Board game review: Arkham Horror

Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
The year of publication: 2005
Number of players: 1-8
Suitable for: 13 years to adult





 Lightning crashes in the dark expanse of the night sky. The bitter wind whispers lightly in the shadow, carrying an inconceivable dread as it sweeps into your living room. Its approach promises a demented, terrifying revelation almost too horrifying for the bearing of a fragile, mortal mind. Trembling with fear, your shaky hand reaches for yonder cards on the table... it's time for the next turn, the fate of Arkham city hangs on the balance, all existence in danger of being devoured by those twisted, awesomely powerful cosmic mysteries; in which forgotten legends alone have but caught a fleeting glimpse into maddening realities of all sorts and kinds...

Description:

Welcome to Arkham Horror, a horror themed, co-operative board game based on HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. Released in 2005, played with over 700 components and supporting from 1 to 8 players, Arkham Horror is a truly epic board game. Due to its overwhelming popularity, the publisher of this game has since released 8 expansion sets. These expansion sets enhance the replayability even further, by adding enormous amount of new features and game elements. 8 years after its original publication, Arkham Horror is still a widely played game, highly regarded by board game enthusiasts.

Game Components:

As I mentioned earlier, there are over 700 pieces of components in this game. Arkham Horror does not have the best looking game board, but the layout of the map and locations are very clear and highly functional. The game board is also fairly large, and lots of cards and tokens are used for the game. As a result, this game requires a sizable space for setup and play.

The art works on the components are beautifully drawn, very fitting to the theme and the atmosphere in the traditional Lovecraftian horror fictions. This game also requires a fair amount of reading from the cards. The texts on the cards are well written, immersing players into the ever presence of spookiness and stress. Overall, the theme of horror oozes in this game partly because of the component.

Lots of rules are required to play a gigantic game such as this. Luckily, the game comes with a 25+ page rulebook which is quite easy to read. The rulebook is often a good reference to resolve confusing situations. However, sometimes even this rulebook falls short, when it comes to helping players resolve ambiguous situations. Fortunately, lots of fans providing useful information which can be easily found on the internet.

Gameplay:

The background of the game, is set in the roaring year of 1926. In the town of Arkham in Massachusetts (a fictional town from Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos), strange phenomena are happening all over Arkham. Inter-dimensional gates are opening, releasing other-worldly entities into the town, terrorizing the local denizens from peace and safety. The players each take on the role as an investigator, travelling to various locales on the map to close these inter-dimensional gates before the Ancient One wakes up from its slumber to devour all lives on earth.

Basic setup:

Investigators:

To start the game, each player choose to play the role of an investigator. 16 investigators are available in this game to choose from. Each investigator has his/her own unique abilities, background stories, skills and endurance level. Every investigator has 2 categories to measure their endurance: Sanity and Stamina. When either of these are reduced to zero, the investigator must travel to the hospital or the mental asylum to recover, simultaneously loosing half of his/her possessions. Throughout the game, the players can buy items, spells, skills and recruit allies to aid his/her struggle against the evil force threatening to destroy Arkham. Players perform skill checks such as: combat, evasion, luck, and will check by throwing dice.

The Ancient One:

Next, the player randomly draw an Ancient One card. There are 8 different Ancient Ones in this game to choose from. The chosen Ancient One is essentially the "boss" for the rest of the game. Every Ancient One is different and have unique abilities, and different number of "doom tracks". Doom tracks serve for 2 purposes in this game: 1) It indicates how much further until the Ancient One awakens. In Arkham Horror, doom tracks are increased whenever an inter-dimensional gate is opened on the map, and can only be decreased if the gate is sealed. When the doom track is full, the Ancient One wakes up immediately and the players have to engage in the Final Battle against the Ancient One. 2) In the Final Battle, the doom track serves as the "life" of the Ancient One, to beat an Ancient One in the Final Battle, one must reduce the doom track to 0, by performing skill checks as prescribed on the Ancient One card.

 The abilities of these Ancient Ones also dedicate the difficulty of the game, and sometimes introduce permanent effects into the gameplay.

