Hello All,
As I mentioned in a previous article I have had this game for a while but held off reviewing it. Since it quickly sold out I didn’t want to give a glowing review and rub salt in the wound for those who weren’t able to get a copy.
However since GW announced that it will be returning soon I figured now would be a good time to revisit , the game and see how it holds up. In the mean time I have been able to acquire and play an umber of other cooperative board games which gives me a better ability to assess how it stacks up.
Materials:
When you open the box the product has a good finish to it. While not extravagant the cardboard materials seems sturdy and have nice finish to them. There are a lot of tokens and the like to punch out and keep track of, alongside a number of different types of cards so investing in some for of organization system is recommended. As ever the models are of very high quality and the fact that the heroes are cast in a different shade of plastic from the villains is a nice touch. I had a little difficulty getting some of the villain miniatures to line up precisely but this may be due to user error. Fitting all the models and cardboard materials in the box is a little tricky so be careful if you don’t want to risk breaking any. Finally the sealed envelop for the conclusion of the game is a nice touch.
Mechanics and Difficulty:
The game was designed to take a very long time to complete. As it is written you progress through multiple boss battles with a minimum of 4 side missions in between the fights. The boss battles are more scripted while the side missions are more free form. Individual missions don’t take more then 30-45 minutes to complete with a little bit longer required for the boss battles. As you complete these missions you have to balance the influence and fear levels in the city as if they get to high you lose the campaign. There are also a series of random events that can happen in your missions with good or bad effects, as well as at the end of each round. These events are all dice based and so spare you the need for extra materials while running the risk of repetition.
In the missions your baddies that you face are determined from a deck of cards (similar to Arkham Horror) which has a scaling feature and works pretty well. It does put you at the mercy of RNG for some games where you might face all the boss monsters in the first several turns but this is very rare. The baddies are unique each with their own table of abilities and actions though fighting them does feel a bit same-y after a while.
The heroes also have their own abilities and are pretty well balanced with each character having a niche and role that encourages you to run a balanced party. The Inspiration mechanic is easy to understand though some heroes are very difficult to inspire. The leveling system works well as does the balance of one-use items to permanent upgrades your characters can buy. One complaint I have with the leveling system though is that it can be a bit of a slog to level up characters you don’t use just in case another one dies.
Final Conclusion:
Overall, the Cursed City is a beautiful game that has a very interesting lore and setting but currently struggles to implement this in the game. The game is very grindy with what occasionally feels like sending you on needless missions just to get experience. Furthermore the villains are somewhat one-dimensional in game and lack the variety of other games like Arkham Horror. You have to kill them as they ponderously wander over to you making the generic missions feel a bit of a slog. Leveling up your characters does help a bit and you do start to feel attached to them as you balance your inventory and resources for upgrades. In my view though this game is difficult to pull out for one scenario and that will limit its broader appeal. In order to get the most out of this game you currently need a GM (to record all the details) and several players who are committed to finishing the game over a span of time. If you want to speed it up you do have some options such as limiting the number of games required between boss battles and having the party level up as a unit.
In some ways this game feels incomplete and like it is waiting for an expansion to polish the rough areas. this isn’t unique to Cursed City, I would say Arkham Horror and some other games have the same vibe, but it lacks the satisfaction of completing a mission in other games as in Cursed City you usually haven’t achieved much. I plan on holding onto my copy and seeing what the future holds as i still think it has promise. One nice thing about the game is that it is fairly mod-able with home-brew rules adding in new enemies and scenarios fairly easy to add.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
“Getting your spouse to play it with you” Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Spouse Pros: Collaborative
Spouse Cons: just fighting
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