Reviews: Eldritch Horror

Title: Eldritch Horror
Designer: Corey Konieczka
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games

SETUP

Here’s one thing you should know about Fantasy Flight Games – they have a good load of game components.
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 The full game all set up.

All set up!

Within Eldritch Horror itself, there were:

• Eldritch Horror World Playing board
• Character Profiles
• Ancient One Profiles
• Asset Deck
• Spell Deck
• Condition Deck
• Artifact Deck
• Mythos Cards (Blue, Green, Yellow)
• Other World Cards
• On-The-Road Cards (Jungle, Sea, City)
• Country Encounter Cards (Asia, Australia, America, Europe etc…)
• Expedition Cards
• Ancient One Quest Cards
• Ancient One Research Cards
• Character Counters and Stands
• Monster Counters (Normal and Boss Monsters)
• Clue Tokens
• Eldritch Tokens
• Train and Boat Tickets
• Quest Markers
• 1st Player Marker
• Doom Counter Ring

STORY OF THE GAME

According to Lovecraft Lore, the world is in danger of being swallowed by monsters from the Cthulhu Mythos. You, together with other agents around the world, have to gather enough information and stop the madness from ensuing.

CHARACTERS
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Since this is a cooperative game, we would win or lose together. I played a 3-player game with Jenevee and Jezel (my cousins) against the threat of Azathoth. I chose Trish Scarborough, the spy who could gain clue tokens if she starts a turn without one. Jezel chose Lily Chen, the martial artist who could spend Health or Sanity tokens to heal the other. And Jenevee chose Diana Stanley, who could discard all monsters on a space with a cultist or move the cultist to another space. We were quite a dynamic team. 

Playing the role of the spy

PLOT TWIST

I wanted to own a copy of Eldritch Horror for a while and soon after the Tiger got his Big Geeky Box version of Smash Up!, I bought my own copy.

So I thought this would be a good time to talk about my last experience in playing Eldritch Horror. 

Trying to meet at the same point

Unlike Elder Sign and Arkham Horror, the Mythos Phase is not as straightforward. Each Elder Being had a different stack of Mythos cards, which may involve beneficial, neutral, or awful events (mostly awful). And while this game is for 1 to 8 players, the scaling mechanic is much better now, so you can enjoy a level playing field whether you’re playing a solo game or a game with eight people.

What I really liked was how each game was going to be different, because the defeat requirements for each Ancient One is different. With the added mechanic of the expedition and the condition cards (which slow you down), the game calls for more on-the-spot strategizing, especially with more brutal mythos on the way. Thankfully for us, we stopped the summoning this round.
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Note: Also, Eldritch Horror has one of the best artwork I’ve seen on a board game – Pulp Fiction era awesomeness.

Eldritch Horror was designed by Corey Konieczka and published by Fantasy Flight Games. For more information, click here.