from here, but currently is kind of limited as a result. Another upside to that though is that it makes it far more manageable *currently.* This is FFG. That *will* change and both of these games will be giant beasts before you're done. To my second point Eldritch Horror is a game where you have more freedom and it feels like you have more agency and there are multiple ways (adventures, expeditions, even dreams) to solve an adventure while the story still revolves around a main mystery/Ancient One, while Arkahm Horror 3rd edition is more focused, and local. Less freedom but more will happen around the main story as a result, and it has a defined, read ending and not just "We solved the last mystery! Hurrah suck it C'thulu!" So 3rd edition has a less open and potentially surprising (see also occasionally flat out nuts) narrative, but is more serious and has what some will find to be a tighter, more defined resolution. Again, it all depends on what you like, both games are great experiences in my view. Hope this helps, please let me know how you find it whatever your choice may be. :)
Okay, this has been the best explanation of the difference of the two version. I really wish they would change the name or add something to the box to tell the difference, I had been searching to find out which edition I had. Then you said "The card game" which is written in the title of my box, so I know what I have now! They should put "the board game" on this one. I almost rage quite thinking I had to go back an repurchase everything as third edition or not being able to buy the correct ones to finish my story under second edition. Really they could have made things so much easier for the customer to know what to buy.
I'm not even interested in playing Arkham Horror anymore but I am interested in how the third edition fares against other stuff. But what in the world did they do to the board since the first edition??
For me, 2ed will always have that clonky nostalgia i associate with good dos/amiga games. Which 3ed will never beat. But am super excited to (hopefully) see them take advantage of the modular board in expansions.
@@chrismusix5669 Sam doesn't seem to mind horror games. In fact he had Eldritch Horror at #20 on his top 100 in 2014 and had Mansions of Madness in his top 100 in 2016 and 2017. He also has other horror games on his top 100 in 2018, for instance in his top 50 he has Zombicide Black Plague #7, Fury of Dracula #48, and InBetween (aka Stranger Things the board game) #50 So yeah, Zee hates Eldritch Horror and the earlier edition of Arkham Horror but I'm surprised Tom and Sam didn't take part in reviewing this new Arkham Horror game.
@@Bodyknock Sam doesn't mind Horror in general. However, he feels uneasy, when there are cultist for anybody or anything else then Jesus Christ or Viking goods are involved.
It could very well be they didn't think it was that big of a release. I don't think Sam's faith has anything to do with it. The guy is tired of Cthulhu games so I don't blame him for not wanting to review another one.
Hi there, would you recommend getting this game if you've never played any of the others or the card game?? We have recently started a collection and are looking for new additions but I know very little about this series
I bought this very game and I didnt play any other Arkham or Eldritch game before. I didnt regret this at all. It's like Zee said: it's easy to pick up the rules. I've read several times now, that the scenario, the rulebook recommends being played first is one of the hardest, so you might want to look out there when starting. But I can safely say, this game is frequently being played in our house and got me into the whole franchise now :) Guess a little interest toward the theme didnt hurt either for me :D
In the FFG collection you forgot one : The Call of Cthulhu Card Game (which was a CCG before and has been republished in 2008 as one of the firsts LCG with A Game of Thrones). ^_^
For me, it doesn't feel like there's all that much upkeep as some (like Zee) make it out to be. During the action phase you can (and should) pay attention to the encounter symbols to try and end up in spaces that work well with your strengths and/or get you something you desire, but you'll have to balance it with also doing other actions that need to be done; on top of that, the encounters then often have you do some test or make a choice, or both (typically based on the displayed symbols on the space). Those things combined really makes the encounter phase feel like part of me doing things, rather than upkeep. Then there's the monsters, and that's a bit more upkeepy, but necessary, and during the action phase you can still already plan ahead for how monsters would move and attack; it does feel a bit disconnected that the monsters attacking happens in a separate phase, but considering they can move and be the first to attack, I think it's just mechanically smoother to do it this way. The mythos phase also is probably the most upkeepy (except when you draw a headline maybe, that at least feels a bit like you get to do stuff) but also very important, and can be streamlined by making particular players be in charge of resolving specific types of tokens (e.g. clue, doom, and outburst, which all come from the event deck, are good for 1 player to be in charge of, then someone who is in charge of monsters, someone who's in charge of headlines, and someone who's in charge of dealing out tokens; only the reckoning is something that isn't really useful to delegate to a single player, but having everyone be aware of the reckoning texts near them and be in charge of those can help as well)
As for game length, yeah it's long, and that makes it more difficult to get to the table, but I think the length does help to really add to the story and theme, if you'd cram this much story and an epic investigation and quest into 90 minutes, it would feel too quick and there'd be a disconnect; if you'd cut the story short, it would feel like you suddenly get thrown in at the end of a story, or only get to do the setup for a story. The only way I see a game like this be 90 minutes without ruining theme/story is if it was a mini campaign style where every play trough is as if you're playing trough one part of the story, to eventually get to a climax, and even then, the amount of set up and clean up a game like this requires would probably make it a bad ratio of set-up to clean up, to a point where ideally you just want to play multiple sessions in a row as to be more efficient with your time.
I don't see it going 3 hours either but I did think the bag drawing mechanic where everybody draws two tokens and does their effects was a bit lengthy, and that was with only a couple of players. I can only imagine how drawn out that gets with 4 or 5 or 6 players or whatever. Compare that to Eldritch Horror, for example, where you draw a single mythos card and that card does whatever it does to the board or the players and that's it. MUCH faster!
Doug Rosengard I hear you, but my beef with Eldritch (a game I love) is that the mythos phase starts low maintenance then just gets longer and longer as the game goes on. In Arkham 3rd edition, it stays pretty much even throughout. Which I don’t mind. At least it’s predictable.
Spoken For Media, Inc. If you mean the mythos is longer because you have more monsters on the board to look at during the mythos phase later in the game that’s true in Arkham 3rd too. (If not I’m not sure what you mean, there’s only one card per mythos phase in Eldritch and it’s always exactly two or three things to do and one random event. Versus Arkham 3rd is two things per player.)
Doug Rosengard I guess I meant the reckoning. Phase. Monsters, elder god, rumor, possibly lots of player cards with significant effects, etc. You’re right, mythos itself isn’t terrible. But reckoning can slow things down. Reminds me of horror checks in mansions of madness. Not my favorite thing.
Where are the elder gods. I remimber the early edition that you needed to close 7 gates and if you failed the elder gods appeared and you needed to fight them. The elder gods also had an effect some monsters depending on which one you chose. The scenarios are new.
The scenarios are more thematic. It's not realistic in the setting for you to encounter Cthulhu or Hastur at all much less *win* and walk away from it. Most stories written by the creators and even with FFG's approach end with the spell casters or the one who sees the GOO driven irrevocably insane, and either killing themselves, living the rest of their lives insane, or just dying in the encounter.