 Once the investigators and the Ancient One have been chosen, the game starts. Arkham Horror is essentially played in 3 phases: Movement phase, Encounter phase, and Mythos phase. Each player must perform all 3 phases in his/her turn before passing to the next player.

Actions per player turn:

In the movement phase, based on movement points, the player can move to different locales on the map to collect clue tokens. The locales can be a location (e.g. a bank), or on a street where the players might have to fight monsters (if present), or be drawn into the "outer world" through the inter-dimensional gate (if present).

In the encounter phase, when the player is ends his/her movement at a location, then he/she must draw an encounter card corresponding to the location where he/she is at. The encounter cards, often represent events that must take place, and require the player to perform certain actions to pass. Failure will prescribe negative outcomes. As a result, players can never be sure what will happen at the encounter phase, or whether if he/she will walk away from the encounter safely.

In the mythos phase, a mythos card is drawn from the deck. This is when new clues appear and a new inter-dimensional gate might open, releasing monsters into the town, while adding doom tracks to the Ancient One card. Simultaneously, sometimes there are rumors, events or headlines on the mythos card that can either introduce global benefit or disadvantages to the game.

In summary, when you play Arkham Horror, the encounter phase and mythos phase will really make you live in constant fear and stress over what might happen next. And this makes the game extremely fun and exciting to play.

Other features:

Items:

Players can purchase items at shops in the town of Arkham, to aid them on their quest to stop the Ancient One and its minions. There are 3 categories of items in Arkham Horror: Common items, unique items, and spells. These items can be either combat focused weapons/spells, maps, or items that helps to restore the investigator's sanity/stamina. Weapons can be either one handed or two handed. This means an investigator can dual wield. For example, an investigator can be equipped with a .38 revolver and an axe in his/her fight against a monster, or, alternatively use a 2 handed shot gun in a fight.  But as we all know, firing a puny .38 revolver at a titanic, cosmic monster such as Cthulhu don't do much in Lovecraft's stories, and neither is the case in this game. Some investigators have pre-determined items with them at the start of the game. For example, one of the investigators from the expansion starts the game with; a shotgun, a bottle of whiskey, and a motorcycle, you get the idea....

Monsters:

In Arkham Horror, whenever a gate opens up at a location. A monster comes through the gate from another dimension to terrorize the denizens of Arkham, making your life as an investigator harder. Monsters can travel into the streets, and have different toughness bonuses, horror bonuses, as well as special skills, introducing a variety of challenges into the game.

When a player encounters a monster, he/she can try to sneak pass a monster by passing an evade check (by throwing dice). But sooner or later, the player will have to battle a monster. This is because if the number of monsters on the map exceeds the limit, the terror level in Arkham will rise. When the terror level reach certain points, several locations (such as shops) will close down. In a fight against a monster, the player first have to pass a horror check (by throwing dice) or loose sanity points. After the horror check, the actual combat commence. The player has to pass the combat check (by throwing dice) to beat a monster. Some monsters are easy to beat, while some monsters can be real headaches. The rules for monster encounters in Arkham Horror, is another factor that makes the game oozing with theme. I mean, where else can you play a board game, when you shoot at a Fire Vampire with a tommy gun, and emerge from the battle victorious but almost gone insane? Only in Arkham Horror I say!

Gates:

As mentioned earlier, when a gate opens up, the doom track tokens on the Ancient One sheet is increased, and a new monster enters Arkham, making your life harder. The "gate" mechanism in this game, is one of the core mechanics of the game. Winning or loosing both depend on the number of gates present on the map. When the player arrives at a gate, he/she is drawn into the outer world. In the outer world, the player will have 2 encounters, then return to Arkham, where he/she will have the chance to either close or seal the gate.


Allies:

As the players struggle against the Ancient One and its minions for dear life, he/she might come across allies who can aid them in their noble courses. These allies often bring enhancements to the investigators' skills. It is worth mentioning that, these allies are mostly characters from Lovecraft's stories. For example, during the adventure, you might cross path and have characters such as Herbert West join you. After all, a helping hand never hurts, especially when you are going up against these terrifying, demented monsters, whose existence was only suggested in the abhorred grimoire of Necronomicon, written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred!






