“Massive Darkness”
designed by Raphael Guiton, Jean-Baptiste Lullien, & Nicolas Raoult, published by Cool Mini or Not
The Quick Summary: A classic dungeon crawler game with a predetermined map where 1 to 6 heroes try to achieve their objectives while fighting monsters. You play as heroes with specific abilities complemented by a class that brings another set of abilities. You will rely on three actions per turn to move, to open doors, to fight and to pick up loot. As you progress from tile to tile, the level of difficulty and quality of loot increases and you gain experience points to purchase better skills.
The Awesome:
- Great looking miniatures.
- A lot of variety when it comes to characters because you can pick different classes for your hero.
- Character development allows you to personalize your hero.
The Good:
- A lot of variety when it comes to loot and monster types (mobs of weaker monsters, powerful roaming monsters and agents that summon mobs).
- Can be played solo. – Difficulty can vary a lot so it brings a little thrill.
- Many quests have objectives or special rules that depart from the usual « Kill the Big Monster » missions.
- Comes with a Story mode (but see The Bad).
- Event cards at the end of each turn can change the momentum of the game.
The Bad:
- A bit long (2.5 – 3h per game).
- Can feel repetitive sometimes (move, open a door, kill monsters, repeat).
- Story mode (campaign mode) was not play tested enough. Works well in the beginning but your group quickly becomes overpowered.
- Too much loot, way too much loot unless you play 6 heroes.
The Ugly:
- Highly random, which often makes the game too easy or too hard (mostly too easy).
- Once your group has looted many level 2 chests (out of 5 levels) they usually become powerful enough to finish most quests easily.
Keep It or Leave It? I will keep this game because I’m a big fan of dungeon crawlers. When I don’t have my brain and just want to kill monsters this would compete with “Zombicide: Black Plague” or “Descent” (when I want to use my brain a little).
Review by Sébastien