The base game isn't really that bad, but the expansion adds more personality to the heroes and makes them a bit more of a threat. The item cards add a new dimension to the game and are highly recommended if you plan to pick this game up.
I just bought this game recently and I think it's great for people who've never experienced the dungeon building genre of board games. Also, when you mentioned getting a bad hand, it says in the rules you're allowed to re-draw your cards if you get something like that.
I love the game because even though it is luck based once you understand the rules and strategy involved the game plays quick so you can play multiple games and find more of the hard fought close victories that I enjoy. The expansion doesn't save the luck aspect of it but gives the heroes special abilities which add a TON to the game. And instead of just being a collectathon the losing player can push a few epic heroes with good Items on the winner and eliminate them, which is quite reachable because the items are just hard enough to beat but will still kill a player with a lot of damaging room cards! The game was ok but the expansion saved it and for the cheap price it was easy to pick up. Love it!
I just got the opportunity to play this game today and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. To be fair, we only played 2 games with the item expansion (3 player), but it was a fun *filler* game. This game felt very similar to Cutthroat Caverns - yeah, you might get some lousy hands from time to time and you might get eliminated in the first few turns... good thing the game only lasts 10-15 min. The flavor is great and some of the room/spell combo possibilities are pretty interesting. I might change my mind after a few more plays, but again, it's a filler game that wont be hitting the table on a frequent basis.
I found that the more you play and familiarize your self with the cards, the luck draw factor almost disappears because you can sometimes do surprising things with fairly 'weak' rooms. It is how you combine them with other rooms (especially 'destroy another room' effects). So you can have tonnes of strategy. My wife is not a heavy strategy gamer but this game brings out some hardcore strategical skills. I don't know, something about it just resonates with her and we love it. It's not just the artwork. There is a real game here, and I think it has its own following for that reason.
Exactly my thoughts, my gf isn’t the greatest strategy gamer either but this game is crazy awesome, its room combos, spells and luck involved make it such a strong game strategically wise. I read comments where people complain that the game can be repetitive and you get to know after some time, but THAT absolutely makes room for one to try to read your opponents strategy according to what rooms they draw and what they may want to build next (according to heroes being drawn, etc etc). Games like poker are exactly based on strategy, attemp to read your opponents game and a portion of luck. Sudden bad luck making the game even MORE challenging. And to the ones saying the game is imbalanced... in my opinion, the problem may be that you are weak strategists!
Picked this up yesterday but my major goal was to find a light 2-player game for my g/f and I. This is it. Yes random but fast. Almost would like to see a fifth treasure or more strategy in gating the heroes because with a bit of forethought you can really screw the other player early.
If you add a house rule that players HAVE to play a room on their turn it creates a much better dynamic where at some point you go from trying to get points to trying to mitigate damage
My playgroup has a lot of competitive MTG players who are very concerned about timing and priority for things like spells in this game. There are advanced rules on the designer's website that cover this issue, which is great. That being said, if your play group is as competitive as mine, I would recommend this game as a "quick-play" variant of diplomacy.
I have this game and give it a 6 out of ten. Good for a quick, light game between friends. Nothing dazzling. But its inexpensive and easy to tote around. I think the more you play it, the more strategy you can find in it.
I own this game, and agree on all your criticism. There's too much randomness involved with the boss cards and the room cards. There's an expansion for it, which I think I can safely ignore. I like the pixel art though.
In King of Tokyo, you can easily opt out of it. It's a risk & reward type scenario. Do I go into Tokyo now, knowing full well I'm a bit short on health and my opponents have racked up a lot of power? In Boss Monster, it's often just "oh look, this randomly drawn card reveals another hero with the class that only I have in my dungeon, I guess I'll take another wound then".
MrJenssen I found this to actually be an interesting part of it. There was one point, playing with the expansion, that in our first turn was drawn a cleric who would be immune to our first three rooms (when we only had two!) - so players were actually cutting deals with each other to try to ensure that the cleric would get conflicted from a tie in treasure and not charge any of us down. Even actively trying to sabotage each other into having the highest and prompting the cleric to come out of hiding and go wreck someone's dungeon - which backfired when that player revealed their new room that turn to be the bottomless pit, which was used to instant kill the cleric as it passed through. Or would have, if it wasn't frozen by another. Any game with an element of chance has a potential to screw people over, but I rarely find that you're in a situation of "I couldn't do anything and the game just ran through me". Players losing due to wounds are rare when they're familiar enough to be careful with paying attention to competition for drawing in heroes and the comparative strength of their own setups.
I agree with everything Tom said. I wonder if it might feel more strategic as a 2-player game but as I don't get to play a lot of 2 player games I'm trading my copy away.