Comment edit: the Call of Cthulhu game Dark Corners of the Earth has you dealing with one of the most minor of the Old Ones, Dagon and even with you driving him back down, you *still* wind up insane and killing yourself.
I still don't understand a lot of the reviewers reluctance to play a long game, I don't have a lot of time myself, with being a husband, minister at church, programmer and father of two, but when I do get together with friends and set apart a few hours, I want my games (short or long) to be awesome experiences, if the game is 5 or 6 hours long but makes it for a fantastic experience, then what is the freaking problem? and these dice tower guys do board games. FULL FREAKING TIME.
Indeed. I find myself playing 3-5h long games or playing short games multiple times - in essence also taking about 3-5h, just more games in this case :P
This might not be the exact same comparison, but I have over 200 games in my Steam library. If each of my games was 5 hours long (which is short for a video game), that's like playing for over 40 days straight with zero breaks to get through them all. If someone has many games to get through, short games are most certainly preferred.
@@trollking99 dunno man. I have a game in which I have over 400 days played and many with 100-500 hours per. Then again, I've been a gamer for the last 26 years :)
@@MazariPL The number I gave was lowball, but also meant for games that actually have an ending. For open world games like Skyrim or MMOs, it's a whole other story lol
I had a possibility to chose to go for the third edition, or to pick kingsport horror and get closer to finish the whole arkham second ed collection (missing miskatonic and black goat). The deciding fact was that I manage to finish the second ED in about two and half hour with three - four players (and it wasnt agains quick AOOS, it was against 12+ doom token ones), even if I played solo, so there was no problem with game lenght, and also the preparation was kinda fast, as I have everything ready in special boxes. Another factor was that when most of the encounter cards are just predictable in this version(most hospital cards will heal, most shop cards will sell) it must get kinda ... boring fast. And going to wait five or more years to get all expansions that maybe will/maybe not change this is kinda risky. Also when we played pure King In Yellow expansion with herald for example - it felt like a super focused story game with the whole city going crazy - the theme can be very strong in 2nd eddition, you just have to change the game to find it. Or when you lose a game getting innsmouth look - its just so thematic and sad at the same time - thinking you can turn it around, call feds the next turn but BAM mythos will tell you to draw two innsmouth look cards and you are DONE. I will also never forget Tommy hiding in the church for five turns because of monsters on the street, getting blessed, falling asleeep, getting crazy, getting cursed and then blessing someone else. Or Yorick getting to hospital just to get killed the next turn again by cthonian earthquake. This game, and Eldritch horror ,too, just doesnt feel so "closed" and "claustrophobic" as Arkham.
Great review! I agree with pretty much everything you have said. My group got it down to 2 hours now. We definitely love it especially the cohesive story.
"You find an odd item on a shelf: a plastic case with a silvery disc inside and a rubber cord running to small headphones." Wait, so you can actually find a *Discman* in this game?
What happens when you get a clue card from the neighbor hood deck but there's no clue on the board but that card tells u you take a clue. Do u just grab it out the box?
That's actually impossible unless you did something wrong. The clue cards only come into the decks when clues spawn there, and only in the amount of clues there are. You could also think about the clues in the neighborhood as reminder, that there are clue cards in the deck.
Interested to see how well the story integrates into the game, at long last. I'm kind of surprised FFG is trying to improve that aspect given that Eldritch Horror ties its theme into the game play about as well as Monopoly does and yet it still got praise heaped on it by fans. It would seem that for most board gamers it just isn't that big a deal, and really isn't something they are able to notice/appreciate.
No wonder the 2nd edition is on sale (I didn't realize there was a 3rd edition). In any case, I prefer games that have an actual play board (like the 2nd edition) - I don't like games with tiles and such, they seem cheap in my opinion.
Sam has said repeatedly he is "over" Cthulhu which may play a part in this, but ultimately it's up to them on who reviews what. I'm curious why so many people are saying this isn't Sam's kind of game though.
I have to give it to you Zee, this was a highly professional review. Thank you. In the beginning of thoughts you mentioned that you are not a fan of the board game and this gives extra points to professionalism for the review. I have to touch 2 points here. 1) the length of the game. It is a long game indeed. I think that it is by design. I think that the length is factored in for creating the tension and release loops that are required for good storytelling. I mean you can’t judge a movie as too long because it’s longer than a procedural. So there’s that. 2) player agency and “things happening to you”. Full disclosure, I have not played the game so if I am factually wrong please correct me. In all previous games...and I guess in this one (?)...there existed (exists?) this opinion that player interaction was during the action phase and then everything else happened to you. Having played extensively Eldritch horror and some Arkham 2nd I can say with certainty that this is not the case. Encounters have a lot of player choice in them. They include a lot of skill tests and components like assets and spells factor in. Even during the Mythos phase there are cases when you can influence what’s happening (befell :) ) to you through player choices. So there is player agency distributed throughout the different phases and not only in the action phase. Now, I’ll reiterate that I have not played his incarnation, but of they made the non action phases totally passive then the game would certainly warrant a far lower score than what you gave it, at least for hardcore fans. Anyway, these were some thoughts. I hope this is rather good and eagerly waiting it to get its first large box expansion before buying all of it then to have a clear picture of what kind of narrative model they are going for. Cheers.
There is player agency during encounters as you describe, but not really during mythos. I didn't realize for a while that everyone draws TWO Mythos tokens, and that does a take quite a bit of time.
Robert Dullnig ok, I guess I can live with that. I made this post because it took me up to he middle of my 2nd game of EH to realize that the real action is in the encounter phase and not the “action”. Now, about drawing 2 mythos tokens, I’ll have to say I have no idea how these work, so... we’ll see...
14:40 pretty much sums up my overall opinion/gripe with this game .. other than that .. i love every bit, the characters, the monsters, the themes, the mechanics, and the story. but the delivery of "take a buck" was peak relatability X,D
Good review, well done. I got a clear understanding of how this game works very quickly thanks to your explanation. I am a big fan of 2nd edition, but this version sounds pretty good. As you say, it is more streamlined and a shorter game. I'm sure this is much easier to introduce new players to. The clear story is also good because while I have no problem creating my own story with 2nd edition, not everyone wants to use a Cthulhu mythos manual while playing a game to understand what is going on. I will stick to 2nd edition myself but I'd try this if someone I know gets it.
Why does this game in this video look completely different than in this video? ruclips.net/video/Dz5IzTLVmD0/видео.html are they the same game just wildly different versions? im kinda confused between arkham horror, eldritch horror, arkham the card game. this game seems fun, what should a new player buy first?
The video you linked is the second edition. The review is for third edition. The card game is the best but it's expensive and hard to get into. For someone new, I'd recommend Eldritch Horror.
