You are currently viewing Descent: Legends of the Dark Review

Descent: Legends of the Dark Review

  • Reading time:12 mins read

Descent: Legends of the Dark is an app-driven dungeon crawler campaign designed for 1 to 4 players. In this game, players step into the roles of heroes, engaging in battles, discovering and crafting equipment, acquiring skills, and progressing through the story.

The App

Not everyone prefers using apps for board games, and I understand that viewpoint. However, in cases where apps enhance the gaming experience, such as in Descent, it proves beneficial. My main issue with similar games lies in the tedious task of tracking various elements during and between plays, such as equipment, skills, enemies’ health and damage, and hero damage types. This often detracts from the overall enjoyment. Although some games have companion apps, they tend to be either limited or lack a user-friendly experience.

Descent’s app, however, is great. It manages the more mundane aspects, allowing players to focus on the gameplay. The app keeps track of all resources, weapons with their features, skills, trinkets, consumables, armour, upgrades, and more. It also facilitates item crafting and inventory management. Players still use physical cards for each of these items during quests, but they are available in the app for reference. More importantly, during quests, the app handles everything about combat including enemies’ health and statuses, dealing damage based on weapon types and reminders for special enemy powers.

An essential tool in the app is the Line of Sight feature. It makes gameplay easier by showing all visible locations and their distances from the starting point. This tool is especially valuable due to Descent’s 3D terrain and eliminates the possibility of making mistakes during combat.

Moreover, the app includes a comprehensive rules reference. Messages displayed on the app highlight keywords, and a long press on these keywords directs the user to relevant references, eliminating the need to constantly refer back to the rulebook or a reference book while learning the game.

Another excellent feature of the app is showing an outline for the borders of the map, so you’ll have a rough idea of how much table space you need or in which directions the map will expand in each quest.

Despite the app’s many advantages, there’s one drawback: fan-created scenarios are impossible. The game needs the app, and the publisher controls its content. However, given the abundant content in the base game, along with the already-released expansion and more expansions planned, a shortage of content should not be an issue.

Component Quality, Terrain, and Artwork

Descent includes high-quality components, with the miniatures deserving special mention. There are 40 well-crafted and highly detailed miniatures for all heroes and enemies. Notably, the largest enemy miniature, among the best I’ve seen in any game, comes in three pieces and can be easily assembled when needed.

The game includes various underlays, numerous terrain pieces, and 18 map tiles. The app assists players in setting up a portion of the map at the beginning of each quest, gradually revealing more as the quest unfolds. Assembled terrain pieces form striking 3D structures, enhancing the table presence alongside the miniatures. It’s important to note that some terrain pieces come on punchboards, requiring assembly. While this process is enjoyable, it can be time-consuming, taking around an hour when you first open the box. The box itself is large, divided into two sections: the top housing miniature trays, cards, and tokens, and the bottom containing all 3D terrain pieces.

On the artistic front, the artwork is not exactly appealing. Map tiles and components could benefit from more vivid colours, and character art on cards and in the app leaves room for improvement. Artwork is a weak point in the game, at least from my perspective.

Given the price point, there are areas for improvement. The absence of removable trays for resources and the thin, flimsy character cards, as opposed to thicker cardboard, are notable drawbacks. Also, improving the map tiles by adding direction icons and using them in the app, instead of relying solely on tile shapes for the right placement, could make things easier. While not crucial issues, these improvements could definitely make the overall gaming experience better.

Story

The storytelling and its delivery don’t quite hit the mark. I struggled to connect with the narrative, partly due to lengthy text-based story elements before or during gameplay. Introducing voice narration, as seen in games like ISS Vanguard, could potentially alleviate this issue. Also, the app’s user interface could benefit from enhancements to streamline the readability of dialogues. Reading text in the app during gameplay, especially with intricate names to remember, doesn’t work for me. My experience might be influenced by the fact that this was my first exposure to Terrinoth and its characters. It’s noteworthy that a lore book is included for those seeking more context, and character backstories are available on the Fantasy Flight Games website (under the Special Fiction section).

Given the exceptionally enjoyable gameplay, the sense of progress, and the satisfaction of upgrading equipment and characters, the story didn’t matter much to me. However, if a strong narrative is crucial for you in games, Descent might not be the best fit.

Gameplay

The base game includes 16 quests, consisting of 14 main quests and 2 side quests, demanding around 50-60 hours to complete. I played through the entire campaign solo, initially with two heroes and later with three for a more balanced combination of weapons, skills, and abilities.

The gameplay is exciting, with lots of ways to interact with map items in each quest while dealing with different enemy types and trying to complete objectives. Upgradable weapons and abilities, along with the option for heroes to wear armour, use trinkets, and carry consumables, make both offence and defence variable and dynamic.

The game features six heroes, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Every hero has four characteristics that can influence skill checks in either a positive or negative way. Additionally, each hero carries two different weapons, and their skills unlock progressively throughout the campaign. These varied elements contribute to certain heroes being better in specific tasks than others, a common aspect in this genre of games.

Given these factors, careful planning becomes crucial for each quest. Deciding which heroes, weapons, consumables, armour, trinkets, and skills to bring impacts the quest’s outcomes.

Another enjoyable aspect of the gameplay involves crafting. Aside from the initial items you receive, you must craft everything used in the game, except on rare occasions when ready-to-use weapons or armour are found in quests. Crafting requires materials and recipes, which can be obtained through quests or purchased from the market. The market’s inventory of items and recipes changes each time you return to the main city. I found it particularly helpful to sell extra materials, earning enough money to purchase valuable recipes from the market. Also, using the Undying Skull trinket, which rewards recipes after defeating enemies, proved to be an effective farming strategy. This was crucial for tackling progressively challenging quests, especially the formidable final one, which would have been exceedingly difficult without fully upgraded heroes.

Feats add another layer of interest to the gameplay, offering personal objectives for each hero. When a feat is accomplished, the hero is rewarded with a new skill or recipe. Players then choose another feat to pursue for that hero.

The Fatigue mechanism and its economy add additional depth to the gameplay. It serves as a method to enhance dice rolls in skill checks and combat. Heroes can also endure fatigue to fund certain abilities. However, each hero has a limit, and if they suffer more fatigue while at this limit, they take damage. To mitigate this, players can flip their hero, skill, and weapon cards as an action or use certain card and skill abilities to remove fatigue tokens from their cards.

Price

The game’s price is a noteworthy point of discussion. Given the content in the box and the inclusion of numerous high-quality miniatures, a higher price tag is expected. However, the expensive price may act as a barrier to entry for some players. Thankfully, more affordable copies can be found, especially during sales or in the second-hand market.

Final Thoughts

Descent: Legends of the Dark has been one of my best gaming experiences. While it has some downsides, like the story and the high price tag, the gameplay, terrain, and components make it a rich and engaging experience. If a strong story or avoiding apps in board games is crucial for you, Descent might not be the best choice. Otherwise, it offers a unique and enjoyable gaming experience that I highly recommend.

Disclosure: We received a review copy of this game. Also, there may be an affiliate link in the links included at the end of this article.


Discover more from BoardGameShots

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply