@@Cinaen Your work in particular was exceptional. The visual design is unique and striking, in the best of ways. If you're available for work on other bard games, let me know (I may be interested).
Great review Mike! I appreciate the brief summary of the game concept and its mechanics at the top. Really helps give context for the rest of the review!
I 100% expect they will. That's where the real money is for these giant games. if you can make the first printing a reality, and people like it, you can sell a bunch more copies with very little work for the team :)
Great stuff Mike! This game seemed like a real labor of love and delivered quickly and seemingly very successfully. I remember it launched around the time that Arydia was bombarding bgg and it probably took some backers away from this. Hopefully the inevitable Agemonia sequel/reprint does even better still!
This is a fantastic game and I agree with your #1, this is some of the best scenario design I’ve seen in a board game. Even the frustrating parts like timers are there to keep you from just comfortably extracting absolutely everything from a map. I much prefer this system to Gloomhaven’s dwindling hand of cards.
This review is spot on and mirrors my opinion of the game. I'm about half way through and I could see myself playing through again. While there is some standard fantasy at the core, these stories can get quite dark and adult, and the writing is excellent! This game is much better than almost every other campaign adventure game I've played.
My kids so far were okay with even the "darker" character stories, but you are right that there are some themes like drug addiction that families might want to be cautious with.
Thanks for sharing. I’m on scenario 10 and enjoying it a lot. May be my GotY too. I agree with everything you said. I wish there was a little less combat so that I could explore maps more. I barely got to explore the last one I played, because a demon ‘popped out’ and my 2 characters were suddenly fighting for their lives. After I killed the demon the scenario abruptly ended.
Yeah, I’ve had a few experiences like that too. I know it’s there to keep you from exploring everything obsessively, but it can still be annoying at times
Is there a way to house rule this to give you more exploration time, like they did with the journeys in middle Earth app did by adding an adventure mode.
@@erikpeters7072 so most scenarios use the deck of numbered cards to count up to a value, and when that value is reached something advances and eventually time runs out. You could increase the value (like you have to reach 18 instead of 12, etc), giving you 4-6 extra turns. Or go extreme mode and cut the deck entirely, though then you are REALLY not playing the game as intended and at some point all tension will be gone.
I haven't felt this way about a game since roll player adventures. Usually I'm more excited about getting a game and once i have it most of the excitement goes away. With this game I've been more excited since i opened it and looked through all the materials. Seems like much like RPA it will be a pure fun game of exploration with great writing. I am also enjoying the audio narration of origin stories, although those who lean conservative politically will probably hate them lol😮😅
It depends on which story you mean. The stuff that is on the website/in the app (the backstory for each character and such) reads like a real fantasy novel, and is probably better than any of the games you mentioned. The narrative for event cards and during missions is good, similar to the two you named. In any case I think it's great writing for a board game.
It’s generally as simple as: - open book - pull out scenarios set of cards - read some special rules I’d say it’s comparable to tales, maybe a bit quicker, and faster than Oathsworn?
Cooperative adventure narrative campaign game - that's just the genre Im looking for to play with my kid. We love stuffed Fables but the richer character progression in this game sounds super fun. Is there anything in this game that wouldn't make it a good fit for family play? (e.g. narrative is too scary/violent/sexual, or game is way too heavyweight to be enjoyed by anyone but the most dedicated gamers). My kid is fine with longer games, lots of rules, or complicated mechanics, but if it's too unforgiving it might be more frustrating than fun. What do you think?
Scenarios mostly aren’t what I would call too unforgiving or harsh, though sometimes you’ll get unlucky, search in the wrong place early, and spawn a really tough boss!
Both have a strong story element, but agemonia is much more a dungeon crawler with detailed movement and combat, while roll player is mostly reading from a book, with the skill checks resolved with a dice and card system.
@@OneStopCoopShop thanks for the reply! I was just wondering, do you find the admin and management, and all the bits and pieces of Agemonia a hassle? "Too many bits, too many rules" is the reason I gave up on titles like frosthaven and oathsworn. So before I strip the shrink off of everything, I'm curious about how easy or cumbersome it is to manage everything in Agemonia. As another comparison, Tales from the red dragon inn was positively seamless to play because of its outstanding rule book and scenario guides, and relatively simple and straightforward components and map pages.
