We Review (nearly) Everything Arkham Horror: The Card Game - Part 1 

It took me 7 or so minutes to realize that reviewing or breaking out the "corset" was actually the "core set".

When is part 2 coming? Looking forward to it!

So..... is part 2 ever coming out?

Oh no, if Carcosa was a gauntlet difficulty-wise for you two, I'm quite worried about my beloved Forgotten Age... Fingers and tentacles very much crossed it went over well, there's so much to love in that wonderful jungle, but also a lot of poison.

This game is so ridiculously good. Never seen a choose your own adventure integrated so well with the actual game play. The deck building and especially deck upgrade system as your characters grow in knowledge and madness are unparalleled.

And then there was as never a part 2?

"The fun comes from the initial discover. Replaying scenarios is not fun" Aaaaah, that explains it. If you are in it for the story and not the mechanics I can totally see why AH might be a bit disappointing. In that regard, Mansions of Madness is the far superior game, though not without it's own quirks and flaws!

You’d think two years would be enough time to get the second video out. Chop chop!

My experience with Arkham is that the more you play it, the more you appreciate the tricky scenarios, as you realise how initially unpromising cards can interact with the game mechanics. That said, a game that takes quite a few games to appreciate (as it did it my case...it went from being quite low in my opinion to one of my favourites ) isn’t going to be ideal for groups who like to rotate games...there are, after all, many excellent games out there.

When you stare long enough into the card game, the card game stares back into you.

Arkham Horror LCG is by far my favorite game and the game I've put the most time in. Love the video! I will echo what some other comments have said and say that Carcossa is usually not considered especially hard (compared to other campaigns) no matter which decision you choose and I'm not 100% sure what happened in their playthrough. It is my favorite cycle for sure and would recommend Carcossa over Dunwich personally. I can't wait to see what they say about the next expansion, the Forgotten Age. That expansion is BRUTAL! Also personally I always give my group one "mulligan" (or free restart) when playing a new campaign. There always seems to be one scenario that is either just a difficulty spike or that luck is just not on our side. This gives us a little bit of breathing room without making the difficulty irrelevant with infinite replays. Just a suggestion to make the game a bit more manageable difficulty wise.

I’ve only played the core and the first two expansions (plus Rougarou and Carnival) but my single playthrough of Carcosa is one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Didn’t even play the final mission. Confused by the critique - the characters in Chambers ‘King in Yellow’ (well, ‘Repairer of Reputations’ and The Yellow Sign’) aren’t possessed, they’re literally driven insane by exposure to the play. It’s got nothing to do with Blatty’s ‘Exorcist’, which is a specifically religious battle between good and evil. Perhaps I’m being a thicky.

Love the dedication! Picked up a core set a while back and have been trying to work out which set is a good starting place from there. Can't wait for part 2!

Great review very interesting. Few things I'd mention about our AH LCG experience (which we are frankly addicted to) are: 1. Finding the community was a revelation, particularly Drawn to the Flame podcast. We had never played an LCG and it showed us the depth of thought and strategy you could have in the game. 2. We find replaying scenarios to be very interesting. Of course the story recedes in importance (though many scenarios have multiple outcomes) and the puzzle of how do I take what is in my hand to do what I need to do comes to the fore. 3. It's a huge barrier to entry, but the endless navel gazing of building decks, trying them out, tweaking them, is really satisfying and provides endless challenge. 4. The game rewards different ways of tackling the scenarios. You're not just slaughtering monsters. You have to investigate to progress and can choose lots of different ways to deal with the enemies, not just shoot them in the face. Thats not to say the game is perfect, we've complained to each other about plenty of aspects of the story, campaign mechanics etc. But I'm really struck by the number of different ways different players can find the game interesting. Deck building, the story, the campaign, the puzzle of working out your best turn, the art etc etc. Am really interested to hear the thoughts on the Lovecraft theme in general, it's the most troubling aspect of the game for me and I'm yet to find a principled way of staring at those problems and finding a way through that's not just well I enjoy the game so much I'll ignore it.

Where is the sequel? Waiting impatiently...

When most people are binge-watching tv shows, you're binge-playing through Arkham Horror LCG! Looking forward to your second video and your conclusion on the game as a whole. It's one of my favourites, if not my all-time favourite, but not sure how I'd feel if I played everything end-to-end in a marathon like that. I'd also be interested to know which characters you played through each campaign with and what you thought of them.

My group always replays scenarios if there is no way forward after it, and often do if we feel we had particularly terrible luck. In neither case is the second play through less fun, so I can't relate to that criticism. In fact the very randomness that some people dislike in this game guarantees that each play through feels significantly different, by drawing different player and encounter cards.

So happy when you’ve read my mind and set to work on the content i asked for before I asked for it! Your thoughts on Dunwich were mine exactly and what pushed me to ask for the re-review! Glad to get all this. I think it will be helpful to many.

Huh, looks like Fantasy Flight took your comments about the mental health representation in Carcosa to heart, as in the new release of Path of Carcosa all 'Lunatic'-traits are changed to 'Possessed' and they changed the names of those enemies, for example 'Young Psychopath' is now 'Puppet of Hastur'.

