Sleeping Gods Review: Make Friends, Grab Totems and Find Bigfoot - By Board Of It

[@inoutsoccer11]

Love the videos! Just discovered your channel and am enjoying the content, thank you!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Amazing to hear - we really appreciate it! Thanks for watching 😊

[@ericfrancis7816]

Thanks for the thorough review! We just played Above & Below for the first time and, since we're really more co-op players, I'd been wondering if this was a good next step.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you! It's defo a great game for co-op players, particularly if you're all about story. It's got to be one of the best co-op games released in the last year :).

[@HelderP83]

Really good review and after playing around 15 hours of it, I agree with the issues you've raised on the character development and the different endings. One thing I'm considering is to play the game with the full deck of events and never let it trigger the ending, as this would allow me to explore all the maps - it's about the journey, not the ending :)

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I think that's a fine idea. The looming end of the game is a fine mechanic to make you be efficient and introduce some stakes and challenge, but if you've already beaten it and got an ending you enjoy, why not play the game for the best part of it! Thanks for the lovely comments :)

[@dougradcliffe1466]

Spot on review. Journey is definitely the best part. We’ve played through 3 times. There’s definitely some cool quest lines that may change your ending thoughts a bit but I agree the endings aren’t great.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you! That’s cool to hear you’re on your 3rd play through - did it still feel as fresh and exciting?

[@thomasromanelli2561]

First, let me say that the two of you have done a wonderful job of summarizing the pros & cons of Ryan's most ambitious game to date. This is a lavishly produced, deep adventure game that has diverse characters (that can be leveled up over time), lots of player agency and an experience that will generate memorable stories. In many ways, SG feels like an evolution from Near & Far in the best ways. But... there are a few issues as well. Sleeping Gods is an unapologetic table hog with all the cards, decks, player boards, fold-out maps, token piles, mini-boxes, etc. The rules are written reasonably well but some appear in strange places within the rulebook. One of the biggest rules I missed early on was that players don't have to commit to a challenge, which definitely changed the tempo of acquiring fatigue. Speaking of fatigue, I wish there were more ways to remove it because I found myself spending multiple rounds prepping & recovering from combat. Combat... uhh...hmmm...🤔. The enemy cards have a lot of features and damage must be assigned orthogonally on their cards, but I felt there was only the illusion of tactical nuance- each battle became a rush to inflict the required wounds as quickly as possible to minimize character damage that would have to be healed later for coin and/or command. Honestly, it was a little bit of a slog, and combat was something that I tried to avoid where possible (which is not an endorsement of a combat system depicted as one of the game's primary, desirable features). I'm curious if that was your impression, as well. Despite its minor faults, I found this game to be quite engaging and I'm very happy to have added it to my collection. I've already house-ruled a few details to help streamline the game based on Ryan's BGG suggestions. Fantastic review, thanks! 🖖

[@BoardOfItReviews]

You summarize well a lot of things we also thought. While we personally didn't find it as much of a table hog (and we don't have a particularly big table), we do agree with the rulebook. It's never great when you instantly have a couple of page errata rulebook online to refer to on day one, and we can get that the rulebook probably could have been organized better despite being quite a nice readable rulebook. Regarding combat, I think we both find non-other player involved combat always a bit uninteresting, particularly if it isn't a main focus, which is a personal bias. As we said, we defo believe Ryan made a great attempt to shake it up compared to other games but it still was a bit of a slog to us, particularly Tallie, and it is mostly a race to lump damage on. I think what's important is the clear amount of love and care that has gone into this game, which is not something you often see. You can tell a huge effort has been made in every area, even if we don't appreciate it (a la combat), and I don't think any of the misses are worth not getting it if you're at all interested. But thanks for your kind words and your insightful analysis, we feel much the same.

[@varianor]

I really appreciate the balance in your reviews. It’s a strength. Happily waiting to play it. (Our copy has been postponed again as of today’s email. ) It’s really interesting to see the crossover of board games to RPGs like this. I think a really good game master could see the player’s reactions as the ending of the campaign - or scenario- approached and rework it to success. But then again I’ve been there for the planned ending that didn’t work quite right. Including my own games. Heh. So thanks for the thoughts! Doggos were funny as heck at feeding time.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks you! Much appreciated as always! This is how they ask for treats most days 😂

[@boardgamesandwhiskyuk1646]

We have never experienced an “adventure game” before. really interested with what you guys thought of this one. Maybe tempted to pick this up in Autumn to play in those cold miserable months. Thanks for another great review. 🎲 🥃 🇬🇧.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks for watching! Yeah that sounds like a plan - as you know it’s a full recommendation from us and a really great intro into this genre if you’ve never given it a go before 👌🏻

[@edifanobbonafide]

oLike you my wife and I weredisappointed of 7Th Continent, Sleeping Gods ison my list but so far I hesitated to place and order for it. Therefore I really appreciate your ver helpful review which led to my decision to order a copy when it will be available agin in Germany. Both of you do a really good job. Keep up the good work.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

If only we worked on commission! It's always really wonderful to hear that our review could help someone decide so thank you for that :). We appreciate the lovely comments and I hope you don't have to wait too long.

[@kosterix123]

I played it for a while but sold it. The stories are random local around 1-2 locations. I liked the sailing and discovery. But the combat felt like you were playing a completely different game. Then there were these command tokens trying to mix the two. It felt like emulgator tying water and fat together. There should have been a Quick Combat mode where combat goes automatically. But there isn’t so I removed combat completely but discarded an event card (speeding up the game). But then there was just exploration, and that felt meaningless in itself. Another thing that wasn’t fleshed out was the reward xp and coin: there was too little of it. Sleeping gods: beautiful world, terrible mechanics. And paper thin npcs, nothing comes to life.