Honestly, this is the best review of eldricht Horror in TH-cam. Thanks ! I was thinking about buying this or pandemic Reign of Cthutulu, pandemic is going to wait until the next month.
31:09 i have one, reduce the gate numbers from 2 to 1 plus a half, how dos that with? use coin to mark this and ignore the activation of every 2nd gate half of the time, i recommend this to 1-2 player(only open every 2nd gate) games too becse just too many gates are spawned for few player's.
Ah... These types of games really shine if your gaming group is willing to role-play it a bit. Although, sticking to heavily to role-play might lead to disaster every time. It really all depends on how invested the players are in the story. Even the random and completely unthematic events can be incorporated into the story if you have a few players with strong DM-ish skills who are able to blend it in. OR you turn everything upside down and make it hilarious. :) Either way, I love playing Eldritch Horror, but since it usually takes way too long, towards the end we often stop role-playing it and reading every word carefully and just go "check lore... Failed? Lose sanity. NEXT!" But still, I love this game. And with a few expansions (Forsaken Lore being A MUST HAVE) you can create decent card pools to negate some of the repetitiveness. Unfortunately, since dice really hate me I generally lose in Eldritch more than a normal person would. Still, I play this game for the experience, not for the sake of winning :) But on the other side, if you overdo it with expansions, you will definitely create the disconnected mess of things. UNLESS you are willing to spend an hour separating cards, tokens and monsters from their respective decks/pools and sorting out all the expansions... I currently have Forsaken Lore, Cities in Ruin and Mountains of Madness expansion and it really sucks if you accidentally shuffle in a mythos card from Antarctica giving you a hypothermia condition and you're not even playing with that expansion, or you're in the middle of Africa, suffering from hypothermia ;)
completely agree with the whole role-playing part, but sometimes it is just fun to see the world fall to madness. Its definitely one of those awesome stories that you don't care about losing. Daniel does an amazing job of incorporating the random encounters into the story! The goal for us is to just use Forsake lore + base game, and then mix in one of the other expansions for each game! And the mountains of madness expansion is what I've been itching to play for so so long ahaha. -Ashton
@@floodkevin4716 Hi, why, thank you :D It's easy to spot my comments as they are most often lengthy :) I haven't watched Rob and Mel playing live in quite some time, sadly, it's either because the time doesn't suit me or they are playing something I don't particularly like, but I'm slowly catching up on their older videos. AND I'm waiting anxiously for the day they will play Frosthaven live . THAT I don't want to miss. See you around!
I'm late to this video, but just wanted to say I found it outstanding. Best review for this game I've seen. Great work, guys! Makes me want to try this game (have yet to play it).
hey thank you man! The game definitely has so many fun stories, highly suggest you try it if you're already so into the theme (hope we helped demonstrate how thematic it can be x) ). -Ashton
@@Shelfside Absolutely. I'm a Keeper for the CoC RPG, and the theme of this is a large part of why I'd like to try it. You guys really brought that point home well in my opinion. Keep up the great work.
@@sebastianstark8517 oh that's awesome! Done some CoC plenty of times throughout college, super memorable. If you're interested in Lovecraft in a board game, also check out Mansions of Madness, its super accessible with an app taking care of the bookkeeping. Could be good for those nights where you can't prep much for a session :) -Ashton
Your pros and cons seem on point. The push back I offer is if the card decks were more specialized as you suggest the game would feel much more linear and replay ability would drop, like we see in Arkham horror 3rd edition and Mansions of Madness 2nd edition. For me the lack of direct connection isn't a con but rather a pro as it increases the variety in the story the game can generate. I got at least 10 plays out of the Azathoth before it started to feel repetitive because of the variety of other card decks. However for massive amounts of replay it really does require at least some of the 8 expansions they've made for it.
@@Shelfside I just picked up a copy of Eldritch with 3 small expansions, I'm loving it so much. Your review helped me to decide on getting it. Thank you!