I don't know if Zee made this clear, but you do not always have anomalies occur depending on the scenario. In one of the scenarios, the game uses a mechanic that is even more like Pandemic where spaces "outbreak," spreading doom to other spaces and the scenario sheet. I expect there will be more scenarios that use this and other variations on the mechanic in the future.
I'm starting to get to the point where thematically at least I don't want any more of the same thematic games that I have. I have Arkham Horror: LCG - no Arkham Horror for me. Same with Heroes of Terrinoth - I have Descent already, why would I want a card version of that. Keyforge? I played way too much Magic in my day. Give me something new and I'll jump on board.
I think it’s just an extension of the LCG. not keen on that. It means too much dependence on new stories, rather than just pulling out the game. There is just so many times you can replay a story.
Great review Zee! Though as others have said I wish this was a Miami Dice or you and Tom as je is a fan of Eldritch Horror and I was interested in how he compares the two.
It's pandemic because... its cooperative? There's almost no other similarities. Pandemic is simple with one bad thing a turn, four good things, and a goal that is not at all similar.
@@keel1701 Almost no other similarities? Doom shows up around the board, you have to go clean it up. If too many appear in a spot, they burst into something bad happening. It's pandemic. Everyone I played it with thought it was pandemic. Reviews out there have said the same thing.
What I really liked in 2d edition comparing to LCG was the fact, that you could feel being just a little dust by all the mythos. I mean: the fact that you are running with Shotgun, Flame thrower or dynamite like in Duke Nukem ist just lame as hell regarding lovcraftian universe. In AH 2ed I felt the great atmosphere and knew that fighting against it is last thing I would do as a survivor. Of course: Facing an enemy will force you to do so but in AH LCG this is just over a good taste of Lovecraft..
It was bad enough having to drop money on 1st editions of Descent, Mansions and Arkham Horror with several expansions included but now what? It's great that they breath new life into worthy games but what am I supposed to do with my original AH? Too bad I couldn't return them and get some credit toward the new versions...in a perfect world, right? Maybe the next time I go to Gen Con, I'll stand inconspicuously in the aisle next to the FFG booth and whip the older components at the staff. Lol. Or just place them on irrelevant games just to confuse the players. Any other ideas?
Just keep playing it! I have the 2nd edition Arkham Horror with expansions and it’s one of my all-time faves. So...I feel no urge whatsoever to purchase this. But someone who never had it now has an available, in-print reimagining of it. ‘sall good.
I’m probably beating up a dead horse here but...why do you say that the only time you are doing things is during the action phase? Both combat and encounter phases have players making choices about their situations. It seems to me that you have confused agency with initiative. In the action phase you have the initiative but apart from the monster phase you always have agency in the game’s direction. A very solid review otherwise!
@@Steve-L Sam had Eldritch in his top 100 a few years ago and Mansions of Madness in his top 100 in 2016 and 2017. He doesn't have a problem with these games.
@@Steve-L "as others have stated" - Sam doesn't seem to mind horror games. In fact he had Eldritch Horror at #20 on his top 100 in 2014 and had Mansions of Madness in his top 100 in 2016 and 2017. He also has other horror games on his top 100 in 2018, for instance in his top 50 he has Zombicide Black Plague #7, Fury of Dracula #48, and InBetween (aka Stranger Things the board game) #50
I'm intrigued by the storytelling but I'm not a fan of the board and character/monster cards, or how they've gotten rid of the gates. Seems a bit too much like pandemic.
Man it's one thing to use the same art assets between editions of one game, but the same artwork across all Cthulhu games? I don't see any point in owning this is you already have Eldritch/MoM 2/or the LCG. The reason these games are so long is all the flavor text, and 9000 dice rolls for every little aspect. A game like Dead of Winter does a great job on how it handles dice in the game, and is very thematic IMO. I thoroughly hope a different Publisher/Designer makes a a fun, shorter Cthulhu game in the future, that isn't put into the market with 5+ expansions in mind, Plus one without such heavy emphasis on dice-rolling. Maybe Witch of Salem will a get a reprint in the future.
Well for one thing they're completely different games mechanically. Elder Sign is essentially an amped up version of Yahtzee (i.e. every turn roll dice three times, pick the ones to keep and roll the rest) with very little encounter text (or at least very little text people ever actually read out loud.) Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror are both games where you travel around a map, reading random encounters in each space you visit with less involved combat mechanics and more involvement with story text and item or condition collection. I'm not saying Elder Sign is bad or good, I'm just saying it's a completely different style of game. Personally I like Elder Sign but I like Eldritch Horror more, it's a longer game but my friends and I have a better time playing Eldritch Horror because of the huge content variety and the globetrotting motif. Elder Sign is a game I played more on my iPad (Elder Sign: Omens) and that seems to be the most fun way to play that particular game. Obviously Zee is the opposite, he likes Elder Sign with the Gates expansion better than Eldritch Horror. So it's all a matter of taste.
Michael DeVries Yep! Some of the Elder Sign Omen dlc campaigns are INSANELY hard. 😳 I beat the Cthulhu scenario but never managed fo beat the Wendigo. I never played the Egypt one but it’s rated at least as hard as Wendigo so I can only imagine it’s plain ridiculous.
Anything over 3 hours is quite a long game but I really don't see a GOOD "story telling" game developing a reasonable mood without that 3 hours. If you can't handle a 3 hour game definite stick to card games I'd say.
Zee changed his mind on Arkham/Eldritch once it added Pandemic elements? SHOCK! But seriously, out of all the Miami Dice guys, why did they pick the one who hates Arkham/Eldritch Horror AND all games over 60 minutes to review this? (you're doing something wrong if every game is taking over 3 hours. Even at the height of their bloat with 8 players, Arkham Horror 2 or Eldritch never took that long)
Yet you like almost every war game or little games like Star Wars or battle tech where it takes more time to measure, postion, fire, etc that takes way longer than this game. SmFH
Can you justify that? My sister asked me what I want for my bday that it’s near and I was thinking about getting EH. I already own 3ed with both the expansions out. Are they different? Why EH is better? Is it cool with expansions?
I thought so at first but Its really not bad. I like it! tight fit is a true. but i can see them adding in like Innsmith or dunwich pick your expansion tiles Adding them and loosing others so the board is always a bit different. It kinda plays like AH with a bit of Pandemic. Replaying is a bit like a different game. Oh and the clue cards are diffrent in each scenario so each game has a little different rules and cards monsters and 13 random headline's
It does seem cosmetically unappealing but I guess as you play, it will hopefully become transparent and the story pushes that aspect to the background.
Why does the board look like a "mess" and "horrible"? I think it looks fine. I'm excited to play with that modular system. And, it takes up way less space. Expansions should will be able to plug right in. No sideboard hogging space. The new map is different and interesting.