I once tried to understand curling. Then irealized that the First round is called "End" .... just like every following round.

As a AHLCG geek I have never been more excited before watching a NPI. I'm also one of your VERY RECENT fans, digging more and more into your very personal approach to reviewing games. I'm almost afraid to watch it, but I'm also thrilled to see where YOU will find weak spots. It's obvious there are some. It's impossible to be perfect, given the volume.

I *love* Arkham Horror LCG. I have it *all* (currently released). I had to pause the video and take some deep breaths when you mentioned the total price...

Great stuff, looking forward to part 2! Did not think Carcosa was hard, never had to make "meta" campaign choices.

I've been looking forward to a part II for such a long time!

So thorough. Much appreciated, guys! Is part 2 on the way this year? Would love to see it!

I find it cathartic to play characters who have mental health issues. I'm glad they included it. I don't find Arkham horror all that pulpy so may be it just resonates with me differently. As for the term Lunatic, lunacy acts in government legislation around the world were in force until post world war 2 so the term was definitely being used.

Just saw this great review and wanted to see part 2 as well….but….where is it!?

If you just want to play through each campaign once and have a fun romp, play on easy difficulty! It's what we're doing and having a great time. What you have to bear in mind is that the difficulty settings have to span the entire breadth of people that just want a fun game with some thematic player decks and bit of challenge, to people that want to pore over every card, develop the most tightly tuned decks, and play through scenarios 10-20 times or more. It's not like most co-op games where it's "well, we've played board games before, so let's start on normal" - it's a whole different scale.

I guess the other thing to note is that difficulty in Arkham is as much a factor of the investigator you choose (some are straight up better or worse, some work better at certain player counts), the deck you put together, your team composition (some investigators work really well with each other, others have almost anti-synergy) and how well the investigator is suited to the campaign (campaigns require different skills in different amounts) as it just the campaign and the difficulty level. We didn't get that big jump in difficulty between Dunwich and Carcosa (in fact Carcosa seemed slightly easier) but a lot goes into that. I guess what I'm saying is be cautious about recommending campaigns based on how punishing they felt based on one play, as that can vary hugely. If you're using mostly the investigators that come with each deluxe for that campaign then Dunwich was most likely easier because you had Rex, and Rex is ridiculous, and Carcosa would have had a similar trajectory if you had Rex along too.

For the longest time I thought they were saying "corsette" (as in something one wears) not "core set (as in the base rules for a system).

Just started out with the game, 1 deluxe box deep currently, with all the mython packs for Dunwich and Carcosa out of stock. The timing on these reviews couldn't be better.

Hope you guys can make Part 2 this year!

Lunatic is entirely acceptable for the era and Efka is just not familiar with American vernacular and is assuming the Queen's English is the global standard. Although the UK removed the term with the Mental Health Act of 1959, it was not removed from American laws until 2010. A quick Google search on word usage over time shows that usage actually was at its peak in the 1920s.

I hope you folks are staying safe! Thanks for this review I might take another swing on it with my wife. That second or third scenario in the core set was a bit of a miss for us.

Reviewing The Forgotten Age and beyond was, ironically, forgotten.

I came here from the Marvel Champions review. When is Part 2 coming out?!?

Just watched your AH: LCG review the other day, this is wicked fast turn around time! :')

Have actually been trying to start a collection of this the past few weeks, and been wondering if some sets are "skippable" or not. Seems Dunwich falls into the same hole a lot of other LCGs like Netrunner did; feels a bit more like the "completion" of the core set, allowing the mechanics space to breath when there are alternate ways they can be applied with more card options. Looking forward to the next vid.

2:04 Color out of space is both a great lovecraft movie AND a great nic cage movie. Great casting.

Still looking forward to part 2, what with the revised core set etc.

I think the boardgame community is at odds with your view - I’ve taught it to a number of players veterans to boardgames and new gamers alike and they love it!

Started supporting on Patreon, I really enjoy your videos and you can see there's lot of work behind them. Plus, you're both fun to watch. Plus, monthly audiolog! yu-hu! While I cannot guarantee how long my monthly support will last, I imagine you run estimations of average length of support duration and can plan on some of those metrics to budget your work out, right?

Okay the bit where you try to make cheese on toast by hitting a bit of cheese and some bread with a wooden spoon was worth a trip to Patreon my itself :) Keep up the good work.

Fantastic overview of the game and really entertaining to watch.

I picked up Dunwich Legacy on the back of this, although only the base expansion and the first Mythos pack. Looking forward to finding out what my next purchase will be! I don't think I can afford too many of the expansions.

Where can I get those cute dice trays you use for the tokens? are they 3D printed?

Where the hell is part 2? :(

I think I felt similarly about the core set and frankly felt having to buy two was a massive con. After so many campaigns I think the core set should have an upgrade pack including just the cards from the core you could deck build with. Hopefully the forthcoming starter character decks will mitigate this a bit but I’ve still not gone further that the core campaign. Dunwich does look excellent though...🤔

I actually really like the return to stuff ... great video!

