Descent: Legends of the Dark Review - A New Kind of Dungeon Crawler 

I guess my main gripe with this game is that its release is the final nail in the coffin for 2nd ed, and now I won't be able to get any of the remaining sets I was unable to get before. That, and I liked being the overlord player.

Maybe I'm weird, but I kind of love the art. This looks really cool!

I got the Aeon Flux reference. I am officially old.

Great review! I'm also Minnesotan, and the Cohen brothers' Fargo is going to haunt us until the end of our days. I swear that we don't all talk like that. The state isn't a desolate icescape either!

Oh man, I want it, but I just can't justify the price with my limited gaming time, Frosthaven already on its way to my door, and Oath singing its siren song of "weird cool game" from the other room.

Seeing how much of the game is handled by a machine - story elements, resource gathering, crafting, combat resolution, levelling up, proper rules reference - I think it's fair to ask the question when does a boardgame stop being a boardgame and become a videogame with a physical map... ? I don't think the review answered that with any points other than a flat "No", which is disappointing. If the app rolled dice and tracked enemy movement, would any physical stuff be still needed? To stretch it a bit further, would abandoning the bit where you move a piece of plastic over soem cardboard and instead giving each player a controller not lead to even more gameplay possibilities? Especially given that the cost of this is triple of something like Divinity Original SIn 2, which is an excellent 2-player dungeon crawler.

I've missed Elaine! She's a great compliment to Efka and should be in every video hehe Great job ya'll!

Re. Gloomhaven being stuck with a character and having 17 scenarios until retirement - you're able to add a new character to the party of any unlocked class levelled up to the prosperity level and play with them instead and return to your original character as and when you choose.

0:52 can we just appreciate the fact that Elaine perfectly said Minnesota in a Minnesotan accent? Beautiful.

Thanks for the review; it’s clearly deeper and more comprehensive than other reviews out there right now. What do you think of the new expansion?

in Brazil, this game costs R$1399,00, which is about 270 dollars, but our minimum wage is R$1100. I think this is a hard buy at this price here

Helpful review especially the bit where you briefly mention it being not-terrible to play with Younger Gamers. Cheers.

I LOVE this game! We have been having a blast and are playing tonight!

Thank you for the well crafted review. I waited for reviews for after the games released. Too many prior release "reviews" put the game down with much of the criticism you mentioned about the app feeling like a game in itself. I am interested in the game and you have helped hyped that up a bit.

Great review! I really like how you two roll :) I have been waiting to see what the reviewers had to say on this game - your review is probably the best one I've seen so far - balanced, fair, and informative. Its price point in New Zealand is $320 - $350 which is a consideration but not a barrier - I pledged for the HeroQuest reprint which is a similar price - but I'm buying nostalgia with HeroQuest (I also have an OG copy of the game) as well as expansions and extras. I have been watching this game with interest - from FFG playthroughs, to comments on Facebook - its been interesting seeing how people are reacting to it. I enjoy Descent 2e and would love to see reprints of that - purely to complete my collection. I think FFG have tried something different and I think that's great - but I don't think I'm going to pick this game up - I need new socks too. Thanks again for a great review

This... is surprising - but I really appreciate that you guys tackled this one! Also, Elaine emoting over Efka's closing filled my heart.

the game looks really fun, and i didn't have any of the hang-ups other folks seemed to have with this game... except the price-to-scenarios ratio. maybe that's an unfair metric by which to judge games (especially considering this one comes with a lot of fancy looking terrain stuffs), but it's one that has served me and my wallet fairly well. just a few comparisons to other games using their msrp: shadows of brimstone: US$120, 12 scenarios zombicide: $100, 10 scenarios dungeon degenerates: $80, 20 scenarios pandemic legacy: $50, 12 scenarios gloomhaven: $140, 90+ scenarios jaws of the lion: $50, 24 scenarios middara: $170, tons of scenarios descent 2: $60, ~30 (i think?) scenarios (i think all those prices are correct, or at least close) and then there's descent LotD: $175, 16 scenarios. oof even at a certain online retailer, it's still US$140. that's a lot of money for not a lot of missions. even if they're quite varied and fun and lovely, the price doesn't make sense compared to many of the (very high quality) competition, and even its own predecessor, unless you *really* want a lot of cardboard terrain. obviously this is all just my opinion, and i'm certainly not saying other folks can't think D: LotD is a good deal. (i hope they do!) i think you guys gave it a fair review and definitely made me want to play it... but only if someone else is buying lol. thanks for the vid, cheers!

Nice to see Elaine!

