Spider: The game was super story driven and I like that. I thought it was very much like a choose your own adventure book. It seemed reminiscent of D&D. It was interesting how there were no meeples or dice.
I thought it was a great cooperative game for two people. I do think that more people would make it too clunky and slow. It would get boring. Also, I don't think I would want to play it solo. It felt perfectly suited for two players. There was a great synergy between our characters.
Cat: I really like the synergy in our characters, too. You were a mage orc and mine was a catfolk warrior. So, an unlikely team, but our natural abilities and talents meshed well.
I agree that because it worked so well for two players that it's not a board game night kind of game.
Spider: I liked the campaign aspect. It's different than the games we typically play, but it's not unique from that style of game. Maybe a seasoned D&D player would not think highly of it.
The game wasn't complicated, no math, no trickery. It was all story. I would say it was a co-op, fantasy themed, choose your own adventure style of game. There were no tactics really.
I felt it was really laid back in a sense. How do you even die? I never thought I was going to lose the game or have to redo a section. When you run out of stamina, you lose a skill, but there were an abundance of skills.
On one hand, it's really narrow because it's just a story. However, because it's just a story in an open world you can go in any direction. There could have been more influence or nudging to allow us to follow more side quests. It was difficult to find the right places at the right times.
Cat: The openness of the game was fun for me, but I think we wasted time checking out things that were unimportant for advancing the narrative in the story. I think it's this that prevented us from completing all of the side quests. I was bummed out when we finished the final encounter and there were unread quest books. It felt a little like a waste of time.
I would have appreciated more nudging so that we could have completed all of the side quests. I do feel like I missed a big chunk of the game, but because I know the characters and some of the major plot lines, I do not want to play it again.
I do love fantasy themes, I think I'm actually part hobbit. So, this realm was right up my alley. I totally would have loved to live and work in Dragonholt.
I liked how the skills enabled different options in the story, but again I keep going back to the lack of direction.
Spider: I liked the writing, it was witty and creative, but the lack of direction/clues bugged me. Perhaps that was built in to add replay value, but it turned me off from playing again. The intrigue, the adventures, the vivid descriptions, the dialogue were fun.
The artwork and quality of most of the materials was good, but our main book started falling apart towards the end. I loved the map, the item cards.
I really liked the first half of the game, but the middle really waned and although there was action towards the end it just seemed to fizzle.
Cat: I really liked that we played the game two-player. We developed a teamwork mentality where I read the entries and you logged the entries and managed the storyboard and player sheets. This aspect felt really comfortable and it made me look forward to playing the game.
Pros:
Fun character creation
Abundance of skills
Low pressure
Clever dialogue - was not clunky fantasy writing
Cons:
Lack of direction
So low pressure, sometimes it was dull
Overall Ratings
Spider: Two Spiders
Cat: Two Cats
Rating Scale
Would not buy or play again
Would not buy but would play again
Would buy and play again, but only occasionally
Would buy and play again in normal rotation