Gloomhaven

In its current state, it's nearly impossible to finish only one scenario in co-op without disconnects, crashes or desyncs. Otherwise it is a decent game for a solo gamer, I guess.

After they updated the game to be compatible with MacOS a bug was introduced that made multiplayer semi-unplayable. Specifically when loading scenarios non-host players *sometimes* get stuck in the loading screen permanently and a full restart is required of the game. Subsequent patches were aimed at fixing this but the issue remains and online sources claiming to have identified the issue do not fix it. I love the game but the bug makes it a poor choice for multiplayer.

GLOOMHAVEN is one of the greatest tabletop adventure games ever made. THIS abomination is an incredibly sluggish, poorly optimized mess of confusing changes to many scenarios. Enemies behave in often respond in nonsensical ways, rules are often bent in strange ways, and every stage with an interesting mechanic that requires active player input is replaced with extremely unfun automated scenario effects. Combine that with incredibly long repeated generic animations, absolutely terrible netcode, severe difficulty with crashes and desyncs and I can only recommend this game to dedicated fans of gloomhaven trying to show it to a remote friend that otherwise would never see it. It will negatively color your friend's view of the game, but if you can pull out your physical scenario booklet to explain how the online version is messed up you can have a great time.

It is a puzzle, not a game. The tutorial is not sufficient. You can't access the manual during play - only from a sub menu from the main menu - with no easy hint on how to find it either, the GM is a stingy arse, you can't loot the room to your heart's content, and this is on the suggested 1 step less than normal difficulty. Hey, game designers, stop being hardasses just because there are a few "It's too easy!" moaners. Jeeze! I have not played the boardgame, so I have no comparison. It is annoying that the difficulty SCALES when you add party members. The ability deck may be an interesting feature, but If I have to somehow kill 3 to 4 times my number of party members before the deck use runs out, it is a puzzle - not a game. RNG doesn't make it a game either - just a more frustrating puzzle. Yes, you can stack the odds by manipulating your RNG deck or the monster's RNG deck, but I'd need a constant running hint before I got any good at that. This is not a friendly game session with a friendly GM. This has set itself up to be a bash your head on the game board over and over again as you replay trying to figure out how to solve each puzzle. The GM is not going to fudge rolls for you. Expect TPK all the time. And with RNG thrown in to reduce your attacks occasionally, you have to come in with overkill, only you aren't shown how to venture out on random easy quests to do that to strengthen your party because their aren't any. The two party member beginning recommendation does not make this feel like a real dungeon session to me. You have to bend the rules like a rules lawyer to play. How is that going to be fun for everyone? In other words, I need a clue, and their aren't enough. There should be a hint feature that you can shut off at a later date, but I have no idea if that would be 50 hours or 100. It took me about 50 hours to get my private helicopter pilots license. And plenty of that was with a flight instructor.

Very unbalanced, and an absolute slog-fest. Difficulty is horrendous and depletes the little fun to be had.

Let me start by saying that Gloomhaven is an absolutely fantastic game. You should play it... but by buying the actual board game, or via Tabletop Simulator. This is the worst version of Gloomhaven ever released. Constant bugs, crashes, freezes, and softlocks make it nigh-unplayable in multiplayer, and it's only designed to be played in multiplayer. Corporate chaos behind the scenes resulted in shifting developers, radical rebuilds of the codebase, and the introduction of thousands of new glitches... and then the corporation in charge had the devs abandon the game entirely. Don't bother playing multiplayer; a lot of the missions are just broken. Single player is somewhat playable, but also very far from the intended experience for this board game. Play Gloomhaven. Just not this Gloomhaven.

