by StyxParadox
Well, I wanted to be the first to review Richard Launius' new game Defenders of the Realm, but Mark Sautman’s excellent initial review here beat me to it. This review will be no where near as well written but I feel strongly about the game so I must write a review. I did not play the first game but I did play the game twice on Saturday at the Atlanta Game Fest. Also, Sphere stated how he liked Marks’ review because 'So many such early reports tend to gush; it's far more useful to hear what sounds like a very objective assessment.' Unlike Mark’s review, this review will gush and will not be a very objective assessment.
Since this is going to be a very subjective review let me start by listing the games that I had played that day before playing Defenders of the Realm: (Roma, Die Macher, Catacombs) All three of these games I enjoyed equally. So, I am a gamer that likes all different types of games. All three of the games above I enjoyed but I would not want to play them again right away. After playing Defenders of the Realm, I wanted to play it again. After playing it a second time, I was ready to play it again. When I had to leave at night I was still thinking about the game and what I would do differently the next time I played it.
This is the same feeling that I got after playing Pandemic for the first time. Which makes sense because this game borrows heavily from Pandemic. But, instead of stopping the spread of blue cube virus you are stopping the spread of Dragonkin and their dragon general Sapphire.
So, as you can see the game pieces look great. As Sapphire moves closer and closer to your home you feel the stress of the game coming to an end. And like Pandemic there seems to be more going on than you can possibly handle. The land is getting corrupted, the orcs and other minions are multiplying like flies, Sapphire and other generals are marching to destroy your home and no player seems to be getting the supplies they need to defeat the on coming threat. This game does what a good coop game should do but it does it with style. I believe this game pulls off the coop mechanic and the fantasy theme very well.
I grew up reading Lord of the Rings and other fantasy books. This game gave me the feeling of an epic fantasy battle, more so than when I played War of the Ring. It also reminds me of fighting against the near impossible like Ghost Stories. The game includes individual quests which can lead a player to do what is good for his character and not what is good for the team. Completing a quest will give the player an ability that could help the team but too much concentration on side quests will cause the group the loose the game.
One of the finer points of the game is in how the team must cooperate in defeating the generals that are coming to destroy the home territory. 2-4 players must fight together to defeat a leader and more likely all 4 players are needed depending on what cards they have. I saw leaders fend of 2 to 3 heroes with little trouble. So, this is a coop game where you cannot just each go off and handle different threats but you also must come together and fight the 4 generals. Think pandemic but all players need to return to Atlanta to cure a disease.
So, what are my recommendations? If you don’t like coop games and you don’t like fantasy games then avoid this like the plague. If you like either than you should play this game. If you like both then this is a must buy for you. Like I said, I believe this game pulls off the coop mechanic and the fantasy theme very well. One last thing, if you like a game that gets updated with expansions then you are looking at the right game. This game already has announced expansions and based on the designer I feel confident there will be more expansions.
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