Always interested in these kinds of games but didn't fit my playgroups well.

very good review, now waiting for next podcast!

Absolutely lovely artwork. Stylized, modern and expressive.

May have missed it in your video but other than the app comparison between this and LOTR Journeys how would you compare the overall experience, equal, better?

Cool review guys! One thing was not clear to me regarding the dificulty levels, do you think it was worth scalling up the dificulty, or just ended up being a slog, artificial and not worth to do so?

I love to discover a new game (potential buy) with all the humor you include in your videos. Really enjoyed it, great job ! Cheers from France

Considering I just picked this up with all the promo stuff it came with and the core game for 150... The price tag for what you usually get isn't even that bad at this point at like 130. Excited to play this soon!!

Elaine I greatly admire your commitment to the nap bit. A real trouper.

Great review! I guess my final concern is FFG’s history of not putting much additional content for their app-based games, but this looks like a game for me.

I love Journeys in Middle Earth but because it's Middle Earth, so the theme helps me overcome some of the clunkyness. However, as you've said the App for this is an improvement on what's come before I can see myself picking this up. Thanks as always for a great review. Also I stayed for the end of the video, and I'm glad I did!

Surprised you didnt mention "uses app" as chief amongst the complaints.

I hope that those that take the dive and try this game enjoy it as much as I have.

I prefer my board games to be 100% analog with just physical components. I have nothing against the app integration if the Publisher can support it forever. Also, I spend 10+ hours a day working in front of a computer, so when I play board games I want to disconnect.

Hi I just wanted to say love your videos and that they really help with my anxiety. Thanks for all the hard work you do, all the best and hope your doing well.

I live right by FFG in Minnesota. Thank you for mentioning us... and doing our accent. 😁

yes, like Elaine, I was eyeing a dungeon crawling adventure for my kids, with tropey characters, but interesting. The app handling a lot of the upkeep helps me engage w my kid during gameplay (accounting adventure indeed!). And I really do like changing characters between missions; that's one of the things I disliked about gloomhaven.... Thanks! In the EU, I hear its late august... This game, Iberian gauge, and carcassone 20th is all my gaming budget for 2021...

Great review! Thanks for addressing the bgg reviews 😉

In your podcast you guys said the original Descent wasn't that great. I think tastes are going to vary wildly here, and it's more than just app hesitancy or price.

Thanks for the review. Re: Fantasy Flight Games. Oh come on, really? Heralding a new age of gameplay for our collections? It's a bit much guys. Big fan of Imperial Assault and classic descent sounds pretty similar to the systems you laid out. The digital terrain system as explained with trees, seems like a good way to reuse assets for different scenarios, in a way that would be less elegant and efficient with separate cards. Not sold on needing a smart device to run it tho. Love they have a great undo button. Points for that.

Ive played the first mission so far and really like it. Already feels like an improvement on the Descent 2e, Star Wars, and Journeys in Middle Earth apps. Excited to play kore

Where is the part two to Arkham if you don’t mind me asking? Are you saving it for October? In the previous video you mentioned you had played all of it and I’m eager to see the follow up. Arkham has been a wonderful experience for us but I’m holding off purchasing anything else in case it goes downhill.

Spend way too much time looking at an app. Especially if there is more than one person it becomes tedious reading all the text. Solo is better but then there is setup and pack away time, Umm might go play a video game.

Here in Sweden if you look at exchange rates, it costs 206 US dollars. So it's cheap in the USA lucky bastards.

LOVE the ending, that made me laugh. Felt like a lo-fi video, with a cute surprise.

We tabled this for the first time yesterday. I picked it up secondhand for about 30% of MSRP but a scathing review from SUSD made it seem like a total bore to play to it just sat on my shelf for the last 6 months. I saw your video yesterday and we decided to give it a go. We had a fantastic time. No -it's not gloomhaven, and as someone who was utterly disappointed by gloomhaven that's fantastic. It's honestly a lot closer to what I hoped Gloomhaven would be - albeit through one quest. It's not a heavy game, but played with the right mindset there are definitely interesting tactical decisions to be made (at least on heroic difficulty - we may bump to Warfare). Given that SUSD complained heavily about the move- hit twice pattern - I'm guessing they wouldn't care much for games like Zombicide either. The writing is simultaneously competent and terrible in the funniest way - insert Vaerix jumping into a conversation 5 minutes too late. If you want a serious dark tale with award winning novel writing, you won't find it here, but if you want to come up with ridiculous voices for each of the characters and take turns trying to voice act them all, you can have an amazingly funny time. The skill checks combine with the narrative and gear collection to really give a pretty authentic D&D-light sort of feel to everything that scratches the itch while regulating DM duties to an app so the players can focus on the game. Despite its flaws, the app is a brilliant addition. I understand some people may have reservations but the way it handles book keeping and prevents unnecessary components like health markers is a very VERY welcome addition. I've started to loathe component overload in games, and Descent is very streamlined in that regard. It could be better if they tracked character placement in the app as well as status, but I can forgive that. It might not crack my top 10, but it will definitely be getting more plays.

