I am a solo gamer who is most interested in heavy, tactical and deep roleplaying type games. I am a huge fan of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and have played more than 700 solo hours there and have about 500 more hours planned. Gloomhaven has been on my radar for years, but I didn't have the time to try something new, which, frankly is just another variant of what PACG already does for me: a roleplaying solo game. Thanks (!) to Covid, I have some time and got separated from my PACG collection, so onto Gloomhaven (bought, not opened) and JotL (opened and now played for more than 40 hours). There is, as the other reviews have pointed out, a whole lot to like about this game: tactical miniature combat in as streamlined a way as possible, great miniatures, a decent story, RPG-ish features, a puzzle like structure, fully co-operative play and a great monster/boss card system. But the flaws are killing the fun for me, despite being a fairly tactical player and having an above average patience for the setup and being willing to replay "failed" scenarios. 1. I do not like game systems in video games or this kind of game where the monsters level up when you do. This has annoyed me as a designer idea forever. If I level up, I should then be able to go places I couldn't go before and then win. Having the monsters level up with me takes me out of the fun of leveling up. This is, of course, subjective. I would much prefer if the world was more open, but then I would learn: "do NOT go to section X until you are level Y, unless you want to die", rather than, "it doesn't matter where you go, the monsters get stronger when you do". 2. I played the Hatchet and Voidwarden in 2-player solo. They are OK and I like the Voidwarden but now they are simply stuck. I choose a scenario which locked me in a path which has unknowingly become impossible. Apparently, that character is really meant for 3 (or better yet 4) player games. Now I can't complete the game I have 30+ hours into without just bashing my head against the wall hoping for impossible wins, or just start over. Even playing on "easy" they are just stuck. I can house-rule a little bit but "easy - easy"? No thanks. 3. So, I started over as 2 player Demolitionist and Red Guard (the other 2 characters) and yes, it is a bit easier, but on my second scenario I got super unlucky in card draws and will need to restart the scenario. Well, 30 hours ago I did that with a smile and looked forward to the next play, but now, it's just annoying and I don't want to play. The play system is fun, but you can get super unlucky 30 minutes into the game, 30 minutes after setup, and then there goes your fun. Take this with a grain of salt, I'm still kind of pissed about being stuck the first time though. 4. The parts of the game that are abstracted (all games are abstracted in some way, of course) kind of take me away from the story. Card says "attack 2". OK. Sword? Punch? Card says "attack 2 - range 2". OK. Bow? Knife? If 2 very different acting characters have the same "attack" what are they doing? This doesn't seem to bother most people and I do like the card system... to a point, but it still takes me out of the story. I will play. I will certainly finish the game someday but now I'm not sure if I will bother opening the full Gloomhaven, since I've read that the setup is a bear and needs more table space than I can easily handle and is even more swingy. This game is worth your time and attention, it certainly is an experience and fun, but I'm looking forward to going back to PACG right now and I'm packing JotL away, at least for now. If and when that happens, and if my opinion changes, I will come back and change my review. Other. Because I'm trying to decide if I want to wade into the full Gloomhaven I tried some other options: 1. The box is very well laid out and doesn't need an insert. I bought one anyway and it helps with setup and play but is certainly not needed. 2. I bought the Sythe coins and use them instead of writing down the gp on the character sheets and it makes it look nicer but also isn't necessary (you can see them in my attached pictures). 3. I don't typically sleeve much but I bought a set to check them out. They also are not needed for JotL (unless you play with kids or sticky finger friends...) because you don't shuffle the cards much in a way that could damage them. 4. Instead of being tempted to shuffle any cards, I simply use a d4, d6, d8 and d10 dice: lightly "shuffle" cards then roll a dice to get more randomization. EDIT: I have now finished the game with the Voidwarden and the Hatchet and I'm trying the whole story again with the Demolitionist and the Red Guard. I'm sorry to say, this game is FAR too swingy and it does NOT reward tactical play. Theme and interesting play? Sure, a bit. But even when you lower the difficulty and then again, and then again, you are going to get a couple bad card draws that block you from winning no matter what you do. Then, when you do win, you'll look back and realize that you simply got the cards you needed (and the enemies didn't) right at the right times. Simply not a satisfying game unless you have LOADS of time to just keep resetting and resetting and resetting and .... you get the idea.
