Massive Darkness - Review

[@TheDungeonDive]

One thing I forgot to mention - the game scales really well by basing all of the enemy health pools on the number of heroes in play.

[@alexmoreno5594]

Awesome review. I love this game. The campaign system isn't good, but I enjoyed playing each scenario as a one-shot game in chronological order, and made that the campaign. And that's one thing I like about this game. It's easy to modify. The components are also varied enough, and their type generic enough, to create a whole new game if you chose to. You're getting a dungeon crawl creation kit here. The rules are also simple enough that I can go months without playing it, and still remember how to play it, so there's that accessibility that other dungeon crawlers don't have. I almost always need a refresher to play Descent, eventhough it's my favorite DC game.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Thanks, Alex! I agree.

[@frankhaselhorst9368]

One of the battered old wooden doors hidden deep within the shadows of my epic dungeon, opens upon one of my Top Ten dungeon passages - Massive Darkness. This door will never divert me into a long and tiresome campaign; It is a rewarding and brief passage that leads to entirely different crawls of imagination, with strengths and excitement all their own. Massive Darkness is always a rewarding path to choose, if other recent excursions into the abyss have proven fruitless.

[@PatrickMcTie]

You nailed why I enjoy Massive Darkness in the first minute of the video. I really enjoy being able to get in, kill monsters, get loot, and be done. It feels very much like an arcade game to me, in that way.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Patrick McTie totally. Good call with the arcade game. That’s exactly what this is.

[@brotherhorus4316]

Good review a d opinion 👍 We all really enjoy MD as it gives us a one off fun dungeon crawling experience however if I'm looking for campaign play, I turn to Sword & Sorcery or Gloomhaven. All have there places in my collection. Btw whilst I enjoy Gloomhaven, it is a massively overrated gaming experience. Keep the reviews coming please👍

[@SL1M73]

I love this game. Although it can be a headache sometimes to Keep track of all the modifiers when soloing multiple heroes. I use different coloured cubes on the cards (red for attack perks etc) to help with it.

[@FeliPeltier]

I wanted to like this game so bad. I went all in on Kickstarter. Really cool concept and idea. Great artwork and minis. Lots of loot. It was fun for about 3 scenarios and then died. No one wanted to play it again, including myself.

[@slipAXELknot]

My expectations were too high for this game. I love the artwork, the miniatures and the idea to let the monsters use weapons/armor as their own gear. But it totally flopped for me. The loot system doesn’t work at all for me. It’s so grey and boring. It’s pure quantity, not quality, and the loot should be something to be excited about. The combat system is okay, but I wish there were more tactical decisions. The darkness zone mechanism is a cool idea but not enough to make it feel satisfying. The scenarios are straight up boring. When I got rid of the massive boxes of darkness I got plenty of space to fill it with great games ^^

[@TheDungeonDive]

Expectations can be a real double edged sword. I know I’ve been burned multiple times by mine. Mixed metaphors aside. :).

[@patrakis]

Just a couple of weeks after this video, CMON announced MD 2. I guess it wasn't that dead after all. It's one of my favorites and the fact that they are coming back to it seems to indicate that others liked it too. I will probably go all in on the 2nd one.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Perfect timing! Lol.

[@warface4881]

I didn't get MD from the kickstarter I got it at my local game store and fortunately I managed to get several of the expansions. I like this game a lot! I like both modes of play. CMON has done right by me and I've gone all in with MD2.

[@TheBattlinBarrowGaming]

Looks interesting! I don't like Gloomhaven either! I thought I was the only one.

[@TheDungeonDive]

There are dozens of us! :)

[@MichaelSmith-ze3iv]

Great video as always. I really enjoy your content! Have you tried to solo it with one hero only? I also have a love for self contained one and done games like you do. Another thing that you have spoken about on other videos that is also important to me is games that don't go overboard with tons of big boxes (I share your storage limitations!) and like big box game experiences in small or relatively smaller boxes. Maybe some ideas for future top 10 lists: Top 10 non campaign games, top 10 big game experiences in small or smaller boxes? What do you think? I also enjoy your discussions on having to be selective over limited storage area. Just some possible video suggestions. Thanks again and stay safe and healthy. Michael

[@saulobertani4347]

I love this game. Just wish there was a better campaign. Something like Descent but with no overlord or app.

[@CesarIsaacPerez]

I like the game even though I tend to play Zombicide: Black Plague more. But I love using the mini's in other games, such as Frostgrave! I would love it if CMON makes a new version with updated rules and another set of heroes and monsters!