yep, its called a plano box! I believe we got it at Walmart, but you could probably also find it at any sporting good/fishing store. Or something similar at a hobby shop. -Ashton
It's not for casual gamers. Most people I play with get burned out trying to read all the text. I've also had it where they get bored with me trying to read through all the Mythos trigger events. I find they last up to an hour before wanting to stop. It's tiny, items, spells, and conditions are on a tag like on a pair of blue jeans, ( but not floppy at least )with a lot to say. I've had players refuse to use items to help their characters to save their eyes. ) Everyone must read tiny text on encounters. You need good lighting wherever you play. I think it's great when you play solo with a few investigators, where you have a table where you can leave it set up, and you can walk away from it,
Heyo! Its been a while since we made a review on this bad boy! If I recall correctly, it was to say that this game invites a casual mindset in winning/losing as you just want to see what happens with the story. If you play with 'casuals', I guess non-gamers is also a good way to put it, you can have a mixed bag as you said! Definitely just a lot of components, and if people aren't into the theme it can feel like a drag. But wow, refuse to use items is some next level burn! Throw them through the lovecraftian portals at the point! Agree that it is fantastic solo, taking your time with it is so recommended -Ashton
The vast majority of FFG games, in our experience, are riddled with this lack of storage and plastic baggies! So frustrating for newcomers to the hobby -ashton
The best board game channel of them all, production is really on the another level. Do you have any opinion regarding Arkham horror 3rd edition? Would nicely conclude quadruplet of reviews for Arkham Files series :). Really difficult to decide which game should be next after having mansions of madness, considering we also will get translation of Cthulhu death may die at my country 😅
if I had to make a loose prediction, I think not? There's already so many expansions out for this game, and I think FFG is focusing on new projects, sadly :( But hey, can't really complain, because so much eldritch to explore! -Ashton
Great review guys! I just bought the game I had my first game and I loved it. Would you say that the first expansion is a must right away or should I wait a little bit more? Thanks!
awesome! Hope you rolled many 5's and 6's. Forsaken lore just helps everything in the base game, so doesn't hurt at all to get it! But you could certainly beat each god once in base before branching out -Ashton
31:29 well Jenny is stronger so taht makes it okay, also my top 2 teams Team Eclipse: fine & Dexter & McGlan & Trish, or my other faw Team Grind : Jenny + Dexter + Leo + Lola. I aklos recommand the Carcossa expansion for it has the best heroes and the flame thrower to anyone that has this game XD (Hasto is also very fun to play against)
hey, so I just checked the playlist and it looks like the first two have been taken down (at least in my country). The other songs will work and that will give you plenty of runtime for the game, if you still need more music try searching for "Bohren & Der Club Of Gore", those are the two albums that were taken down!
Loved this review as someone who is new to board games but loves Call of Cthulhu the ttrpg. If you had to choose between Eldritch, mansions or Arkham, which would you pick? Ps subscribed cus it was an awesome review.
good question! Mansions has by far felt the most like CoC to me, and is the easiest to setup and play. There's good flavor text, lots of things to explore around the locations, and interesting conclusions. Eldritch is slower paced, perhaps feeling like you're getting multiple sessions of CoC in one big sitting. Like, you would go around the world, going to Africa, Antarctica, etc. all while staring at one elder god in specific. Feels a lot more epic, but isn't as clean of a game mechanically as MoM and doesn't necessarily have amazing flavor all the time (needs a little more globetrotting imagination). Arkham is a really cool idea, since it has some similar mechanics to Eldritch while taking place in one city. It felt more sandbox-y than the other 2, but perhaps at the cost of substantial decisionmaking. Hope this helped! -Ashton
@@Freddy_da_fox sweet! Yeah forsaken lore is must have, but all of them introduce elder gods as far as I remember, and that's super sick for different bosses/mechanics! -Ashton
I just picked this up yesterday, was debating between this or Arkham horror. Already have mansions of madness and i think that’s more for a horror experience which i love.I heard Arkham horror drags on for so long and it’ll be hard to get to the table with my group and it’s just so tedious. Glad i picked this one.
sure thing! Just recommend controlling multiple investigators for more interesting gameplay, will help with fighting a lot of the monsters too with certain characters -Ashton
Any person who sees the name Shub-Niggurath and automatically thinks of a racial slur is probably not someone I'd want in my playgroup. Sometimes, some people try hard to get offended on purpose.
I really dislike this game. There is so much thematic disconnect, unnecessarily large global scope, uneventful turns, swinginess and downtime. For a Lovecraftian experience, I would rather much play Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu.
Yeah I remember back when I was writing for this review I realized how much of my personal bias was coming into play when enjoying the game. When I took a step back and looked at it more critically it was very clear to me that this wasn't really a stellar game by any means. For me, my imagination is driven wild by everything going on, but if that's not happening then the game basically boils down to "move there do a thing". I still love the shit out of this game though, but I'd attribute that more to what's going on in my head versus the game itself. -Daniel
When the creator literally named his cat the N-word so giving him plausible deniability that the boss isnt actually a racial slur is bullshit XDDDDD Inability to read, literally shut up and do some research with those 2 braincells of yours lmao
Nobody else reviews games like this, no chit chat banter, no repetition, very engaging.
Honestly, this is the best review of eldricht Horror in TH-cam.