@@OneStopCoopShop i already played the 3 Demo Chapters on tts back then and enjoyed them big time. So i am fairly sure i will also enjoy the final game. Seems to be right up my alley.
Thank you for the review. Since you say this is your dream adventure Game, how does this hold up against Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies? Can these two games even be compared?
They are VERY different. Agemonia feels like an adventure and narrative-focused dungeon crawler, while sleeping gods is more of an abstract narrative adventure, mostly focused on the reading. But comparing the two, agemonia easily wins for me, partially because of the balance annoyances with distant skies (having to houserule or use difficulty variants because it becomes too easy too quickly)
Hi, I ordered this game and it looks amazing! What worries me is that I see the most of the text size is super small. Is this game heavily text dependent? I can read small text to a certain extent, but if the game requires constant reading of cards, I'm affraid I'd be uanble to read them and play the game, not even with glasses on, so now I'm not sure whether I should cancel my order... Thanks!
You are reading pretty much all the time, either from booklets or more commonly from cards. Maybe try watching a little of my playthrough on the channel? That might give you a better idea of how much reading we are talking about
Don't beat about the bush, Mike, tell us what you really think! Do you like the game or not? 😉😉 I was thinking that I have a con, and that is the replayability but then I realised that I can't remember your playthrough, so I think that wouldn't be a problem. One of the advantages of having a poor memory. It would be like playing the game for the first time all over again 🤣 Great review thanks.
You aren’t wrong about the memory thing! The campaign is long enough that I could probably start a new game right after I finish and forget 75% of the details 😅
This game is very different than Gloomhaven. It’s similar to some other dungeon crawlers, but also does a lot of unique stuff. Not sure what point you are trying to make, sorry! 😅
the whole style, the huge box, the loads of content, the co-op adventure narrative campaign , even the font is the same or nearly the same, minis for characters, standees for everything else... GH released first, this game released years later and looks similar in style. This game looks better. That was the point. @@OneStopCoopShop
@AFatalPapercut gotcha! That kind of describes the 10-20 giant adventure games that release every year these days though 😅 Glad you think it looks good. I’m still loving it
Yea, I was just making a joke lol. GH is the game that actually got me back into the hobby, I got out around the time Super Dungeon Explore came out, and when I saw GH and that massive box it just made me happy lol. I was like, "Wait, this is what board games are now??? This can't be real" and then the following week I found Middara and well..the rest is history (as well as my bank account hahahaha) I left the hobby again for the last 2 years or so and just came back a month ago. Whenever I see Agemonia i get the similar vibe. I just bought it from MM. I really like games that stuff the corebox full of content, versus those that have multiple day one expansions and fomo inducing add-ons. That being said, KDM is my all time favorite game and I own almost everything for it, so my logic isn't necessarily sound. Hahaha. Thanks for the vid though, it helped convince me to get it. @@OneStopCoopShop
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pZbsSDRrmXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Oh my Mike. Thank you so much for the great, short, and sweet review ❤ All the hours building the best possible game are bearing fruit 😊
You worked on it? Your team did an awesome job!
@@OneStopCoopShop I'm the Visual Design Director for the game. I'm very proud of our team of brilliant people!
@@Cinaen Your work in particular was exceptional. The visual design is unique and striking, in the best of ways. If you're available for work on other bard games, let me know (I may be interested).
Amazing job!!
Good points and as always I am amazed how much Information you provide in a short amount of time. My own copy should arrive soon 🎉
Hope you have a great time with it!
Great review Mike! I appreciate the brief summary of the game concept and its mechanics at the top. Really helps give context for the rest of the review!
Oh cool, glad you liked it!
What can I say? You got good taste, Mike. I'm with you on Agmonia. For the win!
So glad the game turned out to still keep you impressed with it.
Thank you for the overview.
Looking like it will be a great time.
This looks so good! I missed out. I hope they do a second printing!
I 100% expect they will. That's where the real money is for these giant games. if you can make the first printing a reality, and people like it, you can sell a bunch more copies with very little work for the team :)
Great stuff Mike! This game seemed like a real labor of love and delivered quickly and seemingly very successfully. I remember it launched around the time that Arydia was bombarding bgg and it probably took some backers away from this. Hopefully the inevitable Agemonia sequel/reprint does even better still!
Arydia looks cool too, but this one is way more my speed. Like you I hope they have a big second crowdfunding campaign!