[@TheDungeonDive]

Yes! The minis are prefect for FG.

[@Warrior_warlock]

2nd edition has just been announced 😉

[@CesarIsaacPerez]

@@Warrior_warlock I saw!!! Excited.

[@russlaw5596]

Great to see this review by you Daniel. I can’t seem to get zombicide Black Plague to the table with my family. I also think the flood of zombies that come in every turn puts them off. And probably all those zombies. So I to trade zbp for this. Does this have the board filling up with monsters each turn the way black plague does?

[@TheDungeonDive]

Unfortunately it does, but not quite as much! The minion minis in MD are really just HP markers for the captains, so you could probably just treat them as that and leave them off the board.

[@arcubal]

The art on the tiles not meaning anything mechanically is a wasted opportunity, I think. Mind you, I have the same with most dungeon crawlers - although some games probably knew they couldn't do anything with printed elements on locations so they left their tiles mostly bare to begin with. One day, some designer will have actual story and game mechanics occur when certain stylistic elements on miniatures, tiles and cards are visible. And maybe, just maybe, that designer will be smart enough to link characters, locations and events the way RPGs do and have each influence each other in interesting, strategic and story-progressing ways. Aaah...one can dream.

[@TheDungeonDive]

I wish more of these kinds of games had more interaction with the characters and the setting.

[@erikpeters7072]

Never liked cmon games which is why CDMD was such a surprise for me

[@ReaperOperator]

Good review.

[@p0ck3tp3ar]

What killed this game for me is agents spawning a monster every turn, it’s just not fu at all IMO.

[@kenttsui6024]

It’s back.... Massive Darkness 2 KS

[@TheDungeonDive]

Sure is!

[@orbitingdecay6797]

What other games do you feel capture this get in, fight, loot andget out approach in one sitting of an evening ?

[@TheDungeonDive]

Hellboy! Escape from Dulce, Gears of War, the D&D board games, Dungeon, Run, Cthulhu: Death May Die, Zombicide.

[@benfoster6715]

Interesting! I'm always seeking the explosive combinatorial feedback loop of a Diablo, hack n slash, roguelike, or arcade action game in tabletop form. I haven't heard someone express the appeal of Massive Darkness in this way before.

[@TheDungeonDive]

It’s exactly that game. Not sure what people were expecting.

[@benfoster6715]

Heh, to be fair I didn't look too hard as I'm not into the KS-exclusive, tons of minis style of publishing CMON does. The compromise of making it a campaign game only muddies the perception...

[@TheDungeonDive]

The campaign mode was tacked on. CMON did the number one worst thing a company can do - they listened to the fans on KS who complained about the lack of a campaign. So best to just ignore it and play the normal way me shot mode. Super fun.

[@jonchappellnow]

Not a dead game! Massive Darkness 2 announced by CMON.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Crazy! Hopefully it’s all fully compatible, and adds a couple layers of interest.

[@torq21]

I really like this game but its too fiddly for most of the people I have played with and its too fiddly for me to play solo with more than one character. I'm going to keep it around though because it definitely scratches an itch for me.

[@sethpeterson8261]

I love this game and your take on it. Wondering what you think of MD2 and some of the changes they've revealed so far?

[@TheDungeonDive]

I haven't investigated the game at all yet!

[@jasoncoker1625]

⚔️📜🦇🖤☠️

[@jenrose4177]

Castle Ravenloft is better.

[@daodasbrot4817]

Sorry, but MD is a very bad game, at least what I think about it. I agree on your assumtion that it is because of the campain, but still this is not how you bring out a game. Aftrer you leveled up the Game just becomes more than easy. At lvl 4 you just don't care about Monsters anymore. We sucked in for fun 3 Roaming monsters, 1 Agent and some other crap. All one hittet. This Game was not really play testest. Still play it, but did wrote a mass of house rules. Nah, not everybody has to be my opinion. Video is still made good.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Right on! Everyone has their own take on these things. :)

[@venomenoide]

I'm new at this and i'm thinking to buy this game, but i saw other games and for your comment, that are rules that people make to adjust games for a higher difficult level, to play them solo or made them coop, or even new expantion packs that do it for you, like for a Game named Descent. Are they any of those for this Game?

[@daodasbrot4817]

@@venomenoide For Massive Darkness? Yes, but very hard to get. I bought it in Germany with ebay. But there is only one expension that really bringt more game. Rets ist just more monsters and heros.