@Those making Pandemic comparisons. Pandemic is a very simplistic and shallow game compared to Arkham Horror 2nd edition so if this 3rd edition borrows some mechanics from Pandemic that doesn't mean it is Pandemic. I have been struggling to like Pandemic and I just don't see the attraction. It's a quick and simple COOP game where you often lose. Is that the attraction? I'd rather lose a game of Arkham Horror after 4 hours of ups and downs and crazy randomness than blitz my way through 6 games of Pandemic in those same 4 hours. Pandemic is shallow? Yes. You do realize the Cthulhu Mythos (or Yogsothothry as Lovecraft would have it) is many thousands of pages of writing, by H.P. Lovecraft and those he continues to inspire to this day. There is no comparison. Pandemic is an ok game, but from a story telling perspective there is no comparison to the Cthulhu Mythos. Furthermore, this is fundamental misunderstanding people have with Arkham Horror 2nd edition, they treat it as a mechanical exercise. As a pure puzzle to be solved. They ignore the story, the mythos, and the Role Playing element of the game. For those types of gamers I admit Arkham Horror is not the game for them. And these Pandemic comparisons continue this misunderstanding. "Oh Arkham Horror 2nd edition is just like Pandemic." Well, no. Pandemic, other than the Legacy versions, has no story and no role playing element. Nor is there any mystery to be solved or explored. Pandemic is a very efficient mechanical experience, and very shallow at that.
Pandemic is a very different game, isn't it? It has in common the dealing of escalating threat across a board, but lacks the roleplaying and wonderfully zany and unpredictable stories that develop. Plus thematically 2nd can really drag you in to its theme with all the encounters and flavour text. I like pandemic, but for different reasons. Though both have that sense of the game having its own logic and, in 2nd editions case, its like a lovecraftian god itself - growing and spreading disaster and genuinely trying to beat you down as the fragile human being you are. 3rd seems to have over powered characters, and the monsters (so far) feel weak, which is disappointing, but maybe some scenarios are different. I do miss the otherworldly encounters and am not sure the stories are any better than 2nd editions advancing elder god, but time will tell.
@@pantognost They could've called it "______ Horror". I worked with Eldritch Horror. I'll probably still buy it, but it doesn't look much at all what most people associate Arkham Horror with.
Sweetestsadist I’m not sure what to make of your sentence “I worked for EH”. If you were employed for it 1) power to you and 2) you might remember the flak that this game got from the “purists” of the 12hour-studio-apartment-sized-full-expansion-board AH. If not then trust me, I have heard before.
@@keel1701 I know, but it obviously not his cup of tea, but his review does not match his enjoyment of the game, idk. Thats my opinion, and I respect yours :)
@@Monly That just means he's trying to be as objective as possible. It's like... I'm not a fan oc Codenames, but I see the appeal and could recommend it to people that might like it based on their tastes.
Is it time to have a top ten storytelling games?
I do agree with everything you say, except for the Aesthetics... I'm not saying it's not good looking (even tough I find the tiles a bit too dark...) but they really could have invested in SOME new art. Many objects are identical to EH, MoM and the LCG. Especially the player "boards" Oh man Wendy has been polishing that glass since the 1990... Come on... I'm not saying to change them completely, but give them another pose... let them look a bit newer... I don't know... it's just starting to get old, that's all I'm saying XD
My wife and I became addicted to this game overnight. We have almost beat every vanilla scenario.
There is space in the hobby for games of all lengths. It shouldnt be a blanket requirement for games to be shorter.
Sure, but in the case of these games, the length compounds the fact that the gameplay is superficial. Shallow games like this are fine for shorter periods of time, but a 3 hour game that is the equivalent of eating rice cakes is just too long.
@@EclecticCamel Very much agree. Strangely, in modern cinema, in particular the tasteless rice cake movies (like Last Jedi) take way longer, then they should.
@@EclecticCamel Arkham Horror games are very challenging and hardly a mere passtime.
This reviewer has a strong preference for shorter games.
@@Steve-yd9ki there's hardly any strategy involved, let's not kid ourselves.
Personally I liked Arkham Horror 3rd edition but I still like Eldritch Horror better. While Arkham Horror has a more focused sort of storytelling I've never had a problem with the random encounters in Eldritch Horror, I like never knowing which encounter is coming up next. Also I didn't like the mechanic of drawing two mythos tokens per player every single round to determine all the mythos effects, it felt a little cumbersome and actually felt less interesting than just drawing a single mythos card with story text on it and a few mythos effects on the card to handle. (It felt slow with even a few players, I can only imagine how much it would drag drawing all those tokens with four or five or six players.) In terms of setting I like the globe-hopping of Eldritch Horror over exploring a single city per scenario, and in terms of amount of content and encounters and items and characters I already have Eldritch Horror with all the expansions so going to Arkham Horror 3rd edition with just the base game seems like a step down in variety.
So it's a good game but I'll probably prefer to stick to Eldritch Horror if I have the choice.
I must say I am finding your comment incredibly useful. I own EH and like it a lot and am considering AH3ED but this gave me pause.
@@MazariPL Thanks! Don't get me wrong, Arkham Horror 3rd edition is a fun game, so who knows, maybe you'd like it better or at least enough to own both it and Eldritch? If you can find someone else who owns it and play a game with them first that would be your best bet if possible.
I have acquired both EH and AH3 in the last 3 days. Haven't played either one, but I am a bit more excited to try out AH3. Mostly because, from what I gather, it seems to do a better job with the storytelling.
Either way though, I also appreciated your comment. I'm excited to try them both!
@@keving82383 hey Kevin, could you please share your experience with both games? I'm considering purchasing one of these to move away from AH 2ed and would like to know your opinion.
Sorry I'm not Kevin but given this was posted recently and having played E.H. since it's inception and also doing research on this Arkham Files game and considering picking it up, I thought I could help. First, it depends on two main points. 1. How expandable do you want it to be? So how much replay and variety do you want your game to have and 2. Do you want more story and narrative or more gameplay and kind of a build your own story around a main mystery and Ancient One? Eldritch Horror is expandable to a point where you can consider it "done." As in you will likely *never* play the same game or build the same story twice. However, since it's done it's not growing from here. (It doesn't need to in my opinion.) Arkham Horror 3rd Ed. is just starting and can go anywhere from here, but currently is kind of limited as a result. Another upside to that though is that it makes it far more manageable *currently.* This is FFG. That *will* change and both of these games will be giant beasts before you're done. To my second point Eldritch Horror is a game where you have more freedom and it feels like you have more agency and there are multiple ways (adventures, expeditions, even dreams) to solve an adventure while the story still revolves around a main mystery/Ancient One, while Arkahm Horror 3rd edition is more focused, and local. Less freedom but more will happen around the main story as a result, and it has a defined, read ending and not just "We solved the last mystery! Hurrah suck it C'thulu!" So 3rd edition has a less open and potentially surprising (see also occasionally flat out nuts) narrative, but is more serious and has what some will find to be a tighter, more defined resolution. Again, it all depends on what you like, both games are great experiences in my view. Hope this helps, please let me know how you find it whatever your choice may be. :)
Daaaamn Zee you got this board game review thing locked down. Clear, precise and to the point.
