Cthulhu: Death May Die Review - One Of My Personal Favorite Games Of All Time
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
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In Cthulhu: Death May Die, inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, you and your fellow players represent investigators in the 1920s who instead of trying to stop the coming of Elder Gods, want to summon those otherworldly beings so that you can put a stop to them permanently. You start the game insane, and while your long-term goal is to shoot Cthulhu in the face, so to speak, at some point during the game you'll probably fail to mitigate your dice rolls properly and your insanity will cause you to do something terrible - or maybe advantageous. Hard to know for sure.
The game has multiple episodes, and each of them has a similar structure of two acts, those being before and after you summon whatever it is you happen to be summoning. If any character dies prior to the summoning, then the game ends and you lose; once the Elder One is on the board, as long as one of you is still alive, you still have a chance to win.
The episodes are all standalone and not contingent on being played in a certain order or with the same players.
BGG Link - boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...
TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - Overview
0:05:17 - Ease of Play
0:05:43 - What I Like
0:09:34 - What I Don't Like
0:11:05 - What I Can See Others Not Liking
0:11:50 - Final Thoughts
0:12:35 - Recommendations
5.0 - My absolutely favorite games. You can pry them out of my cold dead hands.
4.5 - Love this game! At the same time missing something that would make it a 5. Could be hard to table, lacking variability, a little light, etc.
4.0 - Really great game, almost always keeping, although has meaningful complaints as to what takes away from the experience.
3.5 - Really enjoyed, don't love it, may lose out to better games but the idea of never playing again is a bit sad.
3.0 - A good game, would play and suggest with the right people, if I never played it again wouldn't lose any sleep.
2.5 - A game I'd play again , but will never suggest it myself
2.0 - A game I don't want to play again
1.5 - A game I can't find any reason to recommend
1.0 - A game that is just bad.
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For media inquiries, please email me at alex@boardgameco.com
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Thanks for the timely review, Alex. My wife and I were already following the KS campaign and likely backing. Your review helps us feel more confident with the purchase and we are looking forward to getting our copy.
Just recently discovered this game, ignored it for a long while ... but love it a lot. The aesthetics are amazing and gameplay is so enjoyable. Haven't played much yet, but can see the ramping and unknown outcome already: lost once - in the last phase - and won once - with the last investigator having max insanity (other got insane in the same turn). Amazing experiences indeed.
Great review. Heard many of these sentiments from you in the past, but glad to hear it in a dedicated video for it. Can you go a little more into your favorite/least favorite scenarios and why? Or would that be too spoiler-y?
Great videos @boardgameco. Really helped me in my CDMD and ZBP journey :)
I'm glad you enjoyed :)
I bought this a few months ago because of how highly you talked about it and just got this off my shelf of shame and it didn’t disappoint. Thanks! And now I’m backing the new kickstarter. So, yeah, thanks again.
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it!
Can't wait until later today to back Cthulhu: Wallet May Cry!
Do you think they will offer the out of print version in the new kickstarter?
Just picked this up. Going for first episode tomorrow. Thanks for the review.
Enjoy!
How about a video ranking the episodes? Also, how many characters do you prefer to play with? I think 2 looks fun but Zee Garcia said at least 3. Just curious how you prefer to play.
I'm curious Alex, as you were recommending Cthulhu: death may day and Zombiecide as they are offering similar experiences, what's causing you to keep both around? As you tend to be pretty concientious about keeping a tight collection and I suspect that drives you to remove redundancies in gaming experiences: why do you own both C:DMD, and both Zombicide Black Plague and Marvel Zombicide?
Just for theming variety? Nostalgia? Or are there experiential differences between those games motivating you to keep those 3 games around?
I just got this to table for the first time in months, as I had... LOST most of the components. But they've been found and I love it just as much as ever and I'm backing this new one for sure.
I need a recommendation. Is it worth to get the unspeakable box if I don’t have season one? Are the first three lost episodes great content?
CDMD it's the only game I have lost more than I have won and I still love to play every time. Literally the #1 game in my collection. Season 3 has me very hyped about the small changes they did.
That’s me playing Agricola. I think I’ve only won once.
Sold! I was on the verge with this because I was not sure about the replayability and it looked too similar to Elder Sign but with miniatures. (Actually I'm struggling on not pulling the trigger with Massive Darkness, Descent 3rd edition and Mansions of Madness at the same time, as my wife would kill me...)
Hold up. Every time the elder God levels up you add the hp from each stage? Meaning you go from 12 to 24 to 36 hp by the final round?