I picked this game up last week. I've played two and three player versions of this game. I think it's great. I've only had one game where someone was killed off early. He's not used to playing these types of games and played quite poorly, but it was a three player game so the game kept going. Sometimes there have been some close calls. Getting to the point where a player has 9 souls and four wounds and me looking through my hand to find that card that screws him over. One thing that I do is purposely tie with someone on a hero type to lessen what I get, build my dungeon up, then break the tie in my favor and rack up the souls.
Truthfully the worst part is : the box art looks like a classic NES game cover, but the art looks like SNES graphics. HERESY ! BURN THE WITCH ! *incoherent nerdrage*
That's what I'm saying, the box looks like a NES box, but the art itself is too colorful and detailed to be 8-bit ! Looks like something from the Snes.
+Saxofaxo Not enough to create this monster sprite. The NES has a very strict limitation on number of colors per sprite. Look at the sprites for Mario, Link, Megaman, Simon Belmont from Castlevania... They all have something in common : They are made of approximatively 3/4 solid colors. The monster sprite on the Boss Monster box has at least 4 shades of red just for the scarf. The NES cannot do that. Just can't.
From what I've seen and read about this game, your review mirror my thoughts exactly. Considered getting it but doesn't look like it has much staying power. Would try it, but don't imagine I'll get more than 3-5 plays out of it.
I'm going to have to agree with some of the other comments. I also don't understand the complaints and think it's quite a fun romp. When the deck disagrees with you, are you gonna have a bad time? Of course. What deck/card game isn't like that to some degree? That being said, love the reviews you do Tom. You've introduced me to some great games (Kemet, Nexus Ops, etc.), so please, keep them coming!
The major problem is that he did not play the mini-expansion Tools of Hero Kind. I am also unsure if he was playing by all the right rules. He suggests he started with all fighter symbols in his hand at the start... was he playing with the mulligan rule that is in the rulebook that says that if you start with 4 rooms that have the same symbol or 4 advanced rooms that you can have a mulligan draw on your room cards? I can see what he means a little bit about the game without the expansion, I know I found that it got dry a little quickly without it. I have also had a number of complaints about dying so soon due to wounds, but a lot of the time it is avoidable as long as you know what you are doing (which as a first time player you will not know what to do). But with the expansion it makes the game so much better. This being said it is possible that the game was just not for him, but I know I love it.
Try it with the mini expansion. It makes it really hard to have that runaway feel as hero's get items, and it gives the players more interaction with each other.
Just don't play elimination if you don't like it. Game ends when all heros are gone and the winner is most souls minus wounds. Also, I play simultaneous turns wherever possible to really speed the game up. 15 minutes or less is a lot of fun. Looking forward to the expansion and Boss Monster 2.
If you have absolutely no idea what other games exist and how great they are, then sure. Yea. I'm sure it's on par with an extremely serious, impersonal, and dull night of Monopoly among your brainless zombie servants.
I don't know how the game works, but if we have two copies of the game, can we manage to solve this problem with each player having their own deck of dungeon cards and spells?
I played this game last night and wasn't impressed with it at all. The art on the cards is really nice but that wasn't enough to keep me interested. The three other people I played with are regular Magic/Yu Gi Oh players and they seemed to love it so it might just be me. Also, the Boss Card didn't really play a big part in it, which I found odd seeing as that's the name of the game.
Wow I totally disagree tom. This game is fun and light. Its a great way to get nongamers into gaming. I run tourneys at local conventions and always have a full event. Its great as a filler and super fun. The expansion is a great little add on as well. Got it wrong this time guys.
Would playing sort of like mage wars, to eliminate luck, make game unplayable? Basically each turn a player just got to pick 2 cards, or however many would be appropriate, from deck to play and put face down then had only those cards to play during that turn and had to pick two cards next turn but could pick a card they've picked but haven't played yet.
This game was so disappointing. I was so excited about it, and it just fell flat. I completely agreed with your summary at the end. Aside from all the gameplay issues, I also had two major thematic issues with the game: 1- The box is clearly designed to emulate an original NES video game box. So then why did all the cards have 16-bit graphics on them? 2-The game is called Boss Monster, you take on the role of a Boss Monster, so then why is the boss monster essentially irrelevant? Why am I relying entirely on the dungeon to kill the hero? If the hero makes it through the dungeon, I lose the fight? Isn't beating the Boss Monster supposed to be the hardest part of the dungeon?!
I like this game personally as its a quick random style game where luck comes into play. I can see how people who play heavy games would hate it but someone who likes quick games will like this.
I do enjoy your game reviews. But I do feel like you should give it more of a chance. Usually in the core game, heroes get stomped pretty bad and everyone try's to bait the heroes in their own dungeon. However due to the game expansion, heroes have items that can potential tear your dungeon into pieces. So now it is extremely important how you bait heroes, plus you get an item card if you kill the hero. Essentially giving you another spell card effect. I heard boss monster 2 is being play tested, and you can sign up for the play test on reddit.
