Originally Posted on Throat Punch Games, A new idea every day!
Game: Elder Sign expansion Unseen Forces
Players: 1-8
Playtime(setup/play/clean-up): 60 minutes
Set Ending: Kind of
TL;DR- A fun game expansion that's worth it only if you like the first game. 85%
How You Play: Think Cthulhu Yahtzee. Players take the roles of different investigators in a museum trying to prevent the emergence of an old one. Players roll dice on six different spaces trying to meet all the dice needs of a spot. Can't make a roll based on the what's on the space? Then you lose a die. A player keeps playing until he rolls all the needed symbols or he/she can't succeed. Player keep playing until they get enough elder signs to seal away the evil or until the evil arises and kills them all. The expansion adds new places, new evil monsters/ grand enemies, and the blessed/ cursed dice.
Theme: This game is a alternating awesome and horrible at theme. On the grand scale, I feel Lovecraft through and through. Each game feels tense and your life is on the line. HOWEVER, no game is really that different. The places that come up don't change between Cthulhu or Yig. The enemies you fight don't really matter if its Azathoth or Yog-sothoth. And the events are a random pile of anything. This isn't bad, but its American style. Its easily fixed, but that's for down below. 2/5
Mechanics: Roll dice, look at card, repeat. That's it. If you can play Yahtzee, then you can play this. Nothing is too crazy. The cards help when you need them. Nothing seems overly broken. Its hard, but its the kind of came where you cheer each other on as you lose as a group. The expansion add just more stuff to play with. I like the new mechanics of baring places from the players for the game. 5/5
Art/Components: It's Fantasy Flight, so it's good. Also, for a simple card and dice game, you get a crap ton of stuff. 5/5
Instructions: Again, it's Fantasy Flight, so it's good. And, the game just isn't that hard to explain. Even the added curse/bless die is pretty easy to figure out and comes with its own cards to help. 5/5
Final Thoughts: If you like Arkham Horror and Elder Sign, then this is an auto add. There is no question. The new stuff is great, and the stuff they did add makes me pretty happy. Its a bit more challenging, but I almost never lost the old game. The theme is still the major problem as with the base game. This won't make you instantly love the game, but it will give you some more hours with the game if you do love it. 17/20-85%
The Fix for Theme-There is a crap load of small cards and locations. Why not label them with different icons. Then have each elder thing have a icon list for me to make the decks with, exactly like Mansions of Madness? Now the game I play drags me kicking and screaming into something! Done and done! Then you get a 100% rating from me! Speaking of a game that does that a bit more....
And now the second review!
Game: Elder Sign: Omens
Players: 1
Playtime(setup/play/clean-up): 20 minutes
Set Ending: Kind of
TL;DR- An excellent iOS/Android game!-90%
How You Play: See above! It plays almost exactly like the real game. AND THAT IS AWESOME!
Theme: Remember above when I got mad and I wanted a smaller pool of cards for each monster? THIS GAME HAS IT. The card pool is limited for each monster. Its not perfect because no cards directly reference the big bad, but its a hell of a lot more. Also if you play a bit more, you get games that are crazy full of theme as you go after Cthulhu in a separate game board entirely! 4/5
Mechanics: Roll dice, look at card, repeat. That's it. It was awesome before, its awesome now! I with I could go back a bit and look at some of the cards in my hand when I make some decisions on the iPad, but that's an iPad/android problem. It's caused me a make a few mistakes and cost me a game or two. 4.5/5
Art/Components: Use many of the in game art stuff from the board game and adds excellent sounds! Creepy as all hell. 5/5
Instructions: It's got video walkthroughs. DONE AND DONE! 5/5
Final Thoughts: If you like Elder Sign, then this is an auto buy. There is no question. Get the expansions because they are worth it! Great game, with lots of theme. New game modes for the expanded old ones. Great graphics and music. FANTASTIC! 17/20-92.5%
Game: Elder Sign expansion Unseen Forces
Players: 1-8
Playtime(setup/play/clean-up): 60 minutes
Set Ending: Kind of
TL;DR- A fun game expansion that's worth it only if you like the first game. 85%
How You Play: Think Cthulhu Yahtzee. Players take the roles of different investigators in a museum trying to prevent the emergence of an old one. Players roll dice on six different spaces trying to meet all the dice needs of a spot. Can't make a roll based on the what's on the space? Then you lose a die. A player keeps playing until he rolls all the needed symbols or he/she can't succeed. Player keep playing until they get enough elder signs to seal away the evil or until the evil arises and kills them all. The expansion adds new places, new evil monsters/ grand enemies, and the blessed/ cursed dice.
Theme: This game is a alternating awesome and horrible at theme. On the grand scale, I feel Lovecraft through and through. Each game feels tense and your life is on the line. HOWEVER, no game is really that different. The places that come up don't change between Cthulhu or Yig. The enemies you fight don't really matter if its Azathoth or Yog-sothoth. And the events are a random pile of anything. This isn't bad, but its American style. Its easily fixed, but that's for down below. 2/5
Mechanics: Roll dice, look at card, repeat. That's it. If you can play Yahtzee, then you can play this. Nothing is too crazy. The cards help when you need them. Nothing seems overly broken. Its hard, but its the kind of came where you cheer each other on as you lose as a group. The expansion add just more stuff to play with. I like the new mechanics of baring places from the players for the game. 5/5
Art/Components: It's Fantasy Flight, so it's good. Also, for a simple card and dice game, you get a crap ton of stuff. 5/5
Instructions: Again, it's Fantasy Flight, so it's good. And, the game just isn't that hard to explain. Even the added curse/bless die is pretty easy to figure out and comes with its own cards to help. 5/5
Final Thoughts: If you like Arkham Horror and Elder Sign, then this is an auto add. There is no question. The new stuff is great, and the stuff they did add makes me pretty happy. Its a bit more challenging, but I almost never lost the old game. The theme is still the major problem as with the base game. This won't make you instantly love the game, but it will give you some more hours with the game if you do love it. 17/20-85%
The Fix for Theme-There is a crap load of small cards and locations. Why not label them with different icons. Then have each elder thing have a icon list for me to make the decks with, exactly like Mansions of Madness? Now the game I play drags me kicking and screaming into something! Done and done! Then you get a 100% rating from me! Speaking of a game that does that a bit more....
And now the second review!
Game: Elder Sign: Omens
Players: 1
Playtime(setup/play/clean-up): 20 minutes
Set Ending: Kind of
TL;DR- An excellent iOS/Android game!-90%
How You Play: See above! It plays almost exactly like the real game. AND THAT IS AWESOME!
Theme: Remember above when I got mad and I wanted a smaller pool of cards for each monster? THIS GAME HAS IT. The card pool is limited for each monster. Its not perfect because no cards directly reference the big bad, but its a hell of a lot more. Also if you play a bit more, you get games that are crazy full of theme as you go after Cthulhu in a separate game board entirely! 4/5
Mechanics: Roll dice, look at card, repeat. That's it. It was awesome before, its awesome now! I with I could go back a bit and look at some of the cards in my hand when I make some decisions on the iPad, but that's an iPad/android problem. It's caused me a make a few mistakes and cost me a game or two. 4.5/5
Art/Components: Use many of the in game art stuff from the board game and adds excellent sounds! Creepy as all hell. 5/5
Instructions: It's got video walkthroughs. DONE AND DONE! 5/5
Final Thoughts: If you like Elder Sign, then this is an auto buy. There is no question. Get the expansions because they are worth it! Great game, with lots of theme. New game modes for the expanded old ones. Great graphics and music. FANTASTIC! 17/20-92.5%
