Descent: An overview of journeys in the dark
Descent: An overview of journeys in the dark
Terrinoth is in danger. The evil ruler imposes his old evil on the land. But fortunately, a group of heroes has emerged who will not let their homeland fall without a fight. Can they overcome the theme together? Check out the full descent below: Journey in the Dark.
A brief overview of the descent
Descent: Traveling in the Dark is a fantasy prison-spider for two to five players. One takes on the role of the evil Overlord, who controls crowds of monsters and will create all sorts of devastation. The rest are heroes whose job it is to do everything in their power to stop the horrific plans of the Overlord.
On their mission, the heroes will explore haunted forests, ancient cities and overpowered prisons. They will have to defeat zombies , meat designers and two-headed giants, to name a few.
They will come across tools and weapons to help them along the way. But there is one thing for sure: the ride will not be easy if Overlord gets his way.
- This is a board game in which one player takes on the role ...
- During each game, the heroes embark on missions and go to ...
- With double-sided modular pieces of boards, countless heroes and ...
Variations and extensions
There are tons of extensions for Downhill: Traveling in the Dark, including:
Senca Nerekhalla
This expansion of the big box introduces the city of Nerekhall, once a corrupt metropolis that fought evil within its walls. However, not everything is as it seems. In addition to new tasks, you will also get a bunch of new heroes, monsters and items to fight. And, of course, 16 new Miniatures !
- Nineteen new tasks can be played individually or as part of ...
- Four new heroes and four new classes allow players to continue ...
- It poses a threat to dangerous new lieutenants and monsters
Ravens Manor
This time, Overlord finally gets some booty. Manor of Ravens adds new classes for the Overlord, and there are a bunch of extra monsters and relics available to them. All of this is set in a new scary mansion to explore the heroes, full of loot ... and other, more scary things.
- The superior gets two new monster groups, a deadly new ...
- You can play six new tasks individually, woven into other ...
- Heroes gain two new heroes, as well as hero classes for ...
Wild bonds
Bonds of the Wild is from the expansion series "Collections of Heroes and Monsters". These are slightly thinner extensions designed to complement your collection of ghouls and heroes. Bonds of the Wild offers you 22 miniatures that were previously only available in the first edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark. You will also receive some bonus tasks that you will need to complete.
- The sixth collection Hero in Monster for Descent adds twenty-two ...
- Four heroes join the hunt: Lyssa, Challara, Sokolar Vyrah, ...
- Fight for supremacy with eighteen monsters: twelve kobolds, ...
Downhill: Legends of the theme
Legends of the Dark is Descent’s latest interpretation and is disgusting. Legends of the Dark uses an accompanying app and huge miniatures and tiles to create a mix of board game and huge miniature RPG. The amount of detail and production value stuck in the box is amazing and worth checking out.
- RPG BOARD GAME: Descent: Legends of the Dark is the next entry in ...
- COOPERATIVE GAME: Unlike previous titles Descent, Legends of the ...
- APP-DRIVEN: The brand new Descent app brings an increased level ...
Unpacking the descent
As with any decent dungeon spider, you too can definitely upset some of the big monsters hiding in the box. In all you will find:
- Rules
- 1 Assignment Guide
- 8 heroic figures
- 31 monster numbers
- 9 custom six-sided cubes
- 7 plastic stands
- 8 sheets for heroes
- 1 block of bulletin sheets
- 152 small cards
- 84 bridge size maps
- 205 tokens (including 48 map tiles)
The first thing you’ll pull out is the policy , which is very impressive. In reading, everything is really clearly explained and easy to navigate, which greatly contributes to the experience of the first game. It's also not particularly long, as many fantasy / RPG game policies are common (rarely needed and seemingly more due to vanity than clarity).
The cardboard card can be extruded. The most noticeable are the map tiles, which form the main playing area of the game. These are thick and show the right quality.
In the artwork, Descent hardly went to his feet to create anything new. It fits nicely into the fantasy genre and uses some impressive bold colors. So while he doesn’t get points for originality, there’s nothing to complain about here.
The best part of Descent: Traveling in the Dark is miniatures. Each monster is in red and brown, which represents a weaker and stronger version of itself. For those who like to paint their designs, you will undoubtedly enjoy the opportunity to try a few things with these. The dragon is especially remarkable and looks wonderful.
The heroes, however, are made of gray plastic, so they definitely need something to spice things up.
How to play downhill
The goal of the game
The goal of the heroes is to meet the search conditions they chose at the beginning of the game, for example to defeat a certain monster or warn the city of an imminent attack before it's too late. Surprisingly, Overlord has to work hard to make the heroes fail.
Setup
Select the mission you want to play, and then arrange the map tiles as suggested in the Query Guide for the selected mission. Now also determine who will be the Overlord and who each of the heroes will be.
Each hero should take the appropriate sheet of heroes, choose one of two classes for this type of hero and his abilities. This determines the initial equipment and abilities of your character.
Overlord selects the monsters he wants to use in the game. They then prepare a map with tokens and monsters according to the instructions in the query guide and draw in their hands a number of Overlord cards equal to the number of heroes in the game.
Turn around
Each round, each hero turns in the order he chooses, followed by Overlord. The hero begins by allowing them to activate all the items they want to equip. They can then perform any of the following actions:
- Move to as many spaces as your hero's speed
- Attack
- Use skill (you need to have the necessary fatigue for this)
- Rest (restore all fatigue)
- Uncover the search token if you are around
- Stand-up (if dropped)
- Revive the hero
- Open / close the door
- Use a special measure
On the Overlord line, it is mainly spent activating monsters on the map with similar actions as heroes. He can activate each one per turn and perform two actions with each (although only one of these actions can be an attack).