So if I already own Imperial Assault and Gloomhaven, does this game offer a different enough experience and I should look into it? I never played the original Descent and just know based on reviews and hearsay that "it is like Imperial Assault but fantasy instead of Star Wars".

I was literally folding the laundry while watching this, so the last part felt too real, ha!

Fantastic stuff. Would love to play but, as with many games, price tag is a bit too steep for me to punt. Thanks NPI 👍

Review bombing and "Rating it a 10/1 to balance the 1s/10s" has been around for a while so I highly doubt it has anything to do with who the designer is and "angry men." The discussions I've seen on forums have mostly centered around the price and the concerns of whether or not this will be a finished product per se or just an intro to more hihg price boxes in the future. Thanks for the review. It calmed me down a bit. I didn't realize it had 16 scenarios :) Can't wait to get my copy :)

What I keep wanting to see addressed is my suspicion that the board game half is superfluous.

I was considering it but the price is very high...and I also don't like only app based games But man it does look sexy

No joke, I finished washing out my sink right before I watched this. Loved the review, and very excited to play it!

What happens if we lose a scenario ? Do the game branch into another encounter or do we have to play the scenario again ?

About time, a sensible and well structured review. Well done 🤙

I recall the other pre-release hate for this was because it was app-driven. I see a lot of resistance to apps in board games.

My main curiosity, it seems much of the action happens on the app. How does that work with multiple players. Do you all have to crowd around one part of the table to read cut scenes and for every combat action? Do you pass the app and then one person looks at/interacts with it while everyone else waits to find out what happened? Ive never played mansions of madness or journeys in middle earth for context. Feels like I’d only want to play this solo but maybe I’m overestimating the importance of looking at the iPad?

I actually think the game itself looks fun, but all that terrain stuff and multiple levels is just too fiddly for me for a game I’ll play solo. It’s a lot of money (for me at least) for a feature that I just am not into. I’m hoping the will do an app based adventure for the Marvel license, I think that would be cool. I think app games are pretty great for solo.

Thoroughly enjoyed this review. Even if I never end up getting/playing the game, watching this was time well spent 😊

I like the art style, just a bit more color and less darkness. Imo makes it less geecky and more mainstream. Is this better than the second edition with app?

Sounds like a great solo game. Using the app as a group to manage equipment and skills sounds terrible. I assume you played it solo or with 2 people max?

I was impatient to see this one. I didn't plan to buy this one at all before I heard you two talking about it on your podcast. I played my first game and really enjoyed it. Thanks!

Oof, the argument in the beginning about the art and its reception... was quite rough eh.

So, they took Descent 2nd Edition's Road to Legend app and fleshed it out fully? Something which turned 2nd edition Descent from being a horrible snoozefest into an enjoyable romp? Hooray. I am glad I have this arriving in about 2 weeks time.

I won’t lie, I felt like ffg used past games as a way to learn how to refine their apps for this game. That won’t stop me from enjoying journeys in middle earth though.

Hey! When is Arkham Horror The Card Game Part 2 coming out?!!? Great video!

I get what you are saying about prejudging a game yet this is a problem on BGG all games encounter which causes the initial rating to be off (in either direction).The Witcher Old World has over 200 reviews and is eighteen months away. Heck Arydia has been in KS less than a week and it already has almost 40 reviews. Then to later dismiss all the invested fans concerns to an *ism is down right silly.

I don’t care what anyone says, the character art and design is amazing. Touch of Hades style.

..these cardboard items (trees desks doors) are the shit! Wish more board games would do that than go for expensive plastic set pieces...

Thanks for this review. Sounds like they fixed a lot of the issues I had with JiME. But they didn't fix the one issue that isn't their fault and that they have no control over - I just get overwhelmed with the types of decisions that exist in Dungeon crawls (e.g., should I spend an action to look at another tree...). As a solo player trying to manage several characters, that can be overwhelming and cause mental overload and anguish. But otherwise, it seems like a really great game that doesn't deserve a lot of the negative anticipatory criticism that it has been receiving.

I haven't played the game, but if it's even half as fun as this video, it's a win. :p It's nice when the algorithm actually recommends something good for me.