Okay, this has been the best explanation of the difference of the two version. I really wish they would change the name or add something to the box to tell the difference, I had been searching to find out which edition I had. Then you said "The card game" which is written in the title of my box, so I know what I have now! They should put "the board game" on this one. I almost rage quite thinking I had to go back an repurchase everything as third edition or not being able to buy the correct ones to finish my story under second edition. Really they could have made things so much easier for the customer to know what to buy.
It's on the box by the UPC which edition it is. Not obvious I know, but it works
Ran into Zee's reviews today and really enjoyed it. Thank you very much for quality content, Zee!
Omg finallyZee, my main investigator man! Thx for reviewing this finally!
I'm not even interested in playing Arkham Horror anymore but I am interested in how the third edition fares against other stuff. But what in the world did they do to the board since the first edition??
"Modular" board😉
I’ve played 2nd and 3th edition in a weekend, just to compare the two. I do like them both, different in a way, but the feel stays the same.
For me, 2ed will always have that clonky nostalgia i associate with good dos/amiga games. Which 3ed will never beat. But am super excited to (hopefully) see them take advantage of the modular board in expansions.
Surprised this was't a Miami Dice review.
Nick Rossell I was just gonna say that
I don't think Sam is interested in this kind of game (horror). Zee tends to be the one to like Chachooloo games.
@@chrismusix5669 Sam doesn't seem to mind horror games. In fact he had Eldritch Horror at #20 on his top 100 in 2014 and had Mansions of Madness in his top 100 in 2016 and 2017. He also has other horror games on his top 100 in 2018, for instance in his top 50 he has Zombicide Black Plague #7, Fury of Dracula #48, and InBetween (aka Stranger Things the board game) #50
So yeah, Zee hates Eldritch Horror and the earlier edition of Arkham Horror but I'm surprised Tom and Sam didn't take part in reviewing this new Arkham Horror game.
@@Bodyknock Sam doesn't mind Horror in general. However, he feels uneasy, when there are cultist for anybody or anything else then Jesus Christ or Viking goods are involved.
It could very well be they didn't think it was that big of a release.
I don't think Sam's faith has anything to do with it. The guy is tired of Cthulhu games so I don't blame him for not wanting to review another one.
Hi there, would you recommend getting this game if you've never played any of the others or the card game?? We have recently started a collection and are looking for new additions but I know very little about this series
I bought this very game and I didnt play any other Arkham or Eldritch game before. I didnt regret this at all. It's like Zee said: it's easy to pick up the rules. I've read several times now, that the scenario, the rulebook recommends being played first is one of the hardest, so you might want to look out there when starting.
But I can safely say, this game is frequently being played in our house and got me into the whole franchise now :)
Guess a little interest toward the theme didnt hurt either for me :D
In the FFG collection you forgot one : The Call of Cthulhu Card Game (which was a CCG before and has been republished in 2008 as one of the firsts LCG with A Game of Thrones). ^_^
For me, it doesn't feel like there's all that much upkeep as some (like Zee) make it out to be. During the action phase you can (and should) pay attention to the encounter symbols to try and end up in spaces that work well with your strengths and/or get you something you desire, but you'll have to balance it with also doing other actions that need to be done; on top of that, the encounters then often have you do some test or make a choice, or both (typically based on the displayed symbols on the space). Those things combined really makes the encounter phase feel like part of me doing things, rather than upkeep.
Then there's the monsters, and that's a bit more upkeepy, but necessary, and during the action phase you can still already plan ahead for how monsters would move and attack; it does feel a bit disconnected that the monsters attacking happens in a separate phase, but considering they can move and be the first to attack, I think it's just mechanically smoother to do it this way.
The mythos phase also is probably the most upkeepy (except when you draw a headline maybe, that at least feels a bit like you get to do stuff) but also very important, and can be streamlined by making particular players be in charge of resolving specific types of tokens (e.g. clue, doom, and outburst, which all come from the event deck, are good for 1 player to be in charge of, then someone who is in charge of monsters, someone who's in charge of headlines, and someone who's in charge of dealing out tokens; only the reckoning is something that isn't really useful to delegate to a single player, but having everyone be aware of the reckoning texts near them and be in charge of those can help as well)
As for game length, yeah it's long, and that makes it more difficult to get to the table, but I think the length does help to really add to the story and theme, if you'd cram this much story and an epic investigation and quest into 90 minutes, it would feel too quick and there'd be a disconnect; if you'd cut the story short, it would feel like you suddenly get thrown in at the end of a story, or only get to do the setup for a story. The only way I see a game like this be 90 minutes without ruining theme/story is if it was a mini campaign style where every play trough is as if you're playing trough one part of the story, to eventually get to a climax, and even then, the amount of set up and clean up a game like this requires would probably make it a bad ratio of set-up to clean up, to a point where ideally you just want to play multiple sessions in a row as to be more efficient with your time.
I've yet to have a 3 hour game. Even with 4 investigators. Always hits under 2 hours, usually 1:30 or less. (minus 10 mins of setup time).
I played it twice with 3 players and also had less than a 2 hour game.
I don't see it going 3 hours either but I did think the bag drawing mechanic where everybody draws two tokens and does their effects was a bit lengthy, and that was with only a couple of players. I can only imagine how drawn out that gets with 4 or 5 or 6 players or whatever. Compare that to Eldritch Horror, for example, where you draw a single mythos card and that card does whatever it does to the board or the players and that's it. MUCH faster!
Doug Rosengard I hear you, but my beef with Eldritch (a game I love) is that the mythos phase starts low maintenance then just gets longer and longer as the game goes on. In Arkham 3rd edition, it stays pretty much even throughout. Which I don’t mind. At least it’s predictable.
Spoken For Media, Inc. If you mean the mythos is longer because you have more monsters on the board to look at during the mythos phase later in the game that’s true in Arkham 3rd too. (If not I’m not sure what you mean, there’s only one card per mythos phase in Eldritch and it’s always exactly two or three things to do and one random event. Versus Arkham 3rd is two things per player.)
Doug Rosengard I guess I meant the reckoning. Phase. Monsters, elder god, rumor, possibly lots of player cards with significant effects, etc. You’re right, mythos itself isn’t terrible. But reckoning can slow things down. Reminds me of horror checks in mansions of madness. Not my favorite thing.
Where are the elder gods. I remimber the early edition that you needed to close 7 gates and if you failed the elder gods appeared and you needed to fight them. The elder gods also had an effect some monsters depending on which one you chose. The scenarios are new.