Overlord also has Overlord cards available. These are special abilities or unfortunate events that the heroes have to navigate, and it depends on Overlord how many they will play and at what point in the game. They will be more drawn into the hands throughout the game.
Attack
The fight takes place using dice . To begin, the hero chooses the weapon he wants to equip for the attack (monsters do not need to equip weapons, the card states his). Then they both create their own cube, which is determined by their weapon.
The attacker then discards the dice. If the X symbol appears on the blue cube, the entire attack fails. If not, then add up the wrapped hearts - this is the potential amount of damage that will occur.
The defending player then rolls. The amount of shield symbol results is deducted from the damage caused by the attacker.
Keep in mind that if you are using a remote attack, you also need to cover the right distance for this to be considered a success.
During the attack, it is possible to rotate the "Surge" symbol. This will allow your hero to choose a special ability from one of his weapons, skills, heroic abilities or items, or decide to recover.
As the game progresses ...
Turns and rounds continue as the heroes want to complete their quest, and Overlord tries to stop them by sending monsters and activating Overlord cards.
Along the way, the heroes will improve their powers, equalize their abilities and pick up items to increase their chances. There are other skills and qualities of the game that can enhance the success of your team, such as the power of a “heroic feat” that can be used once per meeting.
The heroes will also face tests of traits and will be subdued by the “conditions” they usually pick up during combat. For example, your hero could be poisoned or sick, which will affect them until he is cured.
Each search usually consists of two main “meetings”. Heroes only have to win others in order to win. When the conditions are met, the game ends.
Your first downhill game
I simply like Descent: Traveling in the Dark is his movement. One of the features that is easy to miss here is that when you decide to move, you can stop halfway to perform another action before you finish the rest of the movement.
For example, if your hero / monster has a speed of three, then you can move two spaces, attack the monster and then the remaining one space afterwards.
This greatly increases the mobility of your characters and is a simple but satisfying touch of the rules.
Advantages disadvantages
Advantages:
- Great customization of characters
- A mix of cooperative and competitive
- Nice variation of goals
- Really easy to find barley
Weaknesses:
- You may not have someone who would like to be an Overlord
My favorite part of the descent is character development. When you choose your hero, you will get many opportunities to make them your own. From the very beginning, you can choose their class, beginner skills and equipment. As you move through the game, your personal skills and arsenal of weapons and loot can grow exponentially, as the amount of equipment you can carry is not limited. I especially liked being able to choose the weapon your character uses for each attack.
This is a very enjoyable aspect of the game and contributes a lot to its repeatability. If you want to play the mission again or do the whole action again, you can create a completely different character who will try to win in a completely different way.
Repeatability is also increased due to the different goals of each search. They differ very nicely from each other, all with different paths, which means you will need different tactics to accomplish them. This makes the campaigns even more challenging, as your team may have prepared for one type of adventure, but find that you don’t have exactly the right tools for the next.
While Downhill: Traveling in the Dark is an exciting and in-depth search of the dungeon, it’s incredibly easy to learn. All turns have the same structure, the attack function is very simple and contains a bunch of other functions without feeling bloated. So while I wouldn’t excuse the game if I labeled it a beginner, it’s certainly not out of the question for those new to the genre as well.
Finally, I also like the mix of cooperative and competitive elements in Descent. Instead of a Dungeon Master Role script, Overlord has to make just as many decisions as the heroes, and this can become a real battle of wit. This makes it ideal for mixed entertainment players, some of whom prefer the experience of collaboration, while others just want to remind their friends who the boss is.
Of course, there is not always someone who wants to take on a contradictory role. Maybe if you play only one mission, it’s not such a big deal, but if you start a full action, they may feel a bit let down. Here's a two-player version of the game that works pretty well, as it changes the game from cooperative to simpler, one-on-one. And no one needs to feel let go.
TL; DR
Descent: Traveling in the Dark is a fantasy prison spider for two to five players. By mixing things up, Dungeon Master is actually taking on a competitive role. Their job is to put on the image of Overlord, control the monsters and make the lives of our heroes hell.
In addition to this fun shake, Descent also shines in character development. You have many ways to customize your hero so that he really stands out in terms of repeatability.
It is a simple but in-depth addition to the genre. So, whether or not you are a dungeon crawling expert, Descent shouldn’t be doing anything. He has it all.
Conclusion: a verdict?
Downhill is a very popular game at Game Cows. For starters, it’s on Bryan’s list of the best RPGs, cooperatives, fantasies, and prison seekers. And this is no surprise. It’s an all-encompassing fantasy game that does everything you’d want from a dungeon spider, and that’s good.
But that doesn’t mean it’s nothing new. The added competitive element of Overlord separates the experience from other spider dungeon games. Due to the fast, action-packed gameplay, this is also a faster and more exciting thing to do than some others.
The best part, though, is how you can design heroes. Some games can be very rigid in terms of developing your character, but often they only allow you to improve features and perform a few special items. But not in the Descent. You can develop your hero in so many ways and collect an abundance of weapons, tools and jewelry to support your goal.
Whether you’re a veteran of a sought-after lake after your next adventure, or a newcomer hoping to explore the genre for the first time, Descent: Journeys in the Dark marks all the fields. In many ways, this is like the band's greatest hits album. It makes you all the big ones faster, cuts out the pointless filler for the album, and leaves the more complex recordings of the “experimental period” only to heavy fans.
- This is a board game in which one player takes on the role ...
- During each game, the heroes embark on missions and go to ...
- With double-sided modular pieces of boards, countless heroes and ...
Did you play Descent? Like it or hate it, we want to hear your thoughts. Drop a comment below and let us know!
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