Is the game good? I share my thoughts after a day of playing Corvus Belli's new Dungeon Crawler

[@thedicegodswg]

Epic review, man, good job!

[@ZombieSashimi]

Thanks buddy. Great work on all the Infinity content. Need to catch up and read over the N5 rules :D

[@AcheronBlade]

Great review, thanks! I wish there would have also been a non-app mechanism too, for when/if the app falls out of support eventually.

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@AcheronBlade that is a good point, but the way the app manages enemy ai I don’t know how they could do it without it being an absolutely massive document or set of ai cards that were scenario dependant. I would really have liked to see the app made for a regular computer or laptop as the artwork is lovely and the presentation is great as well, but only the GM saw it as he had to run it through his phone.

[@jonassandelin256]

Great review, good rambling! I've been painting through warcrow intro box. Exited to play. Sounds like I'll need to get warcrow adventures as well!!

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@jonassandelin256 it is a cool game and definitely worth it if you have a group that is into dungeon crawlers.

[@aslbaron1]

Thanks for the review!

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@aslbaron1 you’re welcome!

[@marccaron6008]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@ZombieSashimi]

You are most welcome!

[@hobby_kiste]

Nice review! Looking forward to it. Still waiting for mine though... DHL seems to not want me to get it 🙄

[@ZombieSashimi]

Oh no... I hope it arrives soon for you. Thanks for the nice comment and enjoy the game!

[@aponly]

The miniatures in Warcrow Adventures will be playable in the Warcrow skirmish game. This is definitely a plus. I'm curious if the ruleset in the skirmish game parallels the Adventures.

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@aponly the rules are not exactly the same, but the main dice mechanic is present in both, along with a somewhat similar turn tracker. It is always nice that CB’s kickstarter miniatures are also designed to be played in their miniature skirmish games as well.

[@squadof5]

Good to get your feedback. Did not pick up either. Did get Tag Raid, but not intending to back any more Kickstarters in future. Hoping they don't make Aristeia 2.0 a Kickstarter...

[@ZombieSashimi]

Luckily this is also getting a retail release, so I think that helps with making sure it has a longer shelf life and support. I am certain Aristeia will be a full retail release. Does not mean that it may start as a Kickstarter first, though.

[@kenwad75]

How good will this game be if the app is down or bugs out with a mobile update. What about when they no longer support the app...... I really dislike how many board games now are app supported with no offline option. As it is I am waiting for my pledge to be delivered and I hope they either release a non app option or someone "jailbreaks" the app so I can continue playing the game way into the future like most games have for decades.

[@ZombieSashimi]

Very good questions that only CB can answer. Once the app is on your device it does not need internet to run, but if an update had a bug, would be very frustrating for anyone who is playing while it gets fixed.

[@nutellanorbert2799]

I often see the effect that companies are making very good games but struggling in informationsl architecture and testing things. The plus part now is that the app can get Updates at any time - hopefully corvus belly has a proper ux designer on board

[@ZombieSashimi]

Here is hoping that with a retail release CB will continue to support the game with app updates, and possibly using the Wargame models in the game or new scenarios.

[@MarkYale]

+1 for CB making an app for Defiance!!!

[@ZombieSashimi]

I am 99.9% sure it won't happen as it has been fulfilled and is no longer generating any sales. A man can dream though... a man can dream...

[@tabletop.will.phillips]

Honestly, as soon as I heard the app was mandatory, I lost all interest. I love tabletop games for the fact they let me unplug from the screens I'm looking at all the time.

[@haxan6663]

I dropped my pledge when I saw that it was app driven.

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@tabletop.will.phillips it was a surprise to see that the app was required to play. Luckily for me, I was not running the game, so I didn’t have to look at the app at all. But for my friend, he had to manage it all as we played. It didn’t get in the way that much and helped to just manage the busy work that looking through a campaign book or drawing ai cards would have taken up.

[@smithopolis8446]

Would have been looking forward to this too if it weren’t so app driven. I love how games like ISS Vanguard handle it. The narrative is on an app but you can follow along with the entries in a log book. That way you can go back and reread entries plus always know what your chance of success is followed with specific results

[@garycunningham9782]

Nice review. I just received my pledge on Saturday. After reading the rules, I agree with you, Its not bad, but could be much better. Referencing a rule is not easy and some of the illustrations are hard to follow. A simple index of all the keywords would have resolved this. The index at the start is only referencing sections. I think any niggles with the app can be easily resolved in future updates. I haven't played yet but my initial impression of the product has not been great. For a fairly premium price (€140 with vat included, no shipping), I found the contents lacking. The stretch goals came in cheap light cardboard boxes. These could easily have been added to the core. Character sheets could have been dual layered. The storage solution in the box is absolute garbage. None of the slots are big enough to fit the initiative and event tokens, which make up most of tokens. Simple things that I expected for the price. Look forward to playing, but I am really hoping the gameplay makes up for this and not just a cash grab. Already feels like Corvus has moved on from this game :(

[@ZombieSashimi]

I cannot say for the quality of the box, but I always expect the cost of CB games to be in the miniatures, which are really nice for plastic minis. I was disappointed that many of the miniatures for the Scions were duplicates after Defiance had no duplicates and were all in metal. I really enjoyed the game. Once we figured out how the game worked it was a lot of fun to play, so I hope you enjoy it as well!

[@PauloRogerioDePinho]

Reading blocks of text is something you learn to avoid as a GM in RPGs, because it is very boring. If you are a human GM, you will learn to describe what you need on the fly, interacting with your players. If you are an app, then I don't know how you solve this.

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@PauloRogerioDePinho it will be a take it or leave it option depending on the players. It is not too gratuitous in length, but just slows the gameplay down a bit. I will say, for the players who hadn’t heard of Warcrow, it did help them get into the world.

[@Lucian028]

Rulebook is confusing? No way! 🤣 Let's hope they don't drop this one like Defiance. The amount of lore and app keeping track of everything gives an impression that it would be better to make a video game without any need for physical stuff...

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@Lucian028 the rulebook isn’t anywhere near as poor as Defiance. Defiance had lots of errors with the campaign. With the campaign in the app, we didn’t find any errors, but if there are, they can be patched easier than a document. The app works really well. With enemy behaviour and wounds being controlled in the app, enemies level of difficulty can be scaled through the campaign and makes it easier to just focus on managing your hero.

[@darkomaver]

I just don’t like how they’re preying on dyslexic wargamers who will think they’re buying Warcry.

[@ZombieSashimi]

@@darkomaver haha! 🤣 I doubt that is their intent considering Warcrow is an older IP than Warcry is.