This is the best game review I've watched. Bloody well done.

Right. I was a bit worried about the part where you say that the game is a bit perhaps to easy. Well now. 13 episodes in. I understand the joke. Well played. It’s practically impossible on anything above normal. :/

Now I've got the game, I think I'm aware of which mission has the mechanisms which make little sense... involving runes and a Necromancer...?

Never played a descent game and bought this. Heard nothing but negatives since. Thanks to this review I'm looking forward to playing it again.

This may be wlone of the best board game reviews I have ever watched! Smart and engaging throughout! Thank you!

As a Minnesotan I resent this review! :)

Jokes on you! I cleaned out my sink over the weekend.

This was charming, made me smile and chuckle. ☺️

Jeeze that art. Also app based make sme think it's going to be dead in a few years. I am interested in more Descent.

I am so glad I skimmed to the end. "MOMMY WHAT ARE YOU DOIIIIING???!!!"

Wonderful vid! And my sink could use a good cleaning…😬🤣 and I will buy this game!

But my big question is this - How does Descent: LOTD justify its price tag? Gloomhaven does it through having tonnes of stuff in the box and a campaign that takes hundreds of hours to get through (not including the random scenario generator.) Descent: LOTD seems of offer a fraction of that, and its more expensive. Just why is this one more than double the cost of Descent: JITD?

Be sure to watch for my Kickstarter so I can buy this game. Coming soon! Oh, and great review by the way! Thanks!

I clean my sink every week, thank you very much.

I honestly though all this time that the hate bombing on BGG was because they were forcing an app on a game that previously didn't needed it. Is the sexist hate on the game like... a thing? I'm on reddit and BGG a couple hours a day and i honestly haven't even seen that thing mentioned. It's even the first time i even know that the designer is a woman.

And that’s the power of journalism

It looks cool for sure and don’t really care here or there for the app - but for $180 I can’t see buying it to basically pay for the development of said app and with 3D printing options out there and how phenomenal it’s become, cardboard paper terrain seems like a beginning tier in a Kickstarter project rather than an all-in idea.

Best post-credits scene ever.

I was actually cleaning out my sink while watching the video. Turns out you can do both at the same time. Mind = blown

The expose joke. Scathing. Honestly I was surprised by this one after other recent reviews. I just can't see myself dealing with this one, even if it would be right up my alley otherwise. A $150 paperweight one day isn't appealing to me either.

Re why it is getting some hate, Ifeel this game has several barriers to entry. It's art style is not universally popular, it is expensive and it has an app which it seems to lean on heavily. Rating it without playing it is bonkers. Im not a fan of app based games but they are here and can be fun to play

Minnesota Represent!

so i fail to see where the pricepoint comes from, its a bloody expensive for...3d terrain?..

Adventure Tactics is great with kids

If "Fantasy Flight Games" continues to develop its story based implementation then eventually you get "Fighting Fantasy" books with advanced rules. Ild rather pay for the full book and get more story than piece meal pay for it's individual chapters.

i love gloomhaven and too many bones. so i should buy descent :D

Good review 👍 👏 👌

This is a very, very good review not just because I needed a little confirmation bias after watching Tom Vassals Dice tower review but because its super thorough. I bought this game without even hesitating because I love dungeon crawlers, fantasy flight and app driven games. I like games essentially. But when I heard this was mansions of madness meets journeys in middle earth with a much more developed app I was pretty much "Yes please". I haven't played the game yet its still sitting on my shelf but my wife and I are very stoked after watching your review and washing away that Dice Tower review taste ie; tell me what i want to hear. Thank you. I am little discouraged by that bit surrounding the rules at the end. It's all small potatoes to me I look forward to playing thanks again for the review. PS: I like the art alot I dont get the haters at all on that.

Pyre reference for the win!!!

Thanks for the great review. I'm not sure dunking on the older artists is a great look either. FFG pays like $50 an illustration so "dungeons and dishwater" isn't a great take. Not to mention, if you are making the flagship dungeon crawler (which I'd argue Descent 1st and 2nd were) going with your standard fantasy fare with some unique takes makes a lot of sense. I don't love the new art but I can get over it. I actually love the app inclusion in Descent's Road to Legend. The app inclusion here feels pretty heavy handed but I'd have to play it myself to know for sure (which hopefully I'll get a chance to at some point). I *really* don't like not picking a character. That's a personal preference but I imagine it's a common one. The big question for me is- Does it take as long to set this game up as it seems?

Not sure whether this is a board games or video games review

WOO new video!