Descent : Journeys in the Dark...is it a good game?

Question

Descent : Journeys in the Dark...is it a good game?

Answer 1

I own Descent: Journeys in the Dark and both of the currently available expansions, and I have found it to be an excellent dungeon-crawling game. It is quite versatile, and while it doesn't rival most role playing-games in complexity, it isn't dumbed down either. It is a great game for adults to play.

One word of caution, though: it is quite long. Even the simplest dungeons can take several hours to play. Be sure you have a lot of time on your hands, or that you can leave the game out without it being disturbed by wind, children or pets. It isn't that there is a lot of dice-rolling involved. (You generally only roll dice to get combat results.) It is just that there are so many things you can do, it is often difficult to just make a snap decision.

Having said that, however, there is an expansion coming out soon (Fantasy Flight Games says "this month," but they are always late on their release dates, so I'm not holding my breath) that promises to give you the best of all worlds. There will be outside encounters as well as dungeons, and the dungeons will be much smaller. What this means is that you will be able to play the game for only a couple of hours, still feel like you have accomplished something, and save your progress by putting all of your stuff in compartmentalized boxes. When you want to continue your campaign, just take out your saved boxes, and you're up and running in five minutes. We'll see what happens. - LJS

Answer 2

According the boardgamegeek, it is number 72 out of around 29,000 games.  That statistic does not make it a good game by default, but it does mean you have a good chance at it being so.

It employees several board game mechanics to interest you.

Descent Board Game Entry:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17226

Descent Board Game Images:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/images/game...

Descent Board Game Forums:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/0/boa...

The board game is made by Fantasy Flight games.  To me, this means quality.  I don't own every Fantasy Flight board game, but every one of their games I have played has been fun.  My favorite thus far is Citadels, but that is another question.

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Georgia Board Games Blog

http://www.georgiaboardgames.com