Fantasy Flight Games Return to the Forgotten Age Expansion for Arkham Horror the Card Game

I am quite new to board games and I wanted something interesting to play with my flatmate during the lockdown. The game is quite challenging and offers different difficulties. Even though the campaign felt a little bit short (about 2 hours for each of the 3 scenarios), no campaign feels the same because of the option to choose different characters and difficulties, as well as options that have their consequences and resolutions. As with all luck-based games, it can be quite frustrating at times but nothing too crazy. PROS: co-operative (you all play against the game rather than each-other), quite dynamic, fast-progressing rounds; interesting and detailed storyline to really enhance the role-playing experience; beautiful artwork; good mechanics for beginners; customisation options with DLCs and expansion packs; CONS: game rules can be quite tricky and hard to learn at the beginning, we had to look up a few instances online; if you're looking for a long-winded, intricate campaign then this is definitely not the game for you (although with DLCs and expansion packs it could be); luck plays a big role so no matter how good you character is you can still lose; some cards have weird wording on them so it's useful to look up online what they mean OVERALL: I would definitely recommend this game if you're into similar role-playing, storyline games. As for the materials themselves, the game looks well-made and printed on nice stock :).

You can easily get by with just the one core set for the game, but I wanted to buy a second core set as I felt that the extra copy of cards for 'Agnes Baker' in particular was definitely needed. For example there is a spell called 'Shriveling' which has four charges. That's pretty much the only way that Agnes and Daisy (the Seeker investigator which can use Mystic class-cards) can reliably do damage to enemies. So if you can't find that one copy of the card you feel pretty helpless, especially Daisy given her low evade/agility stats and health. It is a fantastic game however. I was not a fan of the whole Cthulhu mythos but I am a fan of co-operative board games. Having played Netrunner for a couple of years, I was curious as to how a co-operative Living Card Game (LCG) by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) would work. Having watched the demo online last year, I was sold. There is great depth in the core set, which gives you enough classes/investigators to try out before deciding on whether purchasing a second core set (which was my case) and/or 'The Dunwich Legacy' big-box expansion. From there, you can purchase the monthly mythos packs to continue on the story which starts with 'The Dunwich Legacy' box. Scales well from one to four players; great game to play solo or even with your significant other. Just a word about whom I purchased the game from: My friendly local game store had been unable to get the game in stock (given it's popularity) and found 'Shop4World' selling the game around £5 cheaper than everyone else. Surely too good to be true? Turned out much better than I thought! Ordered around 11pm on Thursday night, arrived on Tuesday morning over a bank holiday weekend in Ireland. Delivery was so fast, the money for my purchase hadn't left my account by the time it had arrived! Delighted with the speed of delivery (as you might know) and cheaper than most other suppliers. Could not be happier!

Lets get the negative out of the way first The cons: It has a very steep learning curve, I recommend watching some YouTube videos there are a load of them(the Arkham Chronicle ones are very clear and entertaining to boot) but once you get your head around them you'll be okay. It's brutal... prepare to fail. I have no idea how anyone could survive on hard or expert! But it is very tough. Okay now lets get positive. You maybe wondering why I've given the game 5 stars with cons. It's because once you learn the rules it's not a problem and if I went through the story in one sitting it wouldn't be any fun at all, but for you if you get frustrated with games you can't pick up right away or that are tough on you maybe this isn't the game for you. The Pros: The story is very well done. The artwork on the cards is excellent. The gameplay is loads of fun with unpredictable events and challenges. Don't worry about replay value. Okay once you have played through the first time you will know the story but trying it with different characters and difficulties + deck building and fan made scenarios on boardgamegeek will keep you busy

This edition of Arkham horror is for 2 players only, it's a great way to experience the system and see if you like it. If like me you do enjoy it and want more though you might regret not going for the revised edition which plays up to 4 and is more user friendly for beginners. 3 mission campaign included is a good experience but realistically you'll need expansion content to really get the most out of this box. The campaign is replayable but alot of the fun comes from the discovery element of the game/story. A full run of the three missions takes about 4 or 5 hours, I've replayed the campaign twice now and there are increased difficulties you can try and different results depending on how you perform but realistically what's included here will give you about 20-30 hours of game.

This is the core set needed to play this series of Arkham Horror living card game. Unlike others, this is not about building decks and competing against another deck, rather you work together to beat the scenario and advance the story. This game really immerses you in the world of Arkham and is as much fun solo as co-op. Cards, as expected from Fantasy Flight, are well made as are the illustrations. Its fairly simple to learn and pick up and I loved that scenarios have randomness so no 2 play-throughs are exact the same; choices you make in previous scenarios affect future ones during your campaign, which the idea of building your character XP to continue is quite exciting and will be continuing to purchase the expansions. Great game.

Another great expansion to the game. I’d advocate buying these when they are on offer or cheap, as you’ll end up eating them all and the whole set will cost a small fortune. Worth shopping about for the best price, as the sets vary widely in price across different sites. Production quality is the usual high standard that you’d expect from Fantasy Flight.

Bought this about a week ago and my wife and I have played it almost every night. The story is great and the challenge is right up there. We couldn't successfully complete the campaign in our first few plays but it was fun chatting after losing about what we could've done better. Once we tried a different 2 investigators and dumped the suggested original 2 we started to make progress. On our second attempt we absolutely smashed the 1st scenario, scrapped through the 2nd and are playing the 3rd and final one tonight. There's lots of cards that I think will keep replayability high, not to mention the options that the expansions bring to the table. The components are the usual FFG great quality although I would've liked some more resource tokens but that's just nit picking. We REALLY love this game, so much so that the postie delivered the 1st upgrade "The Dunwich Legacy" to us this very morning! I've never bought a game expansion so soon after buying a core set so that should tell you something. If you like The Lord of the Rings LCG or something similar like Warhammer Adventure Card game and enjoy a bit of tension and horror then this game could be right up you street. A keeper!

Everything as advertised! :)