정말 완성도 높은 보드게임과 정말 개 그지같은 코드 쪼가리의 절묘한 혼합물. 일단 해보면 고작 보드게임이 이렇게 세밀하고 다채로운 모험, 그리고 전략적 즐거움을 줄 수 있다는 데에 감탄하게 되지만, 동시에 어떻게 이렇게 잘 만든 규칙을 가지고 이토록 너절한 코드 쪼가리를 만들어 낼 수 있는가에 대해 분노하게 됩니다. 다만 그럼에도 불구하고 게임 자체는 적당히 굴러가고, 원본이 되는 보드게임이 3시간에 걸쳐 수작업으로 셋팅을 준비해야 하는 단계를 여기선 프로그램이 대신 수행해 준다는 아름다운 장점이 있기 때문에 충분히 추천할 만한 게임입니다. 뭣보다 원본이 되는 보드게임의 가격이 20만원 정도 하기 때문에 더더욱 그렇죠. 이 게임의 가장 큰 장점은 정말이지 절묘하다고 밖에 표현이 안되는 난이도 설정과, 그리고 언제나 허를 찌르는 듯한 시나리오의 구성입니다. 어느 정도 장비가 넉넉해지기 전에는 정말 각자가 고를 수 있는 최선의 수를 골라야 겨우 미션을 깰 수 있게 해놨고, 그렇게 조금 익숙해졌다 싶을 때쯤에는 정말 생각도 못한 방식으로 그 익숙함을 무너뜨립니다. 덕분에 비슷한 미션도 거의 없고, 매번 닫힌 문을 열 때마다 무슨 일이 일어날지 은근히 기대하게 만들죠. 다만 이 너절한 코드 덩어리와 만들다 만듯한 튜토리얼은 정말이지 칭찬해줄 수가 없습니다. 가령 이놈의 게임은 어째선지는 모르겠는데 한 30초에 한번씩 내 화면을 멋대로 시계방향으로 돌리려고 하는 이상한 충동을 가지고 있습니다만, 도대체 왜 이 기능을 끄는 기능이 옵션에 없는 걸까요? 물론 그렇게 돌아간 화면은 버튼 하나만 눌러도 다시 원래대로 돌릴 수 있습니다만, 여러분이 게임을 하고 있는데 누가 정기적으로 와서 화면을 돌려놓고 간다고 생각해보세요. 진짜 이보다 거슬릴 수가 없습니다. 그리고 길드마스터 모드... 이건 정말 드럽게 재미없습니다. 처음에는 캐릭터 하나만 익히는 것도 충분히 골치아픈데 온갖 캐릭터를 다 해보라고 들이미는 건 둘째치고, 그냥 순수하게 시나리오 구성이 본편만큼 완성도가 높질지가 않습니다. 본편이 전원이 힘을 다 합쳐서 될까말까한 그 타이밍에 아슬아슬하게 성공하는 느낌이라면 길드마스터모드는 다 같이 소풍 나온 느낌이라고나 할까요. 그냥 평범한 노가다식 턴제 rpg에는 흔한 일일지도 모르지만, 그런게 하고 싶으면 굳이 이런 너절한 그래픽 찌꺼기 말고도 달리 좋은 게 많다고 봅니다. 결론적으로 완성도 높은 보드게임의 맛이 궁금하다면 추천드립니다만, 솔플용이라면 다소 애매합니다. 플레이어 한 사람이 캐릭터 하나를 조종하는 걸 전제로 설계된 게임이라 머리도 좀 아프고, 뭔가 여럿이 할 때의 그 맛이 안 나더군요. 다만 플레이타임이 다소 제정신이 아니기 때문에, 이런 해괴한 취미가 맞는 친구들이 여럿 있어야 한다는 게 가장 큰 결함이 아닌가 싶습니다.

This game is a very good digital adaptation of the board game, which was the number #1 rated board game for quite a while and for good reason. If I had to summarize the gameplay, it's a story-light dungeon crawler tactical RPG with a big focus on player-agency. With 21 characters in total each being completely different in terms of gameplay, branching storylines, and co-op, you get a whole lot of game for its price. Pros: - Unprecedented amounts of player-agency with low-RNG. If the game throws something at you, it also always provides a choice for you, eliminating the feeling of getting scammed by unlucky "rolls". - Diverse game styles with over 21 characters. Each character feels unique and different, so you have to learn new strategies, come up with new builds. Not to mention 420 different character combinations in 2-character parties, and even more variety with 3p and 4p sizes bringing it to 152040 possible party comps. - Progression feels rewarding and well-designed. Be it in the form of new items or new ability choices, you always feel like you have choices here as well. - Lots of scenarios with different win-conditions. - The vibe of the game is spot on - it captures the sort of grimy mercenary band feeling. - Makes it easy to play a scenario compared to the physical board game. Completing Gloomhaven would take around 300 hours (+50 hours for Jaws of the Lion) in total when playing the physical version. The digital cuts down on that by a huge margin. This makes the gameplay shine even more. - The narrator does an amazing job! It makes the otherwise limited story much more engaging. Cons: - The game does a poor job of explaining the difference between Jaws of the Lion and regular Gloomhaven scenarios. - I was quite confused what guildmaster mode is at the beginning. Placing it at the top is a poor decision imho. - Sound design: the soundtrack + sounds are fine, but very restricted. There are about 4 music tracks in total, which are well-made but gets quite repetitive in 100~ hour game. The character sounds are basically random grunts/inarticulate shouting that repeat when getting damaged or attacking. - Character designs are quite lacking, imho they don't do the original drawings justice. - If you've never played the board game, the digital version's tutorial tries to explain the rules but it still feels incomplete (what each condition does, when does it clear etc.) - The story can feel disjointed with 50~ side scenarios in total. The narrative is a weakpoint as a whole, that's definitely saved by the amazing narrator.