The scenarios are more thematic. It's not realistic in the setting for you to encounter Cthulhu or Hastur at all much less *win* and walk away from it. Most stories written by the creators and even with FFG's approach end with the spell casters or the one who sees the GOO driven irrevocably insane, and either killing themselves, living the rest of their lives insane, or just dying in the encounter.
Comment edit: the Call of Cthulhu game Dark Corners of the Earth has you dealing with one of the most minor of the Old Ones, Dagon and even with you driving him back down, you *still* wind up insane and killing yourself.
I still don't understand a lot of the reviewers reluctance to play a long game, I don't have a lot of time myself, with being a husband, minister at church, programmer and father of two, but when I do get together with friends and set apart a few hours, I want my games (short or long) to be awesome experiences, if the game is 5 or 6 hours long but makes it for a fantastic experience, then what is the freaking problem? and these dice tower guys do board games. FULL FREAKING TIME.
Indeed. I find myself playing 3-5h long games or playing short games multiple times - in essence also taking about 3-5h, just more games in this case :P
@@MazariPL Exactly!!
This might not be the exact same comparison, but I have over 200 games in my Steam library. If each of my games was 5 hours long (which is short for a video game), that's like playing for over 40 days straight with zero breaks to get through them all. If someone has many games to get through, short games are most certainly preferred.
@@trollking99 dunno man. I have a game in which I have over 400 days played and many with 100-500 hours per. Then again, I've been a gamer for the last 26 years :)
@@MazariPL The number I gave was lowball, but also meant for games that actually have an ending. For open world games like Skyrim or MMOs, it's a whole other story lol
I had a possibility to chose to go for the third edition, or to pick kingsport horror and get closer to finish the whole arkham second ed collection (missing miskatonic and black goat). The deciding fact was that I manage to finish the second ED in about two and half hour with three - four players (and it wasnt agains quick AOOS, it was against 12+ doom token ones), even if I played solo, so there was no problem with game lenght, and also the preparation was kinda fast, as I have everything ready in special boxes.
Another factor was that when most of the encounter cards are just predictable in this version(most hospital cards will heal, most shop cards will sell) it must get kinda ... boring fast. And going to wait five or more years to get all expansions that maybe will/maybe not change this is kinda risky.
Also when we played pure King In Yellow expansion with herald for example - it felt like a super focused story game with the whole city going crazy - the theme can be very strong in 2nd eddition, you just have to change the game to find it. Or when you lose a game getting innsmouth look - its just so thematic and sad at the same time - thinking you can turn it around, call feds the next turn but BAM mythos will tell you to draw two innsmouth look cards and you are DONE. I will also never forget Tommy hiding in the church for five turns because of monsters on the street, getting blessed, falling asleeep, getting crazy, getting cursed and then blessing someone else. Or Yorick getting to hospital just to get killed the next turn again by cthonian earthquake. This game, and Eldritch horror ,too, just doesnt feel so "closed" and "claustrophobic" as Arkham.
I couldn't agree more...
Somehow it never occurred to me you could put the decks near their corresponding neighborhood. May have to try this when I play Saturday.
Great review! I agree with pretty much everything you have said. My group got it down to 2 hours now. We definitely love it especially the cohesive story.
This really should have been a Miami Dice Review. Missed opportunity, but a good review from Zee non the less.
No. I doubt Sam would play it.
"You find an odd item on a shelf: a plastic case with a silvery disc inside and a rubber cord running to small headphones."
Wait, so you can actually find a *Discman* in this game?
I love Zee Garcia's take on games. We share a lot of the same game interests. :)
hey Zee! I don't understand why 3 hours. Is it due to the fiddling when it's not a player Action?
They can soo add more cards to the base game if they wanted too and I hope they do
What is ur favorite board game for 6+ players?
What happens when you get a clue card from the neighbor hood deck but there's no clue on the board but that card tells u you take a clue. Do u just grab it out the box?
That's actually impossible unless you did something wrong.
The clue cards only come into the decks when clues spawn there, and only in the amount of clues there are.
You could also think about the clues in the neighborhood as reminder, that there are clue cards in the deck.
Another thorough review. Great job.
Interested to see how well the story integrates into the game, at long last. I'm kind of surprised FFG is trying to improve that aspect given that Eldritch Horror ties its theme into the game play about as well as Monopoly does and yet it still got praise heaped on it by fans. It would seem that for most board gamers it just isn't that big a deal, and really isn't something they are able to notice/appreciate.
No wonder the 2nd edition is on sale (I didn't realize there was a 3rd edition). In any case, I prefer games that have an actual play board (like the 2nd edition) - I don't like games with tiles and such, they seem cheap in my opinion.
I prefer modular board because that automatically means more replayability.
@@All_Ice117 Fair enough. I do have some games with modular boards. But it's not my preference if I have the option to chose.
Thanks for review Zee,
Can you play solo with just one character?
Yes you can.
Its coop so easy to play solo with two characters if u want as well.
Sam has said repeatedly he is "over" Cthulhu which may play a part in this, but ultimately it's up to them on who reviews what.
I'm curious why so many people are saying this isn't Sam's kind of game though.
Because he doesn't like Arkham games, heavy games, fiddly games, or long games.
I have to give it to you Zee, this was a highly professional review. Thank you. In the beginning of thoughts you mentioned that you are not a fan of the board game and this gives extra points to professionalism for the review. I have to touch 2 points here.
1) the length of the game. It is a long game indeed. I think that it is by design. I think that the length is factored in for creating the tension and release loops that are required for good storytelling. I mean you can’t judge a movie as too long because it’s longer than a procedural. So there’s that.
2) player agency and “things happening to you”. Full disclosure, I have not played the game so if I am factually wrong please correct me. In all previous games...and I guess in this one (?)...there existed (exists?) this opinion that player interaction was during the action phase and then everything else happened to you. Having played extensively Eldritch horror and some Arkham 2nd I can say with certainty that this is not the case. Encounters have a lot of player choice in them. They include a lot of skill tests and components like assets and spells factor in. Even during the Mythos phase there are cases when you can influence what’s happening (befell :) ) to you through player choices. So there is player agency distributed throughout the different phases and not only in the action phase. Now, I’ll reiterate that I have not played his incarnation, but of they made the non action phases totally passive then the game would certainly warrant a far lower score than what you gave it, at least for hardcore fans.
Anyway, these were some thoughts. I hope this is rather good and eagerly waiting it to get its first large box expansion before buying all of it then to have a clear picture of what kind of narrative model they are going for.
Cheers.
There is player agency during encounters as you describe, but not really during mythos. I didn't realize for a while that everyone draws TWO Mythos tokens, and that does a take quite a bit of time.
Robert Dullnig ok, I guess I can live with that. I made this post because it took me up to he middle of my 2nd game of EH to realize that the real action is in the encounter phase and not the “action”. Now, about drawing 2 mythos tokens, I’ll have to say I have no idea how these work, so... we’ll see...