Thanks ! I was thinking about buying this or pandemic Reign of Cthutulu, pandemic is going to wait until the next month.
Love the detail and clarity of this review! And the clear joy that permeates throughout :)
Ayyyy thanks! Love this game to death even though I also don't believe it's that good a game if I really think about it lol
-Daniel
To defeat Shab-Racial Slur, one must venture deep into the heart of Detroit to find the legendary N-word pass
wtf jack
HA! Note, it's most commonly pronounced, SHUB-NIJ-UR-OTT
@@cthulhuclassics5410 ha thank you! Good to know, I live with a black guy who's curious so now I don't have to avoid it 🤣
That opening skit, damn, I'm proud!
Daniel's review for this one was a masterpiece. WELL DONE SIR!
Love your videos guys! Great opener
Really love your style. I think I’ll pick the “old” game. I’m a new subscriber now!!
Im so glad i found this channel, awesome work man!
I really like your format and the Rating + Personal Ratings.
Thanks Steve! It's something we stick by for sure, really excited to see where it takes us! -Ashton
Shub-demonitized. My goodness.
31:09 i have one, reduce the gate numbers from 2 to 1 plus a half, how dos that with? use coin to mark this and ignore the activation of every 2nd gate half of the time, i recommend this to 1-2 player(only open every 2nd gate) games too becse just too many gates are spawned for few player's.
Great review! I feel like you guys should get into play testing or game development...very well thought out pros and cons.
hey thanks man! We do tons of analysis here ahaha, appreciate the love! -Ashton
Ah... These types of games really shine if your gaming group is willing to role-play it a bit. Although, sticking to heavily to role-play might lead to disaster every time. It really all depends on how invested the players are in the story. Even the random and completely unthematic events can be incorporated into the story if you have a few players with strong DM-ish skills who are able to blend it in. OR you turn everything upside down and make it hilarious. :) Either way, I love playing Eldritch Horror, but since it usually takes way too long, towards the end we often stop role-playing it and reading every word carefully and just go "check lore... Failed? Lose sanity. NEXT!" But still, I love this game. And with a few expansions (Forsaken Lore being A MUST HAVE) you can create decent card pools to negate some of the repetitiveness. Unfortunately, since dice really hate me I generally lose in Eldritch more than a normal person would. Still, I play this game for the experience, not for the sake of winning :)
But on the other side, if you overdo it with expansions, you will definitely create the disconnected mess of things. UNLESS you are willing to spend an hour separating cards, tokens and monsters from their respective decks/pools and sorting out all the expansions... I currently have Forsaken Lore, Cities in Ruin and Mountains of Madness expansion and it really sucks if you accidentally shuffle in a mythos card from Antarctica giving you a hypothermia condition and you're not even playing with that expansion, or you're in the middle of Africa, suffering from hypothermia ;)
completely agree with the whole role-playing part, but sometimes it is just fun to see the world fall to madness. Its definitely one of those awesome stories that you don't care about losing. Daniel does an amazing job of incorporating the random encounters into the story!
The goal for us is to just use Forsake lore + base game, and then mix in one of the other expansions for each game! And the mountains of madness expansion is what I've been itching to play for so so long ahaha. -Ashton
I always love reading your comments, I see you at Robs Table as well. Happy gaming
@@floodkevin4716 Hi, why, thank you :D It's easy to spot my comments as they are most often lengthy :) I haven't watched Rob and Mel playing live in quite some time, sadly, it's either because the time doesn't suit me or they are playing something I don't particularly like, but I'm slowly catching up on their older videos. AND I'm waiting anxiously for the day they will play Frosthaven live . THAT I don't want to miss. See you around!
Sword of Saint Jerome captures all the feels of rolling a billion dice
One of my favorite cards of all time in any board game
This is a masterpiece of a review.
Wow!! Thanks man, this made my day! It's been a while since this one and always great to see comments on it -Ashton
@@Shelfside Happy to brighten your path fellow! Nice job you guys are doing. 👏👏
Please answer:
Do you still play that Wii on the shelf behind you, and if you do what do you play?
Thanks!
interesting question! Nope, that Wii is actually broken, the disc reader doesn't work :( We use a switch nowadays -Ashton
@@Shelfside Ok thanks for replying! Good vid btw.
I'm late to this video, but just wanted to say I found it outstanding. Best review for this game I've seen. Great work, guys! Makes me want to try this game (have yet to play it).
hey thank you man! The game definitely has so many fun stories, highly suggest you try it if you're already so into the theme (hope we helped demonstrate how thematic it can be x) ). -Ashton
@@Shelfside Absolutely. I'm a Keeper for the CoC RPG, and the theme of this is a large part of why I'd like to try it. You guys really brought that point home well in my opinion. Keep up the great work.