I have to disagree with your "The game plays you" opinion, the game on plays you if you use your rooms randomly. Setting up strategies and combing rooms, as well as spell usage makes the game fairly tactical, and I love that. The same thing can be said about your point on player elimination, playing smart lets you play the game.
This game has some big issues, balancing is a big one. A better one shot ability on lower XP bosses doesn't compare to going first all the time especially when you factor in the way spells/abilities stack. Luck of the draw is another problem, there is no solution for weak room cards. Also spell cards can be hard to obtain if you don't have a boss or room card that allows you to draw them. I haven't played with the expansion so I can't say if any of these issues are addressed. Currently I use house rules to address the bad hand issue. Take wound/s (first face down hero) and skip your build phase to discard any number of room cards, then draw an equal number of room cards. I love the theme of the game, but the luck factor can really kill the fun of playing it.
Card games are always based on luck of the draw, this game is no different. Don't say its bad because of you can lose by not drawing good cards. I purchased this and I rather enjoy playing.
+tim donald Sure, not all, but probably 99% of them. Any game where you draw cards off the top of the deck involves luck. The only card game I can think of that doesn't feature "drawing cards" is Mage Wars, and yet that game has dice-rolling so it's still heavily luck-driven. Not saying that's a bad thing. Not every game has to be chess and most of my favorite games involve a balance of skill and chance.
Dylan Oldenburg If you think a card game can only be designed using luck then you have know idea what you're talking about. Which was the point of my comment. Just because you aren't aware of such games doesn't mean they don't exist and couldn't exist.
did he even play the same game as me? play the best card? you mean like depending on the situation because different heroes are in the town and depending on what other players have for treasures and how many wounds they have and the state of their dungeons. What do you mean by "best" then? Because different cards could be better depending on the state of different players. A solitaire game? you mean in a game that is a bidding war for heroes? how can that be a solitaire game? does he know what solitaire game means? So you had the only fighter icon and got trounced by too many fighters? Granted there is a small luck element but why didn't you build rooms to kill them? Or you can cover treasures and send those heroes at others because it's not a solitaire game. Didn't you have any spells to scare away, stop or kill any of these heroes? if not then that's just super unlucky, pretty rare, it's not a long game, play again. The items expansion makes it even more fun by giving heroes variety and giving bosses more powers.
His explanation of why the game is bad would seem to say that the game Munchkin is bad as it has the same draw good cards early and take a huge lead aspect to it. I think this game is fantastic.
I was just using Munchkin as an example but the reason it has so many conflicts with cards is because it has a ridiculous amount of cards in the game throughout all of the expansions. That being said I do enjoy Boss Monster more.
I still have this game, my girlfriend loves it. My opinion has slowly gone down over time though, it's really too luck based and for the most part the winner is determined by who draws the correct cards. There's very little opportunity generally to do anything clever with what you're holding, you just have to hope you draw the right thing. Tom's "the game is playing you" probably sums it up best. Having said that, I don't mind playing it, it's not outright awful or anything, but definitely not a great either. It stays in my collection because my girlfriend likes it but otherwise I probably would have gotten rid of it.
I would agree with this review, even though I enjoy this game. It's not amazing but sure is fun to break out with the family to kill some time. I also had no expectations going in, and my FLGS offered to buy it back from me if I didn't like it. But I do see all of it's short comings.
Could you update your review to include the expansions please, I'm curious if they have brought anymore balance, or multidimensional free-agency to the decisions players make. Also Good review :) thanks for making these videos :)
I've only played this game once, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. My first game I only got one room card that was higher than one strength, and it was a two. I pretty much couldn't kill any heroes that came out, but they kept coming to my dungeon. I was also playing Father Brain, who has the distinction of being the only Boss Monster who's level up ability can be cancelled (his level up ability being draw three spells and discard one). There's a spell card that basically forces everyone to discard their hand and draw a new one of only three cards. So, of course, someone does this right after I level up. Yay.
This is a game the you will enjoy depending on who you play with. The game is only there to gather your friends around and do something not to play the game.
Agreed. The cards aren't balanced. There are simply GOOD and BAD cards which is crazy because you get them randomly. Cards that have 0 or 1 damage simply doesn't have a good ability to compensate the low damage. Early game elimination is a real threat. The winner is basically who has the most draw luck.
I completely disagree with your argument. This game is really fun, it just takes time to learn not to screw yourself over. Yes, it is repetitive at times, but that is why there are 2 expansion packs for the game. Also, player elimination happens very rarely when you actually know how to play the game. If you were to replay the game and get the hang of it, you would find it a lot more enjoyable.
