You are correct that two-player is the sweet spot. One player is difficult (but I enjoy it), 3 and 4 players eat the tracker quickly. And imitates the video game spot on.
You clarified some of the things I didn't understand as the rulebook isn't very clear, thank your for that! In regards to the video game, I just have two words for you : GIT GUD.
I find with this game it feels like you are doing really bad, then the next round it feels like you are crushing your enemies. At times it can feel hopeless, but its actually not, especially as you start leveling up through the chapters. Thanks for the review! TH-cam just recommended you channel. Glad I got to see this.
Thanks. That jives with my experience. Once you get some consumables and artifacts/upgrades under your belt it definitely feels like you've got more hope.
was waiting for this one, curious of your opinion. Glad you liked it. I went all in with it, while I am more on euro-y side of taste and this is deffinitely a kind of dungeon crawler I can play, plus... its Bloodborne! Cool review, as usual Joel, keep those up :)
Take it from me, the tray won't fully support sleeved cards (it supports most of the cards, but the standard sized quest/insight and firearm cards take up too much space)
Do you think with the reset timeline there's room to improvise with your tactics + strategy or do you need to go into it as one big strategic puzzle to optimize? I tend to not like race-condition dungeon crawlers. As a positive example, I really liked how the timeline deck in Sword & Sorcery worked and adapted itself to the current board state. P.S. I relate to your sports parallel about enjoying the narrative arc of good gameplay.
I'm also not a big fan of race dungeon crawl scenarios. This game doesn't really feel like a dungeon crawl to me though. It's kind of like one big glorified boss/puzzle. You can't really optimize from play to play though, because of how the various tiles come out. It's hard to recommend this one (or not recommend it). It's something quirky on it's own.
@@DriveThruReview You cannot really improve your play level in this game due to the punishing randomness of the tiles. If you draw tiles in a poor order then you are basically at the mercy of perfect card draws to have a chance to finish. Exploration in this game and the timer are the true enemies. Regular enemies and bosses are basically secondary thing to worry about. I feel that this game will be one of those games that will be completely forgotten about in a few years.
Thanks for the reply. I think I understand. It sounds kind of like a roguelite/like video game where the bosses are known, but the procedural generation creates the challenging uncertainty of how you'll stitch together your advantages and disadvantages going into the boss. You can assess tempo of how well you're prepared for the fight at different stages of the mission. Here the cycling of the enemy behavior deck and player decks contribute to the uncertainty, but also create opportunities based on the state of the cycles.
@@Howard.Stern. In my 30+ plays of the game, the tiles have only been "unfairly" punishing once. The randomness is not as bad as you pretend it is. More often then not it's less about the order in which the tiles come out and more about how you explore: don't explore in a straight line; always make sure a lamp is within 1 or 2 tiles away for quick access; if you've explored two or more tiles and have not found your objective yet, return to the Dream, respawn at a lamp nearest to an unexplored exit, and continue that way, giving you the best odds at dropping the tile somewhere you can quickly access again later if need be. Most of the game's randomness can be mitigated or manipulated in your favor.
I do understand the comparison (tile based, minis, kick ass) but BB makes CDMD like a sandbox :) Also prefer Bloodborne, just purely because of depth and variety.
We played it at 3 and I found it terribly hard. I hadn't learned the rules (I was taught the game) and maybe that was part of it. But I didn't have any real idea of what to do, felt out of my league, and that my normal strategy didn't work at all.
@@DriveThruReview They could easily fit all these games in the rectangular shape. Basically cutting the depth of the box in half and extending it by the same amount. I find storing all these square games strangely inconvenient compared to stacking rectangular boxes. Game looks very cool though.
@@timd4524 Tidal Blades did that. The box is long, just like you mention. Honestly, it sucks. Doesn't fit on my 13" game shelf cubes so it has to sit on top of the shelf. I would much rather they keep the more "standard" size.
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Loved this review, Joel!
I had my first play last week and loved it! Spot on review.👍
You are correct that two-player is the sweet spot. One player is difficult (but I enjoy it), 3 and 4 players eat the tracker quickly. And imitates the video game spot on.
You clarified some of the things I didn't understand as the rulebook isn't very clear, thank your for that!
In regards to the video game, I just have two words for you :
GIT GUD.
I find with this game it feels like you are doing really bad, then the next round it feels like you are crushing your enemies.
At times it can feel hopeless, but its actually not, especially as you start leveling up through the chapters.
Thanks for the review! TH-cam just recommended you channel. Glad I got to see this.
Thanks. That jives with my experience. Once you get some consumables and artifacts/upgrades under your belt it definitely feels like you've got more hope.