This is a fantastic game and I agree with your #1, this is some of the best scenario design I’ve seen in a board game. Even the frustrating parts like timers are there to keep you from just comfortably extracting absolutely everything from a map. I much prefer this system to Gloomhaven’s dwindling hand of cards.
Oh for sure. I don’t always love the timers, but I understand why they exist :)
This review is spot on and mirrors my opinion of the game. I'm about half way through and I could see myself playing through again. While there is some standard fantasy at the core, these stories can get quite dark and adult, and the writing is excellent! This game is much better than almost every other campaign adventure game I've played.
My kids so far were okay with even the "darker" character stories, but you are right that there are some themes like drug addiction that families might want to be cautious with.
This looks pretty awesome and seems to scratch an itch I have with these types of games. Editing to say great review as always!
Thanks!
Very good video as usual, Mike. My wallet starts to shake whenever you upload something ;)
Sorry!!!
Thanks for sharing. I’m on scenario 10 and enjoying it a lot. May be my GotY too. I agree with everything you said.
I wish there was a little less combat so that I could explore maps more. I barely got to explore the last one I played, because a demon ‘popped out’ and my 2 characters were suddenly fighting for their lives. After I killed the demon the scenario abruptly ended.
Yeah, I’ve had a few experiences like that too. I know it’s there to keep you from exploring everything obsessively, but it can still be annoying at times
Is there a way to house rule this to give you more exploration time, like they did with the journeys in middle Earth app did by adding an adventure mode.
@@erikpeters7072 so most scenarios use the deck of numbered cards to count up to a value, and when that value is reached something advances and eventually time runs out. You could increase the value (like you have to reach 18 instead of 12, etc), giving you 4-6 extra turns. Or go extreme mode and cut the deck entirely, though then you are REALLY not playing the game as intended and at some point all tension will be gone.
High praise from the high sage!
Lol, I need a shirt that has that illustrious title on it
“High sage of gaming”
@@OneStopCoopShop And a hat. A very tall hat!
shit, saw this review too late, didn't pledge it. sounds great!
I haven't felt this way about a game since roll player adventures. Usually I'm more excited about getting a game and once i have it most of the excitement goes away. With this game I've been more excited since i opened it and looked through all the materials. Seems like much like RPA it will be a pure fun game of exploration with great writing. I am also enjoying the audio narration of origin stories, although those who lean conservative politically will probably hate them lol😮😅
Hahaha, yeah, good bit of gender fluidity and other things in there 😅
Spot on review! How do you like the story? Is it as well written comparing to other adventure games like aeon trespass and oathsworn etc?
It depends on which story you mean. The stuff that is on the website/in the app (the backstory for each character and such) reads like a real fantasy novel, and is probably better than any of the games you mentioned. The narrative for event cards and during missions is good, similar to the two you named. In any case I think it's great writing for a board game.
@@OneStopCoopShopthanks Mike!
Great overview - thx - what do you think is a realistic playtime for one session ?
Each quest card has a color indication of length (short/medium/long). Short could be 30-45. Long can be 90 minutes or more
Great game! I had so much fun playing it, I'm holding Colin's copy hostage!
So happy you and Bairnt are enjoying it. Though I weep for Colin :)
How does setup/teardown, and session length compare to Tales/Oathsworn?
It’s generally as simple as:
- open book
- pull out scenarios set of cards
- read some special rules
I’d say it’s comparable to tales, maybe a bit quicker, and faster than Oathsworn?
Cooperative adventure narrative campaign game - that's just the genre Im looking for to play with my kid. We love stuffed Fables but the richer character progression in this game sounds super fun. Is there anything in this game that wouldn't make it a good fit for family play? (e.g. narrative is too scary/violent/sexual, or game is way too heavyweight to be enjoyed by anyone but the most dedicated gamers). My kid is fine with longer games, lots of rules, or complicated mechanics, but if it's too unforgiving it might be more frustrating than fun. What do you think?
Scenarios mostly aren’t what I would call too unforgiving or harsh, though sometimes you’ll get unlucky, search in the wrong place early, and spawn a really tough boss!
Anywhere to order it other than a finnish website that's insane to navigate?
Not that i know of, but it’s still fulfilling so I imagine wider options should be coming soon
Magnifique boardgame.
How does this game compare to Roll Player Adventures?
Both have a strong story element, but agemonia is much more a dungeon crawler with detailed movement and combat, while roll player is mostly reading from a book, with the skill checks resolved with a dice and card system.