@@sebastianstark8517 oh that's awesome! Done some CoC plenty of times throughout college, super memorable. If you're interested in Lovecraft in a board game, also check out Mansions of Madness, its super accessible with an app taking care of the bookkeeping. Could be good for those nights where you can't prep much for a session :) -Ashton
Your pros and cons seem on point. The push back I offer is if the card decks were more specialized as you suggest the game would feel much more linear and replay ability would drop, like we see in Arkham horror 3rd edition and Mansions of Madness 2nd edition. For me the lack of direct connection isn't a con but rather a pro as it increases the variety in the story the game can generate. I got at least 10 plays out of the Azathoth before it started to feel repetitive because of the variety of other card decks. However for massive amounts of replay it really does require at least some of the 8 expansions they've made for it.
cheers! Still one of our favorite lovecraft games -Ashton
@@Shelfside I just picked up a copy of Eldritch with 3 small expansions, I'm loving it so much. Your review helped me to decide on getting it. Thank you!
Hi! Would you mind sharing the box you use inside the box to organize the tokens? thanks!
yep, its called a plano box! I believe we got it at Walmart, but you could probably also find it at any sporting good/fishing store. Or something similar at a hobby shop. -Ashton
Excellent review which touches on both the subjective and objective assessment of a game.
thank you jack burton, hope all is well in your truck! -Ashton
"Shub-DEMONITIZED" was great. lol
Great review. You covered all the bases.
It's not for casual gamers. Most people I play with get burned out trying to read all the text. I've also had it where they get bored with me trying to read through all the Mythos trigger events. I find they last up to an hour before wanting to stop. It's tiny, items, spells, and conditions are on a tag like on a pair of blue jeans, ( but not floppy at least )with a lot to say. I've had players refuse to use items to help their characters to save their eyes. ) Everyone must read tiny text on encounters. You need good lighting wherever you play. I think it's great when you play solo with a few investigators, where you have a table where you can leave it set up, and you can walk away from it,
Heyo! Its been a while since we made a review on this bad boy! If I recall correctly, it was to say that this game invites a casual mindset in winning/losing as you just want to see what happens with the story. If you play with 'casuals', I guess non-gamers is also a good way to put it, you can have a mixed bag as you said! Definitely just a lot of components, and if people aren't into the theme it can feel like a drag. But wow, refuse to use items is some next level burn! Throw them through the lovecraftian portals at the point! Agree that it is fantastic solo, taking your time with it is so recommended -Ashton
Component storage is one of the biggest reasons if i buy a game or not. if the developers dont bother with the box slots. then why
The vast majority of FFG games, in our experience, are riddled with this lack of storage and plastic baggies! So frustrating for newcomers to the hobby -ashton
@@Shelfside could you make a video about a list of great games with excellent storage options. I can think of wingspan, scythe . Etc
The best board game channel of them all, production is really on the another level. Do you have any opinion regarding Arkham horror 3rd edition? Would nicely conclude quadruplet of reviews for Arkham Files series :).
Really difficult to decide which game should be next after having mansions of madness, considering we also will get translation of Cthulhu death may die at my country 😅
Loved the review, you think there will be a second edition soon? I love this game.
if I had to make a loose prediction, I think not? There's already so many expansions out for this game, and I think FFG is focusing on new projects, sadly :(
But hey, can't really complain, because so much eldritch to explore! -Ashton
Where do you get your plastic storage box?
walmart! You can also buy on amazon, they're just called plano boxes that are used for fishing -Ashton
PLayed this game tonight, what expansions do you recommend?
Forsaken Lore is 100% the first one you should buy! After that, we had lots of fun with Under the Pyramids; Mountains of Madness looks great as well!
Great review guys! I just bought the game I had my first game and I loved it. Would you say that the first expansion is a must right away or should I wait a little bit more? Thanks!
awesome! Hope you rolled many 5's and 6's. Forsaken lore just helps everything in the base game, so doesn't hurt at all to get it! But you could certainly beat each god once in base before branching out -Ashton
@@Shelfside I think I'll do that. Then star thinking about getting a big box expansion. Thanks!
Great review!
Thanks! -Ashton
31:29 well Jenny is stronger so taht makes it okay, also my top 2 teams Team Eclipse: fine & Dexter & McGlan & Trish, or my other faw Team Grind : Jenny + Dexter + Leo + Lola. I aklos recommand the Carcossa expansion for it has the best heroes and the flame thrower to anyone that has this game XD (Hasto is also very fun to play against)
FYI, some of the songs in your playlist have been taken down, can you find replacements?
hey, so I just checked the playlist and it looks like the first two have been taken down (at least in my country). The other songs will work and that will give you plenty of runtime for the game, if you still need more music try searching for "Bohren & Der Club Of Gore", those are the two albums that were taken down!