The Final Battle:

When the doom track on the Ancient One sheet is filled, the Ancient One awakens and enters the town of Arkham. All players are immediately drawn into a final battle with the Ancient One. The final battle is really awesome, but it is also extremely hard to win! Chances of survival is practically less than 40%! Why? imagine trying to attack a 60 feet tall cosmic monster with a knife? Or shoot at it with a tiny revolver, get the picture? My suggestion is to try your best to close all gates before the Ancient One wakes up. Prevention is better than cure, especially in Arkham Horror.

There are so many features and elements in this board game. In a review article such as this, it is neither fitting nor possible to describe the gameplay and rules in its entirety. Indeed, there are lots of rules in this game. Yet, in my opinion, the rules and the complex game mechanics are designed to ensure a rewarding, and fun board game experience.

What I think about this game:

Learning curve: (6/10) - Arkham Horror is epic! The game rules are also epic, both in numbers and its scale. A new comer to this game might be overwhelmed by the amount of rules, and the complex game mechanics prescribed in the rule book. The rules are mostly intuitive, but some rules (such as rules for monster fights) are difficult to grasp at first. This means, Arkham Horror, is one of those games when you really have to play for a few times before you can fully grasp the rules. If you are new to this game and wish to try it out, I suggest that you play with at least one person who knows this game, to smooth the steep learning curve.

Component/Production Quality: (7/10) - The art works in this board game are stunning, and showcases the atmosphere of Lovecraftian horror very well. However, in regard to the components, I have 2 complains about its production quality: 1) The game board is quite fragile. On my 4th play, the board broke at the joint area. I wonder if Fantasy Flight Games should choose a better manufacturer? 2) The bottom edge of the investigator tokens can be damaged easily, when placed into the clips of the stands. The resolution for this problem is, to purchase the pre-painted miniatures, but the price for the entire set of pre-painted investigator miniatures are simply too expensive.

Gameplay (9/10): Arkham Horror is a fun game. It is a horror themed board game, while it is spooky, but it is not scary. Some elements in the game can be very dark; on the other hand, playing this game requires a lot of reading from cards. By combining these factors, I think Arkham Horror is more suitable for older users, age 14+. The gameplay in Arkham Horror really manages to deliver a fun and exciting experience while immerse the players in a constant atmosphere of dread. It is fully co-operative, meaning you can play this game with a group, as a team, or you can play by yourself. I wouldn't recommend playing this game with more than 5 players, simply because I can forsee a lot of downtime when more than 5 players are involved. However, with a small group (3-4 people), Arkham Horror will truly provide hours of entertainment. A word of warning, Arkham Horror is also well known for its length, a single game can take between 1 to 4 hours. So if you are playing Arkham Horror, be prepared to sit down with your friends for a couple of hours.

Replayability (9/10): Arkham Horror is highly replayable. This is attributed to the game's high level of difficulty, and the element of randomness in its game mechanics. In addition, the 8 Ancient Ones and the 16 investigators included in this game also add a lot of replayability. Using different investigators, or fighting a different Ancient One, require players to approach the game with different strategies. This game also has 8 expansion sets, adding up to some 48 investigators, 3 additional maps, 20+ Ancient Ones, and hundreds of monsters. If you purchase all 8 expansion sets and play all of them at once, you will be playing a board game with almost 2000 components which might last more than 6 hours, a true beast of a board game! But expansion sets and their components are highly modular, meaning they can be used individually. Personally, I think if you purchase and like Arkham Horror and all 8 expansions, chances are you will probably never have to play another board game again.

Thematic factor (9/10): What can I say? The art works and the gameplay work together as a unison to make Arkham Horror a highly thematic game. Players will be breathing the theme of Lovecraftian horror as they play, quite a way to spend quality time with your friends or by yourself either way.

Overall (8.8/10): Arkham Horror is a master piece of a board game. It delivers on its promised horror theme, based on HP Lovecraft's classic literary invention. At the same time, it is a fun and exciting game, guaranteed to provide hours and entertainment and group bonding time.