Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation

[GreenGoo]

So I see a few of you have this game, and the brief description I read said it's an adaptation of a board game.

Any good?

[MonkeyFinger]

Had to go look this up on Steam: Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation. Curious what others think as well.

[Skinypupy]

I'm interested to hear as well.

And if you can let us know before the end of the Steam sale, that'd be even better.

[Smoove_B]

I've been following the game for a bit (it's also on my wishlist) and I think there's generally two camps. The first group - the hardcore D&D folks or people with D&D experience that think this is a D&D game - seem to hate it. For whatever reason, they're thinking this is a video game version of the Pen and Paper game they love. The other group is board gamers that have experience with the actual board game this is based on or just like playing video games that are straight-up translations of the board games they love. These folks seemingly like this game. I think it's a matter of expectation - at least from what I've read. Additional opinions are also appreciated.

[IceBear]

Yeah...it's not D&D the role-playing game....it's a board game translation

[Zarathud]

I was expecting the board game translation. But I'd rather play the board game due to the fussiness of the UI and inability to take back misclicks.

[GreenGoo]

Well, a friend was kind enough to gift it to me, and I'd love to give impressions, but I'm busy prioritizing my game time right now. Too many games, not enough time.

Will try to take a whack at it tomorrow. Still, if someone with experience with the actual game could chime in in more detail (Zarathud's comment noted), that might be better than me taking several days to figure everything out and decide if it's fun or not.

[GreenGoo]

So I've been poking around with this game and like what I see. Unfortunately most of my game time lately has been with other games, so I can't recommend or not recommend this one, as I haven't put in enough time yet.

Sorry guys. It looks cool, and the tutorial had no bad surprises. That's the best I can do right now.

[tgb]

I have it. It's kind of meh. It looks good and is polished, but there's not a whole lot more to do than move-attack, move-attack, etc.except for casting the occasional spell.

[Blackhawk]

$7.99 on Fanatical (formerly BundleStars) right now. It's tempting, although I can't really afford it. I played the crap out of the four games it's based on.

[Jag]

Meant to get this on the steam sale but missed. Any other impressions other than "meh"?

[GreenGoo]

Too many games, and my daughter keeps asking why I haven't played hatoful boyfriend yet.

Almost spent time with tomb yesterday, but then didn't.

Sorry.

[IceBear]

From the little I played it...10 minutes maybe...meh is probably accurate. If you are in a specific mood for it's type of gameplay then it might be more than meh

[hitbyambulance]

load times are surprisingly long on an HDD, and the text was definitely not play-tested on a 1280x1020 monitor- some of it is nearly unreadable.

[Blackhawk]

I played a little, but I was disappointed. I knew what I was getting, as I have played all four boardgames quite a bit. What I hated was that they took out all of the flavor. In the board game, there was a sense of setting brought about by the details on the cards. In the game, they just use the card titles.

*Name of card happens* You have disadvantage.
*Name of card happens* You have disadvantage.
*Name of card happens* You have disadvantage.
*Name of card happens* You have disadvantage.

There is no flavor, and since they're using the simplified 5e rules, there isn't much variety in the effects. Without the flavor text, every hazard becomes essentially identical. it doesn't talk about freakish mists making you shake in your boots, or poison burning in your veins, or anything other than a title for the event.

[GreenGoo]

That's too bad. I could go for a board game that captures the excitement and feel of a DND tabletop game.

[Baroquen]

I think I got this free through Twitch Prime? Recently, even? (But I might be misremembering through the beer haze). That said, it looks like I'm not missing much.

[Max Peck]

I think I got this free through Twitch Prime? Recently, even? (But I might be misremembering through the beer haze). That said, it looks like I'm not missing much.

Yup, it is one of several free games that you can currently unlock through Twitch Prime. The catch is that you have to access the games through the Twitch desktop app.

• Shadow Tactics
• Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation
• Mr. Shifty
• SUPERHOT
• Oxenfree
• Devil May Cry HD

[Jag]

I think I got this free through Twitch Prime? Recently, even? (But I might be misremembering through the beer haze). That said, it looks like I'm not missing much.

Yeah, just got it free from Twitch. I get to MEH it for free now.

[confab]

I've played through the story quests and side quests and I give it a 6/10 - meh about covers it. I liked it enough to finish the quests and maybe will return to it once or twice a month.

I thought the game looked great and the ui was fine aside from the lack of an undo. But the underlying mechanics are pretty simplistic and the game didn't open up strategically all that much as I progressed. It's basically a very simplistic turn-based tactical squad management dungeon crawl with 1-4 preset characters (5 with DLC) and 2 tilesets (jungle and crypt). Every move you can explore a new tile, attack hostiles, disarm traps, loot treasure, deal with random events. You can grind for resources to upgrade character equipment but that's the extent of customization.

It's not a bad game per se, just a bit shallow and repetitive. If you're a junkie for all things D&D-themed or you're looking for a casual turn-based tactics game it may be worth a look on sale or in a bundle. If you're just looking for any D&D-themed board game I would recommend Lords of Waterdeep over this, it's a much better board game in every respect in my opinion (totally different type of game of course).