Sanctum Review - with Tom Vasel

[@voronwecalanon206]

I'm really tired of hearing "it's too generic." Fantasy is awesome and I love the artwork.

[@Skarpo89]

I do too

[@Sam-vk8xd]

Anything popular will be “too generic”.

[@PandaOfElastic]

The art in this isn't even generic fantasy. It's meant to replicate Diablo specifically, which it does. Just like his last game replicated the art of an FPS.

[@adammoore3617]

Truer words have not been spoken :)

[@scoops2001]

I had the same reaction when I heard Tom say that, again. I think high fantasy is what it is and I'm OK with that, but perhaps the next Tom Thinks article could elaborate on how to not make anything in a "genre" be "too generic".

[@ryankirkpatrick8062]

The final boss isn’t really a boss. It’s actually an interactive scoring tally. Take any euro game and when you start rallying points, they add this. How well did you build, how good is your point value? Imagine A Feast for Odin but Odin himself comes down and starts seeing how good your feast really is. The boss isn’t a boss. It’s very innovative when you think about as an interactive point tally at the end

[@69robtaylor]

I really enjoyed the game but I fear the replay value isn’t there. Different bosses with different abilities etc could have sorted that.

[@Skarpo89]

The leveling system does look awesome.

[@Hybban]

Looks like an amped up version of One Deck dungeon, with the way the monster decks work.

[@justinrrizzo]

This looks good, but IMO it should be coop. I don't know how I feel about playing a euro on my character board, only to perform "roll to resolve" against enemies. Same reason I didn't care for the expansion to Roll Player.

[@SeerMagicX]

The biggest problem with this game is I can't buy it right now!

[@NorthOf60Gaming]

Pre-order at my FLGS release is 26th February in Canada

[@shaneannigans]

I wonder if this is fun to play solo, ignoring the 'who killed the most monsters' bit?

[@MeepleMentor]

Dungeon crawl rpg with Tokaido movement??

[@Komplexitet]

Thanks Tom!

[@mkrool]

does look good hope it has a solo mode

[@aorakis5795]

yeah... why not soloable... Such a shaaame... ! Guess then... Roll player with minions expansion is still better for that aspect...

[@Sam-vk8xd]

I’m sure there will be an expansion that adds solo and other things. Definitely feels like the kind of game that will have expansions. Great game IMO.

[@TheShapingSickness]

When I checked the how to play I knew the final boss was going to be a drag. The boards look so pretty!

[@eriksjogren800]

Thanks

[@dddmmm21]

I think I will keep this game for now simply because I am pretty it was rushed to production (hence some of the negatives) but I bet soon we will see an expansion that fixes it...

[@JimmySquiky]

It's kinda weird that this game isn't coop specifically because it doesn't seem to have a lot of player interaction. Most hack'n'slash video games are coop.

[@hannibal2208]

Coop Expansion incoming for sure 🤣

[@Skarpo89]

I thought it weird too, I mean up until he said it nothing made me think it was competitive at all

[@adammoore3617]

I mean you could just make a rule something along the lines of "Just defeat the main boss with all characters alive to complete the game, if anyone dies then you lose" Then suddenly everyone is rooting for each other to do their best and monsters taken will be discussed beforehand etc.

[@martinlarouche4418]

@@Skarpo89 the game is kinda a push your luck. The faster you go, the more monster you'll fight and the more XP and loot you'll get. The more you have, the better you'll fare in the final fight. However, the faster you go, the more you risk losing health as you are overhwelmed by the monsters. ... and health is essentially victory points. In the end, the player with the most health is the winner. The more you take your time to rest and equip yourself a lot, the more you'll get whooped by the final demon lord and the more vp/health you'll lose. ... so yeah, the system won't work coop.

[@SeanUCF]

Yeah that's what made me pass on it. Same with Roll player. Finally Roll Player Adventure is coming though which fixes that.

[@ciealevelpsychology4642]

Man, I think I prefer the cover to Oneupsmanship to this one's.

[@zilla333333]

I played this at Gencon this year, and it was definitely a bit meh. Some of the abilities and gear are unbalanced, and the game took too long. It's definitely trying too hard to be Diablo, but playing a game on the PC (where the machine can do all of the book keeping) doesn't necessarily translate directly to the tabletop.

[@supercommando440]

yep exactly what I was thinking.. fiddly.. to much to track

[@Sam-vk8xd]

10:31 New Vasel word - Anticlimatic

[@DrMcFly28]

Good review, if a little unfocused.

[@ramonosuke]

This game suffers greatly due to lack of replay value. Very similar to another game, Lost Legends. You see everything the game has to offer after 1 or 2 plays. After setting it up, and learning how to play, I packed it up and returned it to Amazon(got lucky buying an open box) item. Real bummer here, and the game will never receive any support in the future(once again like Lost Legends)

[@pyrad6334]

If this game is "approved" I have no idea which game isn't

[@p0ck3tp3ar]

This is disappointing. The game does not grab me at all and I am a huge fan of ARPG's. Nothing about this game looks fun. I guess I'll keep waiting until another Diablo boardgame comes out.

[@rb4551]

Skipping this...have a bad vibe about designer. Will wait till an improved version of the concept comes out.

[@michaelpaolini]

That’s and older game - Too Many Bones ;)

[@PandaOfElastic]

Bad vibe about the designer? Adrenaline was amazing...

[@brenno375]

Thanks for the somewhat sarcastic and offputting explanation.

[@Skorrigan]

So essentially, the author decided to do a poor board version of Diablo by forcing players to handle all mathematical operations which were done by a computer. And it looks as boring as Diablo. Also, why is the game called Sanctum and why does it have demon horns on the cover?

[@DrMcFly28]

Yeah agreed I don't get why people even play board games why would I want to move some plastic on some cardboard and do math when I can play video games so stupid

[@Skorrigan]

@@DrMcFly28 See the difference between "Sanctum" and chess? See the difference between bookkeeping and thinking?

[@thomaswheeler5216]

I’d imagine Sanctum as the world of Diablo is called Sanctuary - the demon horns because Diablo!?!?

[@ryusorata]

This game is really boring. Played this an adrenaline and both are extremely forgettable

[@PandaOfElastic]

You leave a lot of comments on reviews and I'm pretty sure I've never agreed with a single one of them.

[@MassEffectFan113]

Played Demo @ BGGCON. Boring, Dull. I told the employees this game absolutely sucked.