Still waiting for part 2 :))

Are you guys ever planning on doing part 2 ? Or is that not happening anymore?

I feel it in my bones, PART 2 next week!

I'm dying for part 2!! When's can we expect it? :)

Any chance at a part 2?

Great review you two - just a trio of questions: 1.) If you play the Dunwich Horror cycle, is it *still* advisable to have two core sets, or will one do supplemented by the DH Deluxe expansion? 2.) Is it fine to just skip the core set scenarios completely and just dive straight into DH? 3.) Has Elaine got a new Gibson single-cut?

Great video, but why do you think the Derringer lets you fight with agility? It's got that little fist icon right there! :P

Love the video so far! Looking forward for next one!

Was the Part 2 video ever made? 😅

You can't use Dario in Mark Harrigan's Deck...

If I just get the base expansion (dunnock) Without the extra packs is it worth it?

Did part 2 ever get made? Can't seem to find it :-/

What a great review, thanks! I wanted to love the core set but it never quite clicked for us. It sounds as though the expansions are much better though, so I'm looking forward to the second video so we can decide which expansion to try!

The only game ever i read guides online on how to beat normally i would never do that but i couldnt stand any more deaths.

Hello. I've got one question. Where did you get these trays for the tokens? I know this kind for dice trays, but they are usually much bigger. These small ones look good.

Praises! 3 years old is ok as my core is in the mail now. But this vid is spot on what I need at this time. Thanks!

AHLCG just got voted best card game 2021 thru a vote by Tabletop Gaming magazine.

Carcosa was my favorite cycle, even though we failed on the very last mission. The one with the jungle and snake people, that one was kind of poop if you didn't play with the investigators that came with that cycle. There were a couple of interesting missions and mechanics in it, but the story and most of the new mechanics were rubbish.

My opinion on your summary: you nailed it! I would love to learn about your opinions of the other cycles. So please continue with the part two!

Waiting on part 2!

Where do you get those colourful token pot thingys

I'm playing Carcossa for the first time, and solo. My investigator has 4 Mental Trauma going into act 6. My only real complaint about the game is how easy it is to get trauma and how impossible it is to get rid of it.

I dislike that they don't offer a complimentary set of cards to supplement the core set. Also had some problems with some of the rules explanation. (The skill tests end up not below zero rule, the skill card text refers to who rule, the every card in threat area is interactable by all investigators in that area rule, etc.) Luckily the internet is there to point them out and I printed them out as a reminder when I next play the game. But I do really enjoy playing through the core set and the story elements only work to intrigue me. It doesn't get in the way for me at all. So maybe it's just a game made for me.

Did part 2 ever come out?

“... Then you turn to your deck, and your deck says “Fuck off!” Lol 🤣 So many, many times. Fantastic review guys! Also, DOGGO! 😁

No part two?

I'm going to guess part 2 is never coming out since it was removed from their collection?

What happened to part 2?

Eager for part two! I have a back-order on the last (hard to get) few Dunwich scenarios, and am keen to hear your best of the rest vid! X

OH MY, I'm SO excited for this!

For like half of the video, I could have sworn that you were saying that you guys were playing the corset 😛

Dudes! This is my favorite game!!!! 😍 Great review!!!!

I will pledge to Patreon once Part 2 comes out lol

The corset? Oh! The core set!

So, after the gencon FF showcase of their new production model, how much footage and script has been trashed?

Came here from the middle of Efka's Top Ten where he declared they had already said numerous times why there wouldn't be a Part 2 to this, to see if there was such an explanation here, and ???

26:00 This is how i feel at work.. every day..

What a thoughtful, ambitious, excellent review. Brilliant work!

That description about redoing scenarios not being fun is the problem I had with TIME stories. Fun the first time, and no I have no desire to do it again, or again.

Arkham Horror TCG made me realize how good an invention tabletop simulator is.

Yeah some of the difficulty levels in Mansions of Madness are not just bad - but obviously not tested at all. There's two scenarios I've experienced (of a total of about 5 in total) which are straight up mathematically not possible with the wrong number of players, which is just insane. Imagine paying $120 for an experience that doesn't work - and also 3 of your friends trusted you, and they had a miserable time as well.

I really like the systems and mechanisms of Arkham but the way that the game handles difficulty is definitely a problem. Even on standard I find the game to be quite punishing, and the campaign structure means that a particularly bad run can tank your entire campaign. I've been playing through Carcosa with my girlfriend but after trying Marvel Champions I don't think she'll go back to Arkham. I personally think MC is much less interesting (and in particular, much less interactive) but it feels a lot more like you're fighting against the villain rather than against the chaos bag.

Was Part 2 abandoned?

I misheard core set for corset during the first half of the video lol

This is another Episode 2 cliffhanger to a never coming Half-Life Episode 3, isn't it?

I can't imagine anyone was looking at Elaine or the game with Bessie to the side.

Awesome! Can't wait for part 2!

❤️ you guys! Thanks for continuing to make great stuff!

I didn't know i needed this video in my life. Recently got into AH series and this video will be very helpful.

no joke you pulled off the patreon launch

Is there a way to donate just once?