Nice review. I know you love this game and curious to know if you’ve ever played Eldritch Horror. It’s my all time fave game.
Alex, from all the previous content for Cthulhu death may die, what would you recommend picking up?
U can pick up the core box season 1 to see if it fits u. Don’t forget to follow the Kickstarter campaign as well
I’m tempted to buy the base game, but am I missing out if I’m not getting all the extra stuff.
Ty for the video!
I got rid of Zombicide as it felt too light and mindless. Do you think CDMD is the same?
How about doing a video where you rank all of the CDMD scenarios and elder gods?
Really recommend folks try out Return to Dark Tower if you like CDMD. I just had my first CDMD gameplay and saw a number of similarities between the two. Return to Dark Tower is such a great cooperative experience!
Right now I am struggling between backing CTMD and Oathsworn. I backed out of both of the original campaigns, and am sad about missing out on both of them. But I can’t afford everything. Based on just the BASE pledge, which would you recommend? My main problem with backing Oathsworn was the $200+ price tag once I got the plastic that makes it look so cool.
Depends on what type of game/experience you want. Oathsworn is a well-polished story and boss-battler game. CTMD is a scenario dungeon crawler. Both excellent in their own right. An epic campaign or a fun dice chucker?
I have the Oathsworn standee version and the art on the standees is totally amazing. I’m not a mini guy, but if you’re concerned about the standees, don’t be - it kicks ass!
Can't believe you've not already reviewed CDMD until now!?!
Probably my Number 1 boardgame of all time - absolutely love this game and everything that came with it!
Looking forward to Season 3 later today!!!! BRING ON THE MADNESS! 😶🌫
I would love to see this game with a different theme.
Great review Alex and almost completely agree with you...except Season 1, Episode 1 is my least favorite that I've played! Haha
The addition of fire adds (for myself) no enjoyment, but more overhead/tedium. I don't think it was ideal as the first episode specifically. The addition of fire should have been added later, not taken away.
Either way, great game and I'm excited for more!
I just came here to tell Alex and everyone to try S1E5 (Accursed Tide) with Dagon as an Elder one. Also, if you can read shadows over innsmouth (short lovecraft novella), it'll make things just that much more immersive. It did for me. Just to note, I didn't beat this combination yet (3 attempts in).
Guessing you'll be all in on season 3 for the stuff you're missing? Me too!
As i play solo id love these games more if they did a standee version, everything they have made for this game would fit in one box then as well, i dont need a room full off minis.
Completely understand that
How would you compare it to say Eldritch Horror? I got that recently and feel like it’s a good stepping stone towards this..
I think they're very different games. If you like the theme, you may enjoy both, but EH is longer, more complicated and I think more frustrating for casual players.
Hi. Is CDMD a good 2-player experience? And what would you say the optimal player count is? I like playing games with my partner but I'd like to know if this is one we can enjoy together or if we will need to wrangle in friends to get the most out of it 🥳
My wife and I play it together, with one character each, and we have a great time with it! I almost wouldn't want to play with more than two players. Less downtime with just two.
I've played most chapters in the core box with most player counts, and in my opinion the ideal player count is 2-3. 5 players is still great fun, but you will really notice the long downtime between your turns. With only 2 players pacing gets significantly better.
@@tonaglz @Arthur Dent Thanks, guys :D I appreciate the responses. Thinking about picking up the original but it's so expensive! I'll keep it on my radar for now ;)
Ha after watching you preach this game for a few years it will be coming to my collection today😀
Thanks for this review. It motivated me to play the full CDMD collection on tabletop simulator and check out the new Kickstarter.
While I enjoyed my sessions, CDMD is not a game I would own (I don't like COOP games in general and I don't like Cthulhu themes).
What separates this from Mansions of Madness, Arkham Horror, or even something like Nemesis?
Is there anything that has a similar cinematic feel and leveling up as CDMD? I’ve been looking everywhere for another game to complement it! Help! 😊
I haven't yet found anything that is as good. Plenty of great options, but to me it's still the best.
@@BoardGameCo Thanks! What options are you referring to?
After a so-so experience the first time with this game, I love it. One of my favourites too.
Alex, do you find all the extra characters are fairly even fun / playable? Some seem much more powerful than others to me, though so far I've stuck with the core ones.
So have you played it with 2, 3 and 4 and if so, why is there no specific timestamp for it 😝
What about a ranking of the episodes ? :)
Looks like there’s no way to get anything from the earlier seasons from the current Kickstarter…I’m a bit of a completionist and since I missed the first two I guess I’ll miss this one.
Correction…looks like you can but with 80 pounds of KSE content lost to me I’ll go back to Chip Theory who don’t feast on FOMO.
