From the moment this game was revealed, people have been moaning about how “weird and gangly” the characters look. It's the ultimate generic fantasy land, and as the app starts blabbering on at you about DARKNESS RISING IN THE NORTH and stuff, it's almost enough to make you ram a cardboard tree into your own eye. It is one of the most supported fantasy realms in the history of gaming, and is about as exciting as having a lie down because you feel a bit sad about capitalism. The Descent games are set in a place called Terrinoth. The app starts, invites you to start a campaign, and then sits you down to tell you a story.
#Descent board game app software
I strongly recommend using the version you can download from the software delivery service known as Steam, which you'll find somewhere on Ask Jeeves. I used my phone to do this for my initial run at the campaign, but that was mainly for convenience. A big cardboard red flag you have to slot together yourself. It's a kinda tacky and cheap introduction to the game, because assembling that daft-looking cardboard tree is one of the first things you do. I'm a huge fan of a UK company called Battle Systems – they make best in class cardboard scenery and terrain – and the stuff in this new Descent doesn't come anywhere close. And they must be, because this game makes no conventional sense. “Play with your PLASTIC SOLDIERS by moving them around these crappy CARDBOARD TREES,” they've been shouting, like they're drunk. This cardboard scenery and furniture has been a big selling point of this deeply weird game. Also in the box you'll find a stack of floor tiles, some cards representing weapons, skills and the like, and an IKEA trolley load of cardboard furniture. Inside the box there are forty plastic miniatures representing the hero characters and the monsters they will meet along the way. A new Descent game that is not only a complete reimagining of what Descent is, but a reimagining of what a tabletop game can be. The game mechanics, so friendly and frictionless, combined with bland scenario design to produce a game that felt less like a thrilling adventure and more like a weird optimisation race. But, in time, Second Edition proved to be a bit of a bust. So many of the old frustrations had been smoothed into a light and delicious powder like Banana Nesquik or – if I was writing this for Vice – Cocaine. In the early going, this new edition was a delight and a revelation. The second edition of Descent came when the fashion was for streamlining games.
And yet, the game felt huge, epic and sprawling. It was deeply unfriendly, with one person playing as the evil Overlord and the others controlling a band of heroes who would grow to absolutely detest the power the Overlord wielded – the power to keep you up until three in the morning by spawning twenty kobolds in front of every exit. It took ages to play, caused arguments with your friends over rules issues, and loaded you up with enough fiddly cardboard tokens to choke that weird horse you met in Soho who likes getting choked. The first edition of Descent was a great game, and an absolute shambles. It was 2006, and I'd just played a board game called Descent: Journeys in the Dark. I’m talking back before Prince died, an event that would send the universe rattling onto the darkest timeline. First, let me take your hand – don't worry, I've recently sanitised and I'm double vaccinated – so that I can lead you back in time.
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