14:40 pretty much sums up my overall opinion/gripe with this game .. other than that .. i love every bit, the characters, the monsters, the themes, the mechanics, and the story.
but the delivery of "take a buck" was peak relatability X,D
Really like your reviews. Great job ! and thank you.
Solid review. Pretty much agree on all points.
Great review! but i didnt understand why you dont put an "excellent" badge on this game. Based on your review would be reasonable. :-)
Good job Zee and thanks for this ! Gonna pick up my copy on Friday 👍
Love this game! It’s my favorite game of the year.
Great Review, Zee!!!!
Good review, well done. I got a clear understanding of how this game works very quickly thanks to your explanation. I am a big fan of 2nd edition, but this version sounds pretty good. As you say, it is more streamlined and a shorter game. I'm sure this is much easier to introduce new players to. The clear story is also good because while I have no problem creating my own story with 2nd edition, not everyone wants to use a Cthulhu mythos manual while playing a game to understand what is going on. I will stick to 2nd edition myself but I'd try this if someone I know gets it.
Why does this game in this video look completely different than in this video? ruclips.net/video/Dz5IzTLVmD0/видео.html
are they the same game just wildly different versions?
im kinda confused between arkham horror, eldritch horror, arkham the card game.
this game seems fun, what should a new player buy first?
The video you linked is the second edition. The review is for third edition.
The card game is the best but it's expensive and hard to get into. For someone new, I'd recommend Eldritch Horror.
I don't know if Zee made this clear, but you do not always have anomalies occur depending on the scenario. In one of the scenarios, the game uses a mechanic that is even more like Pandemic where spaces "outbreak," spreading doom to other spaces and the scenario sheet. I expect there will be more scenarios that use this and other variations on the mechanic in the future.
I'm starting to get to the point where thematically at least I don't want any more of the same thematic games that I have. I have Arkham Horror: LCG - no Arkham Horror for me. Same with Heroes of Terrinoth - I have Descent already, why would I want a card version of that. Keyforge? I played way too much Magic in my day. Give me something new and I'll jump on board.
Great review thanks! I don't mind the play-time, but totally get the "game playing you" criticism. We've played eight or so times.
I think it’s just an extension of the LCG. not keen on that. It means too much dependence on new stories, rather than just pulling out the game. There is just so many times you can replay a story.
Stellar review man!
Great review Zee! Though as others have said I wish this was a Miami Dice or you and Tom as je is a fan of Eldritch Horror and I was interested in how he compares the two.
I thought Zee would like this game cuz it definitely has a Pandemic feel to it
It's 100% pandemic.
Well he liked it except for player involvement and game length. He says it's a good game.
It's pandemic because... its cooperative? There's almost no other similarities. Pandemic is simple with one bad thing a turn, four good things, and a goal that is not at all similar.
Kyle Martin the way the doom and anomaly tokens happen is straight cut and paste pandemic
@@keel1701 Almost no other similarities? Doom shows up around the board, you have to go clean it up. If too many appear in a spot, they burst into something bad happening. It's pandemic. Everyone I played it with thought it was pandemic. Reviews out there have said the same thing.
What I really liked in 2d edition comparing to LCG was the fact, that you could feel being just a little dust by all the mythos. I mean: the fact that you are running with Shotgun, Flame thrower or dynamite like in Duke Nukem ist just lame as hell regarding lovcraftian universe. In AH 2ed I felt the great atmosphere and knew that fighting against it is last thing I would do as a survivor. Of course: Facing an enemy will force you to do so but in AH LCG this is just over a good taste of Lovecraft..
Watched 17 minutes and realized he is wearing a cap of my neighobur City :D. Hmm i guess i will stick to the second edition. Greetings from Germany
I totally agree with the ratio of player action to things happening to you, I felt that same way with the last Arkham edition. Card game fixes that.
It was bad enough having to drop money on 1st editions of Descent, Mansions and Arkham Horror with several expansions included but now what?
It's great that they breath new life into worthy games but what am I supposed to do with my original AH? Too bad I couldn't return them and get some
credit toward the new versions...in a perfect world, right?
Maybe the next time I go to Gen Con, I'll stand inconspicuously in the aisle next to the FFG booth and whip the older components at the staff. Lol. Or just
place them on irrelevant games just to confuse the players. Any other ideas?
"What am I supposed to do with my original AH?"
... play it?
Just keep playing it! I have the 2nd edition Arkham Horror with expansions and it’s one of my all-time faves. So...I feel no urge whatsoever to purchase this. But someone who never had it now has an available, in-print reimagining of it. ‘sall good.
All true...
great cap! I live in that city ;-) you must have gotten it in Essen!
I’m probably beating up a dead horse here but...why do you say that the only time you are doing things is during the action phase?
Both combat and encounter phases have players making choices about their situations. It seems to me that you have confused agency with initiative. In the action phase you have the initiative but apart from the monster phase you always have agency in the game’s direction.
A very solid review otherwise!
Thanks for the review. I received this for Christmas :)
This game kicked my ass. Scared to try again.
3 hrs is good. Anything less than 2 hours, I'm not really satisfied with.
Nothing beats Arkham Horror 2nd Edition.
I love this game.
Only been able to play this once so far but really enjoyed it, even though we lost.
Still waiting for that dark legacy the rising review mate 😎
Nice review but IMO this game deserved a Miami Dice one...
3 hours is a long game ? LOL I wouldn't leave my house to go play a board game that was less.
Well, you could play twice, since AH loves killing unaware gamers hahahha (and I love when it happens)
I was really wanting to know Tom's thoughts on this one, no offense to you, Zee! Miami Dice would've been nice... But awesome job as always, Zee!
As others have shared, probably not a game Sam would like.
@@Steve-L Sam had Eldritch in his top 100 a few years ago and Mansions of Madness in his top 100 in 2016 and 2017. He doesn't have a problem with these games.
@@Steve-L "as others have stated" - Sam doesn't seem to mind horror games. In fact he had Eldritch Horror at #20 on his top 100 in 2014 and had Mansions of Madness in his top 100 in 2016 and 2017. He also has other horror games on his top 100 in 2018, for instance in his top 50 he has Zombicide Black Plague #7, Fury of Dracula #48, and InBetween (aka Stranger Things the board game) #50
This is a complete overhaul from the second edition.
I'm intrigued by the storytelling but I'm not a fan of the board and character/monster cards, or how they've gotten rid of the gates. Seems a bit too much like pandemic.
I dont find it "better" so far, it's just different. I found the initial setup very finicky compared to AH 2nd and EH.
Man it's one thing to use the same art assets between editions of one game, but the same artwork across all Cthulhu games? I don't see any point in owning this is you already have Eldritch/MoM 2/or the LCG. The reason these games are so long is all the flavor text, and 9000 dice rolls for every little aspect. A game like Dead of Winter does a great job on how it handles dice in the game, and is very thematic IMO. I thoroughly hope a different Publisher/Designer makes a a fun, shorter Cthulhu game in the future, that isn't put into the market with 5+ expansions in mind, Plus one without such heavy emphasis on dice-rolling. Maybe Witch of Salem will a get a reprint in the future.