Just got this in the mail, but tbh if Arydia comes delivered this year, that will probably be number 1 for me.
I'm still very curious about Arydia, but currently I'm not on the review copy list...
@@OneStopCoopShop thanks for the reply! I was just wondering, do you find the admin and management, and all the bits and pieces of Agemonia a hassle? "Too many bits, too many rules" is the reason I gave up on titles like frosthaven and oathsworn. So before I strip the shrink off of everything, I'm curious about how easy or cumbersome it is to manage everything in Agemonia.
As another comparison, Tales from the red dragon inn was positively seamless to play because of its outstanding rule book and scenario guides, and relatively simple and straightforward components and map pages.
@moltenbullet it’s not as smooth as red dragon inn, but MUCH smoother than something like frosthaven.
Still waiting for my copy but should Show up anytime now
Hope you enjoy it!
@@OneStopCoopShop i already played the 3 Demo Chapters on tts back then and enjoyed them big time. So i am fairly sure i will also enjoy the final game. Seems to be right up my alley.
Thank you for the review. Since you say this is your dream adventure Game, how does this hold up against Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies? Can these two games even be compared?
They are VERY different. Agemonia feels like an adventure and narrative-focused dungeon crawler, while sleeping gods is more of an abstract narrative adventure, mostly focused on the reading.
But comparing the two, agemonia easily wins for me, partially because of the balance annoyances with distant skies (having to houserule or use difficulty variants because it becomes too easy too quickly)
Great! That makes that descision way easier. I don't like houesrules at all@@OneStopCoopShop
Hi, I ordered this game and it looks amazing! What worries me is that I see the most of the text size is super small. Is this game heavily text dependent?
I can read small text to a certain extent, but if the game requires constant reading of cards, I'm affraid I'd be uanble to read them and play the game, not even with glasses on, so now I'm not sure whether I should cancel my order...
Thanks!
You are reading pretty much all the time, either from booklets or more commonly from cards.
Maybe try watching a little of my playthrough on the channel? That might give you a better idea of how much reading we are talking about
Is it going to make it onto your top 100 list though?…….
I dunno, it’s pretty new 😅
Ehehe exploration can be tricky... you find a treasure or a nasty guy that will give you a hard time. Take or leave
The solution is to never explore
Don't beat about the bush, Mike, tell us what you really think! Do you like the game or not? 😉😉
I was thinking that I have a con, and that is the replayability but then I realised that I can't remember your playthrough, so I think that wouldn't be a problem. One of the advantages of having a poor memory. It would be like playing the game for the first time all over again 🤣
Great review thanks.
You aren’t wrong about the memory thing! The campaign is long enough that I could probably start a new game right after I finish and forget 75% of the details 😅
@@OneStopCoopShop
haha I'm glad it's not just me! lol
it's like they copied Gloomhaven's homework but somehow got a better grade.
This game is very different than Gloomhaven. It’s similar to some other dungeon crawlers, but also does a lot of unique stuff. Not sure what point you are trying to make, sorry! 😅
the whole style, the huge box, the loads of content, the co-op adventure narrative campaign , even the font is the same or nearly the same, minis for characters, standees for everything else...
GH released first, this game released years later and looks similar in style.
This game looks better.
That was the point. @@OneStopCoopShop
@AFatalPapercut gotcha! That kind of describes the 10-20 giant adventure games that release every year these days though 😅
Glad you think it looks good. I’m still loving it
Yea, I was just making a joke lol. GH is the game that actually got me back into the hobby, I got out around the time Super Dungeon Explore came out, and when I saw GH and that massive box it just made me happy lol. I was like, "Wait, this is what board games are now??? This can't be real" and then the following week I found Middara and well..the rest is history (as well as my bank account hahahaha)
I left the hobby again for the last 2 years or so and just came back a month ago. Whenever I see Agemonia i get the similar vibe. I just bought it from MM. I really like games that stuff the corebox full of content, versus those that have multiple day one expansions and fomo inducing add-ons. That being said, KDM is my all time favorite game and I own almost everything for it, so my logic isn't necessarily sound. Hahaha.
Thanks for the vid though, it helped convince me to get it.
@@OneStopCoopShop
@AFatalPapercut you are a connoisseur of awesome giant games ;)
I got a copy of the 1.2 update of Middara recently. Hope to play it soonish