I don't think it can. It would be extremely hard to re-balance this game so that it was more skill-based. The luck factor is almost the same level with Munchkin. That said, I kind of enjoy this game, but just because the artwork is fantastic. As a game I can't recommend it. The idea is great and I am sure there is a way to make it work. Too bad none of these dungeon building boardgames really work that well... =/
Ah, feedback loop problem, eh? The better you're doing, the better you're able to keep doing. That does speak to an inexperienced designer. Usually, those feedback loop problems are balanced by a risk-reward system, like "all your eggs are in one basket, you may have the best stuff but also the most vulnerable to a single setback", or rubber-band difficulty like "the better you're doing, the worse stuff you get- the worse you're doing, the more aides you're given to catch up". This seems to have neither. Maybe can be corrected in an expansion or 2nd edition.
DustlessYeti 76 It's not a great game. I think you could do a lot better. I would recommend getting one of the more popular modern games. Dominion is a great game if you're looking into card-oriented games. Star Realms is a fairly inexpensive and very fun card game too. If you'd rather get a board game, Catan is a very popular one among people who are just getting into gaming. Machi Koro is a newer game than a lot of people seem to like too. I hope you enjoy whatever you get!
well thats disappointing I was really excited about this game, but after you explained the rules I was like well that dose not sound like any fun, but I was still hoping you would come back on and say "but the game is great fun..." but you pretty much explained the problems I had already seen while you were going over the game. Thanks for saving me some $$$
even if it is a simple puzzle game overall it makes up for it with how you basicly screw with someones methods to build it. and also you make a point on how everyone targets the guy in first place...yeaaaah thats how every game works over all, you get rid of thr bigger threat to your victory
This SCREAMS kickstarter... it reminds me a bit of a game you revied before, pixel lincoln. Sad to see that so many kickstarterprojects with promise in some fields (artwork in this and in Ruse) are so bad in the other parts...
And now ive played it last saturday, and i found it to be ok. it's not a bad game imo. It's a little 30 minute filler. Not complex at all, and easy enough to understand. Yes i can see it being a bit too random but I still don't think it's _that_ bad. We played it as 3 players and i had to do some interesting play choices to wrangle out a win. which is cool in my book.
I think this game rises an falls with the expectations, players have towards it. It´s not a great game, yes. It´s not very strategic either. And, in fact, you have to be lucky. But on the other hand, it´s a great light game to start the evening.
Played this last night and can't believe I found a game I hate MORE than munchkin. You are exactly right, if you get better cards you are going to do better and there's no way to change that. The randomness is what kills this game for me, really glad I haven't bought it.
If a hero reach the Boss (the last card) there's no fight, the Hero auto-wins?... Talk about anti-climactic... Seems to me this game needs a few houserules...
I hate when a gamebox claims "you csm start and play immediately". No. You can't with this game. I've spent endless hours to understand what rules ask you to do. There are hundreds of exceptions. The colors on the cards don't help at all. Sometimes two cards mutually counterdict, so you don't know what to do. And - oh boy - the round order about boss' xp is one of the crappiest things to do. You get those x shaped round order... why not just pick up the card and THEN sit around the table? This was one of the first games that made me disappointed. And spells... just put smoke to everybody's eyes. Did I say that rules just suck?
I hate the business mindset behind games like this and Machi Koro Lure them in with an aesthetic and art direction that has been designed to be a magnet for nerds, pocket their money and leave them with a mediocre, badly designed and shallow game. Hard avoid.
Cool concept of a game, the only problem is that this game is kind of a ripoff of the video game for PSP called " what did I do to deserve this my lord!?" Because in that game you create a dungeon & create traps/monsters to kill unwanted heroes who have come to capture your master.
This was one of the worst, most boring, most uninteresting games I have ever played. And I've played pretty much every board game ever made and a lot of card games, video games, pnp games, and just most games - period. I can't express how much hype this game had (it looks awesome; great theme) but the actual design & gameplay is downright horrible. It's just bland as can be and not at all fun. Very, very, very boring.
No hate, but you really need to play the game with other experienced people to be able to learn that you do have input, and ALOT. You cant re-arrange rooms, so you have to learn where to put them, how to use spell cards correctly, and all that. Once you learn all of this you start to gain a knowledge of different strats and prefered bosses. This review didnt make the game look to good, but It's hella fun when you start playing it. This Christmas you can pick it up on steam for 1.99 USD, and I'm pretty sure its free on iOS and Android if you prefer your tablet/phone. I understand however, that it IS your opinion.
If you think that the game "plays itself", then you're probably playing the game wrong... XD This review is probably rushed, since the game doesn't need "luck", since all cards are great in their own way, all it needs is proper card placement.
No, he's right. The random room and boss cards dictate for a very large part if you'll win or lose. There is very little strategy to the game. You are mostly reliant on getting good cards. There's also not enough variety in the cards, or game mechanics to work with.