Loved this review as someone who is new to board games but loves Call of Cthulhu the ttrpg. If you had to choose between Eldritch, mansions or Arkham, which would you pick? Ps subscribed cus it was an awesome review.
good question! Mansions has by far felt the most like CoC to me, and is the easiest to setup and play. There's good flavor text, lots of things to explore around the locations, and interesting conclusions.
Eldritch is slower paced, perhaps feeling like you're getting multiple sessions of CoC in one big sitting. Like, you would go around the world, going to Africa, Antarctica, etc. all while staring at one elder god in specific. Feels a lot more epic, but isn't as clean of a game mechanically as MoM and doesn't necessarily have amazing flavor all the time (needs a little more globetrotting imagination).
Arkham is a really cool idea, since it has some similar mechanics to Eldritch while taking place in one city. It felt more sandbox-y than the other 2, but perhaps at the cost of substantial decisionmaking.
Hope this helped!
-Ashton
Subscribe :) I like that people are still doing reviews of the older great games!
Please do Battlestar Galactica review!
so so tempting! Not sure how I would approach all of the modules from the expansions though. That'll be on the list to do at some point!
Excellent review. Balanced.
Thanks mate! Glad you enjoyed it, we got more lovecraft stuff coming! -Ashton
Eldritch is the bomb! Arkham 2nd ed is also rad.
o boi now i get to do a strength check
💪
This is such an amazing game
Does the entire investigation really have to take place completely on foot?
By default but there are faster ways to move around like boat tickets and planes that can be used occasionally
-Daniel
So... when is the eventual, and quite possibly inevitable review of Arkham Horror the Card Game?
ohhh boy. ohhhh boy. I've held out on it because I heard it was a cash sink... ok it goes back on the list I guess x) -Ashton
Excellent video! Earned my abo ☺️
Thank you! Glad you liked it :D -Ashton
@@Shelfside ordered it with 3 little expansion yesterday :D
@@Freddy_da_fox sweet! Yeah forsaken lore is must have, but all of them introduce elder gods as far as I remember, and that's super sick for different bosses/mechanics! -Ashton
Amazing intro lol
I love most of your solutions to your complaints are in arkham horror 3rd edition
dang. Alright, well I'm sold -Ashton
I just picked this up yesterday, was debating between this or Arkham horror. Already have mansions of madness and i think that’s more for a horror experience which i love.I heard Arkham horror drags on for so long and it’ll be hard to get to the table with my group and it’s just so tedious. Glad i picked this one.
Mine says 1-8 players so I'm about to try by myself
sure thing! Just recommend controlling multiple investigators for more interesting gameplay, will help with fighting a lot of the monsters too with certain characters -Ashton
@@Shelfside I did so, and continue to control 4 investigators. Much easier haha. Thanks for your videos guys!
@@floodkevin4716 best of luck against the lovecraftian terrors :) -Ashton
the worst part of the game: Setup all the stuff and then taking back to the box...
ahaha, we found that having a storage solution REALLY helps with this. we just use a plano box from walmart -Ashton
You should play Arkham Horror the boardgame, not the card game
I've played it once! I liked it, but I like Eldritch more :D -Ashton
Any person who sees the name Shub-Niggurath and automatically thinks of a racial slur is probably not someone I'd want in my playgroup. Sometimes, some people try hard to get offended on purpose.
Never invite the TH-cam bot or susan Wojcicki to a tabletop Eldritch Horror experience.
I really dislike this game. There is so much thematic disconnect, unnecessarily large global scope, uneventful turns, swinginess and downtime. For a Lovecraftian experience, I would rather much play Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu.
Yeah I remember back when I was writing for this review I realized how much of my personal bias was coming into play when enjoying the game. When I took a step back and looked at it more critically it was very clear to me that this wasn't really a stellar game by any means. For me, my imagination is driven wild by everything going on, but if that's not happening then the game basically boils down to "move there do a thing".
I still love the shit out of this game though, but I'd attribute that more to what's going on in my head versus the game itself.
-Daniel
When you write off your inability to read and pronounce words to "racial slurs" XD
When the creator literally named his cat the N-word so giving him plausible deniability that the boss isnt actually a racial slur is bullshit XDDDDD
Inability to read, literally shut up and do some research with those 2 braincells of yours lmao