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Excellent Adaptation of the Board Game At A Much More Palatable Price

Published November 13, 2017
4 out of 5 starsScore: 80/100

First off, this is a video game adaptation of a board game...which is based on an adventure in Dungeons and Dragons. This video game is not an RPG, though it does have RPG elements, but I still found it very enjoyable. I am a fan of the board games that this game is based on (there are others based on Ravenloft and other settings) and I wouldn't mind seeing adaptations of those versions as well). This is a very good adaptation of that experience but I think if you're buying into this (at a relatively decent price) you should realize exactly what you're buying into.

There is a heavy dose of randomization in this game. While this video game adaptation doesn't visually represent aspects of the game (pulls random tiles from a pile, encounter cards, enemy cards, etc) you are basically pulling those from an unseen area. Combat is dictated by dice rolls but there is, again, no visual representation of this. I would enjoyed seeing the act of a dice being rolled but that's just the D&D player, and DM, in me.

Visually I think the game pulls off the aesthetic of both the setting (Chult, a tribal peninsula in Faerun of the Forgotten Realms setting) and the format (board game). Tiles being look great and enemies are easily identifiable. The sound design is nothing to complain about or praise; it is what it is.

The game's difficulty can ramp up tremendously, so much so I considered it cheap at first but its all just a bi-product of the randomization aspect. After over 2 hours with the game I got over it. If you fail a mission you can simply restart it if you like, there is no permanent game over.

The game is also single player so there is no same PC co-op or over the internet play. I would have enjoyed this option even if I didn't engage in it all the time.

All in all I really enjoy this game. I have been using it while I catch up on podcasts and streaming shows/movies. I actually hope this comes to console at some point as well. With my experience, the price point, and the D&D hooks I really recommend this game...just know that you're coming into a board game adaptation and not a true D&D, tabletop RPG, or role playing game experience.

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