Do you enjoy Eldritch Horror? That is one of my group's favorite light time-wasters. The critique that it's more of a "ride" than a game is valid, but we love it! :)
Time waster? More of a ride than a game? How come? Honestly curious. It's one of my favourite games and I consider it deliciously layered. Feels very random the first few times but then you uncover the deep interactions between the games mechanics and everything makes sense. I love its designer since Space Hulk Death Angel, maybe that's why I like this one too
Question to the audience. I played Mansions of Madness once and this sounds very similar. I wasn't super impressed, too much and repetitive dice chucking. Based on this, will I like CDMD? Considering the KS.
S L O W D O W N
I love your reviews but my one critique is you often seem like your in a rush to finish your videos which gives me kind of a nervous reaction. Slow down a touch bud. Other than that great video!
He is always caffeinated out 🤪. He drinks a lot of coffee.
I sometimes listen to him on .75 speed 😂
Lol I listen to him at 2x speed
@@Rkm0504 I tried that and it’s better but he sounds a bit off lol
@@RedWintyr you absolute madman 😂
Cthulhu: Death May Die or Gloomheaven?
Looks like The Others with more chrome.
Wait.... this isn't a live video...
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
Even for a Zombicide-adjacent game I find it too simple in structure and too shallow.
The scenarios should be more interesting and replayable. And the terrain tiles should be a lot better. And there should be a good support to create your own scenarios.
The game is more about the miniatures and less about the gameplay. For a miniature painter that might be nice, but for all others it's suboptimal to have the gameplay lacking because the design and production focus was on the miniatures.
❤
From a high level this sounds extremely similar to Arkham Horror. Lol. Is this just AH in non-deckbuilding form?
While there are definitely similarities in some areas, it plays very differently.
there is only 1 thing I dont like about this game; I dont have the unspeakable box, and CMON is not goin to reprint it in their new campaign, sadface
I can't make up my mind about this new KS. The game seems like a weaker version of Eldritch Horror.
You can see that this review is great, because it convinced me that I don't want to play this game even if you love it. That's not my style of game: I don't want to waste my time in games that may not be a good experience because of too much variability. The setup and scenarios seem crucial here.
Even when we lose, it's still a good experience. The game is just tense and fun!
Massive Darkness 2 is way more fun ;)
Elaborate please. I have MD2 and this looks like a different enough game to me.
@@mikeb2598 Even stronger asymmetry of classes, more satisfying in-game level-up system, more fun combo moves, better sense of cooperation, cool items, the loot system. To me it's just more fun. Plus, the theme of Death May Die doesn't fit what you do in the game, Cthulhu mythos should be atmospheric (Mansions of Madness 2 and Arkham Horror LCG do it way more justice) and shouldn't be only about brute force, and here it is mostly about it.
I've enjoyed this game...but also feel that this game is a little over-rated.
TBH, the theme really doesn't mesh with the gameplay. Punch Cthulhu on the nose sounds fun...but it's not really a good fit for the mythos. I guess if you don't really care about this then it's not such an issue but....yeah....I think if you're a fan of Arkham/Eldritch Horror then the feel of the game in CDMD is a little off. I think Machina Arcana is a little better in this regard, although it's hard to say why given in a lot of ways its conceptually quite similar to CDMD.
The gameplay itself is fun but the only really exceptional thing is the character power-up system. That said, the character power-up system is very very good.
So yeah, it's a great game but I find it a little wild that people put this in their top 10 or top 5 games of all time, definitely feels like a stretch...
I'm a HUGE Arkham Horror fan and I strongly disagree.
I'll start by saying that I do understand what you say and how you feel about the fact we get to kill Elders. You are totally right.
That being said, I find that it gives us a shot of taking these bad boys down. Something that is... Well. Not really gonna happen otherwise. It's a fresh take on the Mythos.
The second reason is that where the goal of the game is to kill the Elder, it doesn't happen very often, and when you achieve that goal, it's in a bloodbath, mostly on the verge of madness (You lose more than you win, and when you win, it's close. Very close. it's far from being a stomp. This makes the theme a very good fit for the game. It is hard. There are great chances you fail. And if you win, it's not without heavy sacrifices (ie : Whole team dead, one last bro standing without a leg and bleeding out.)
@@macbait9902 heavy sacrifices or cheesy tricks ;-)
Kurwa, niedoczynność że rudy, to jeszcze żyd 🤣
🤓 🔝 😏 🆒 😉
:)
@@BoardGameCo😁
u speak proper fast :)
I do :)