Seems like a slower more cumbersome version of the last arkham horror game.
I just can't see why I would ever pick this over Elder Sign Gates of Arkham.
Well for one thing they're completely different games mechanically. Elder Sign is essentially an amped up version of Yahtzee (i.e. every turn roll dice three times, pick the ones to keep and roll the rest) with very little encounter text (or at least very little text people ever actually read out loud.) Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror are both games where you travel around a map, reading random encounters in each space you visit with less involved combat mechanics and more involvement with story text and item or condition collection.
I'm not saying Elder Sign is bad or good, I'm just saying it's a completely different style of game. Personally I like Elder Sign but I like Eldritch Horror more, it's a longer game but my friends and I have a better time playing Eldritch Horror because of the huge content variety and the globetrotting motif. Elder Sign is a game I played more on my iPad (Elder Sign: Omens) and that seems to be the most fun way to play that particular game. Obviously Zee is the opposite, he likes Elder Sign with the Gates expansion better than Eldritch Horror.
So it's all a matter of taste.
Elder sign omens of the pharoh will send you home wimpering like a whipped dog to your mommy
Michael DeVries Yep! Some of the Elder Sign Omen dlc campaigns are INSANELY hard. 😳 I beat the Cthulhu scenario but never managed fo beat the Wendigo. I never played the Egypt one but it’s rated at least as hard as Wendigo so I can only imagine it’s plain ridiculous.
Anything over 3 hours is quite a long game but I really don't see a GOOD "story telling" game developing a reasonable mood without that 3 hours. If you can't handle a 3 hour game definite stick to card games I'd say.
Zee changed his mind on Arkham/Eldritch once it added Pandemic elements? SHOCK!
But seriously, out of all the Miami Dice guys, why did they pick the one who hates Arkham/Eldritch Horror AND all games over 60 minutes to review this?
(you're doing something wrong if every game is taking over 3 hours. Even at the height of their bloat with 8 players, Arkham Horror 2 or Eldritch never took that long)
Yet you like almost every war game or little games like Star Wars or battle tech where it takes more time to measure, postion, fire, etc that takes way longer than this game. SmFH
More like Arkham Horror Turd edition
Eldritch horror much better still
Can you justify that? My sister asked me what I want for my bday that it’s near and I was thinking about getting EH. I already own 3ed with both the expansions out. Are they different? Why EH is better? Is it cool with expansions?
That map is a visual mess. Just looks like they threw up over the table. Horrible.
Thats the first thought I had when I saw the game.
I thought so at first but Its really not bad. I like it! tight fit is a true. but i can see them adding in like Innsmith or dunwich pick your expansion tiles Adding them and loosing others so the board is always a bit different. It kinda plays like AH with a bit of Pandemic. Replaying is a bit like a different game. Oh and the clue cards are diffrent in each scenario so each game has a little different rules and cards monsters and 13 random headline's
It does seem cosmetically unappealing but I guess as you play, it will hopefully become transparent and the story pushes that aspect to the background.
Why does the board look like a "mess" and "horrible"? I think it looks fine. I'm excited to play with that modular system. And, it takes up way less space. Expansions should will be able to plug right in. No sideboard hogging space. The new map is different and interesting.
I always find it amusing when people present their aesthetics as objective imperatives.
@Those making Pandemic comparisons.
Pandemic is a very simplistic and shallow game compared to Arkham Horror 2nd edition so if this 3rd edition borrows some mechanics from Pandemic that doesn't mean it is Pandemic. I have been struggling to like Pandemic and I just don't see the attraction. It's a quick and simple COOP game where you often lose. Is that the attraction? I'd rather lose a game of Arkham Horror after 4 hours of ups and downs and crazy randomness than blitz my way through 6 games of Pandemic in those same 4 hours. Pandemic is shallow? Yes. You do realize the Cthulhu Mythos (or Yogsothothry as Lovecraft would have it) is many thousands of pages of writing, by H.P. Lovecraft and those he continues to inspire to this day. There is no comparison. Pandemic is an ok game, but from a story telling perspective there is no comparison to the Cthulhu Mythos.
Furthermore, this is fundamental misunderstanding people have with Arkham Horror 2nd edition, they treat it as a mechanical exercise. As a pure puzzle to be solved. They ignore the story, the mythos, and the Role Playing element of the game. For those types of gamers I admit Arkham Horror is not the game for them. And these Pandemic comparisons continue this misunderstanding. "Oh Arkham Horror 2nd edition is just like Pandemic." Well, no. Pandemic, other than the Legacy versions, has no story and no role playing element. Nor is there any mystery to be solved or explored. Pandemic is a very efficient mechanical experience, and very shallow at that.
Pandemic is a very different game, isn't it? It has in common the dealing of escalating threat across a board, but lacks the roleplaying and wonderfully zany and unpredictable stories that develop. Plus thematically 2nd can really drag you in to its theme with all the encounters and flavour text. I like pandemic, but for different reasons. Though both have that sense of the game having its own logic and, in 2nd editions case, its like a lovecraftian god itself - growing and spreading disaster and genuinely trying to beat you down as the fragile human being you are. 3rd seems to have over powered characters, and the monsters (so far) feel weak, which is disappointing, but maybe some scenarios are different. I do miss the otherworldly encounters and am not sure the stories are any better than 2nd editions advancing elder god, but time will tell.
Played it a few weeks ago, prefer pandemic
Meh game.
Shouldn't have been called Arkham Horror. It's not Arkham Horror.
I think FFG decides that ;-)
Arkham Horror 2nd edition is nothing like Arkham Horror (1st ed) either. The game has evolved and been modernized from the 13 year old 2nd edition.
Ok. We’ll call it Elder Terror in Small Town Americana. Now will you buy it?
@@pantognost They could've called it "______ Horror". I worked with Eldritch Horror. I'll probably still buy it, but it doesn't look much at all what most people associate Arkham Horror with.
Sweetestsadist I’m not sure what to make of your sentence “I worked for EH”. If you were employed for it 1) power to you and 2) you might remember the flak that this game got from the “purists” of the 12hour-studio-apartment-sized-full-expansion-board AH. If not then trust me, I have heard before.
I think this review is not honest, its like he is trying to sell the game to you. I bet he liked it some what, but not how he talks about it. Idk.
It's not his job to sell games.
@@keel1701 I know, but it obviously not his cup of tea, but his review does not match his enjoyment of the game, idk. Thats my opinion, and I respect yours :)
@@Monly That just means he's trying to be as objective as possible.
It's like... I'm not a fan oc Codenames, but I see the appeal and could recommend it to people that might like it based on their tastes.