As a person who doesn't have the fingers or console for the game, I'm so glad they materialize this game. The aesthetics are 💯💯💯💯💯
they ripped 3D art straight from the game. Literally straight from the game. I actually think it's super lazy
was waiting for this one, curious of your opinion. Glad you liked it. I went all in with it, while I am more on euro-y side of taste and this is deffinitely a kind of dungeon crawler I can play, plus... its Bloodborne! Cool review, as usual Joel, keep those up :)
Great review thanks 😊
Great Video Joel, You can Thank Michael Shinall for all the Toughness and beat you down aspects of this one, He loves Punishing our players :-)
Thanks Pete. Good to know! Eric’s off the hook... for now.
Another great video! Does that tray hold sleeved cards? Doesn’t look like it...
Thanks. I haven't tried it. But, ya I'm 90% sure it will not.
Take it from me, the tray won't fully support sleeved cards (it supports most of the cards, but the standard sized quest/insight and firearm cards take up too much space)
Do you think with the reset timeline there's room to improvise with your tactics + strategy or do you need to go into it as one big strategic puzzle to optimize? I tend to not like race-condition dungeon crawlers. As a positive example, I really liked how the timeline deck in Sword & Sorcery worked and adapted itself to the current board state.
P.S. I relate to your sports parallel about enjoying the narrative arc of good gameplay.
I'm also not a big fan of race dungeon crawl scenarios. This game doesn't really feel like a dungeon crawl to me though. It's kind of like one big glorified boss/puzzle. You can't really optimize from play to play though, because of how the various tiles come out. It's hard to recommend this one (or not recommend it). It's something quirky on it's own.
@@DriveThruReview You cannot really improve your play level in this game due to the punishing randomness of the tiles. If you draw tiles in a poor order then you are basically at the mercy of perfect card draws to have a chance to finish. Exploration in this game and the timer are the true enemies. Regular enemies and bosses are basically secondary thing to worry about. I feel that this game will be one of those games that will be completely forgotten about in a few years.
Thanks for the reply. I think I understand. It sounds kind of like a roguelite/like video game where the bosses are known, but the procedural generation creates the challenging uncertainty of how you'll stitch together your advantages and disadvantages going into the boss. You can assess tempo of how well you're prepared for the fight at different stages of the mission. Here the cycling of the enemy behavior deck and player decks contribute to the uncertainty, but also create opportunities based on the state of the cycles.
@@Howard.Stern. In my 30+ plays of the game, the tiles have only been "unfairly" punishing once. The randomness is not as bad as you pretend it is. More often then not it's less about the order in which the tiles come out and more about how you explore: don't explore in a straight line; always make sure a lamp is within 1 or 2 tiles away for quick access; if you've explored two or more tiles and have not found your objective yet, return to the Dream, respawn at a lamp nearest to an unexplored exit, and continue that way, giving you the best odds at dropping the tile somewhere you can quickly access again later if need be. Most of the game's randomness can be mitigated or manipulated in your favor.
Looks really fun, can't wait to finally play mine with a friend once the human malware situation has died down. Great review as always.
Go play with them now. My gaming group never stopped meeting.
Can players backstab each other is this game?
Not at all. It's 100% coop.
There is a PVP variant
I enjoy playing it, but the rulebook is so unhelpful and hard to navigate. Rules are the biggest barrier to entry for me.
I didn't have too many issues with it. A question about Dodge, but there is a good FAQ on the BoardGameGeek.com page that should answer any questions.
I don't see any similarity with Cthulhu DMD, other than it's a coop game from CMON. Anyway, I hugely prefer Bloodborne.
I do understand the comparison (tile based, minis, kick ass) but BB makes CDMD like a sandbox :) Also prefer Bloodborne, just purely because of depth and variety.
We played it at 3 and I found it terribly hard. I hadn't learned the rules (I was taught the game) and maybe that was part of it. But I didn't have any real idea of what to do, felt out of my league, and that my normal strategy didn't work at all.
More players is more opportunity for the game to hose you :)
Just wish these companies would get away from the big square bulky box packaging.
To be honest, I’m not sure they could pack this box any tighter.
@@DriveThruReview They could easily fit all these games in the rectangular shape. Basically cutting the depth of the box in half and extending it by the same amount. I find storing all these square games strangely inconvenient compared to stacking rectangular boxes. Game looks very cool though.
Oh I gotcha. Hmm. I’ll have to chew on that one. That’s an interesting approach. What you’ve suggested (I would guess) takes up less shelf space.
@@timd4524 Tidal Blades did that. The box is long, just like you mention. Honestly, it sucks. Doesn't fit on my 13" game shelf cubes so it has to sit on top of the shelf. I would much rather they keep the more "standard" size.