I’m reviewing this game without owning or having played the physical version. At the time of this writing, I’ve played through Blood Rites (and Side Jobs a couple of times).
As a brief overview, you play as different characters from the Dresden Files universe looking to solve the problems of a scenario based on one of the books. One player must control Harry, but the other 1-4 players control other characters from the books, including series staples and even some pretty minor characters (in expansions). Each game centers on a different book in the series. The book you choose has a set of obstacles, foes, mysteries, and advantages based on the events of that book. Obstacles get in your way and Advantages offer helpful boons. The bulk of the game centers on mystery and foe cards. Defeat foes by attacking them with combat cards and solve mysteries by obtaining the required number of clues. The object of the game is to get the board to the point that there are fewer foes than there are open cases. Theoretically you need not overcome any obstacles or take any advantages, but that would be fairly difficult in any of the books I’ve played. There are other important mechanics, but that’s the gist of it.
My overall reaction is that this is a pretty fun game. I haven’t played a ton of coop card games, but this one does feel unique. In some ways it’s kind of like a puzzle more than a card game given that your starting hand is going to be most of the tools at your disposal (card draw is rare). While there is some RNG in how the dice roll on variable card costs, you can theoretically plan out most of the game just glancing at the board and your opening hands. I consider this both a strength and a weakness for the game.
The weakness is that as a cooperative card game, the predictability of the game and its more puzzle nature defeats a lot of the purpose of the coop game. A good coop game in my eyes requires some coordination with each player working together to achieve the goal but enjoying their own playstyle and moments to shine. Instead, this game is more just figuring out the best way to use each player’s cards and abilities. While that sounds similar, it can theoretically be figured out by the more experienced player who then runs the show. A lot of the coop nature of the game is more arguing about the most cost-efficient way to solve the issues in front of you which doesn’t capture much of the that fun coop element to me.
I think the puzzle aspect is a strength in the sense that it feels rewarding. With a game like this, you’re rewarded for understanding the way cards can interact and how certain advantages can give you just what you need to complete other objectives on the board. There is still a manner of working together too, the above paragraph aside. I played with a friend or two who were also fans of the books and were on voice chat. It took a lot of coordinating and negotiating, but does still end up rising above one person simply telling the others what to do, though there’s a degree of that as well once one player has looked at the others’ hands and figured out the plan of action. You can queue up with random players without voice chat (not sure there’s text chat either) but I never tried that and it seems like it would be difficult considering that even with all that coordination, the game can be difficult.
On that note, the game is satisfyingly challenging. My friend and I have generally not had too much trouble with the last few books we’ve played on easy. I’ve managed to play the first several books on hard by myself (so far, I think playing alone is significantly easier given the lack of coordination needed). But the higher difficulties, the different nature of each book, and the different character decks you can try them with offer a wide variety of difficulty and playstyles to complete each scenario with lots of replay value.
The ability to play Hotseat mode is also great. The rules and flow of the game actually change a lot for balance depending on the number of players. While it’s not what Hotseat mode is for, I enjoyed seeing how the balance works differently by playing solo in any of those modes, controlling everyone myself.
In general, my favorite thing about a board/card game based on some other IP is if the game overlays well with the source material on a thematic level. If I’m playing a Dresden Files game, it should FEEL like the Dresden Files, not just have the art and character names. While it’s not the best example of this I’ve seen, I think this game achieves that mostly well. The fact the scenarios are based on the books and the character decks include references to the character abilities and powers helps a lot in this regard, but also the fact that the advantages, obstacles, mysteries, and foes setup fits the books’ plotting.
To me, the coolest part is the number of playable character decks and books scenarios to play through. So far, there are books to play all the way through Skin Games. There are also a ton of characters to choose from, each with their own individual stunt, talent, and deck. Even though there are only so many ways to play with the mechanics, each character’s abilities manage to feel pretty different from the others. The variety of characters and playstyles means that there’s plenty of replay value and personal style to enjoy. Note, while the number of characters is great, there are some huge spoilers for some of the books even on the character select screen, so beware if you haven’t caught up.
One quibble I have is the way the game reuses its art. For instance, a character might have 4 combat cards, but all of them will have the same art whether they’re for flinging a fireball or smacking someone with a sword, which detracts from flavor a lot. On the flipside, the cards for the book scenarios are varied and thematic to the book. This makes up some of the variety I found lacking in the character decks. Each book has different ambient sound effects in the background to fit the book itself, such as thunderstorms during Storm Front. While they weren’t anything spectacular, I appreciated the added bit of flavor, especially as they fit each book rather than being a basic track that’s the same across all scenarios.
The elephant in the room is that the vast majority of content comes in the form of a series of DLC packs. Buying the base game gives you the first 5 books and 5 characters. The other books/characters require further DLC packs. I found this to be decent value. The base game isn’t the price of a full AAA game and still offers a good amount of play time with some replayability. Each DLC is just a few dollars for a couple more books and new characters that will change up how you can play those books or the ones you already owned. The best thing about this is that the base game is a relatively cheap way to try out the game without committing to the full price of all the expansions. If you don’t like it, it’s not a ton of money down the drain. If you do enjoy it as I have, it’s probably worth investing in DLC packs, which you can buy one at a time so that even if you get sick of it, you can just stop there.
As a last aside, if you aren’t a fan of the books, I’m not sure why you’re looking into it, but I don’t think this game would be that enjoyable and isn’t a good way to get into the books as it’s full of spoilers that would be better discovered reading the books.
Ultimately, if you are a fan of the books and enjoy card games, coop ones especially, this game is worth a shot. I would recommend buying the base game first to make sure you actually like it before investing in the numerous expansions. The base game should be plenty indication of whether or not you’ll like it enough to invest further. While it’s an okay game to play with friends, I weirdly feel like despite it being a coop game, it’s plenty enjoyable to play solo if you don’t have friends who are interested or fans of the books.
