I have a confession to make; I have NEVER played Gloomhaven or Sword and Sorcery, so I am sure they may be far superior to Descent, but it is my go-to solo fantasy dungeon crawl and I really enjoy it. I just want to make it clear why I can’t put them in my review.
Let’s face it, most of us do not have the time to commit to a full in-depth dungeon crawl experience, for example, Dungeons and Dragons. Is there a game that can satisfy that itch, when you want to do some exploring and monster slaying, but needs it in about 60 to 90 minutes? Fantasy Flight may have the answer.
Descent: Journey into the Dark Second Edition is a full Dungeon crawl experience but streamlined for ease of play. The characters are pre-made, one just has to pick. While basic stats are preset, there is plenty of room for customizing your character. You choose his class and use the set of class cards to improve your heroes skills and abilities. As heroes gain experience they can access more powerful class abilities and skills. Unlike D&D, Descent uses upgrade cards instead of tables and charts to select skills. Each card costs a number of XP points, so you can upgrade often, or store the points for a major skill instead. Descent offers lots of flexibility on how you choose to develop your character.
In addition, the base game includes everything you need, characters, miniatures, dungeon tiles, and an adventure book with several adventures you can play individually or as a full campaign. Players can play like traditional D&D, where one person is the overlord (dungeon master), who is in charge of guiding the group and running the obstacles and monsters; or you can use the companion app to be the overlord, allowing all players to have a hero to play. Descent can even be played solo, as the app will adjust to the number of heroes being used.
The mechanics of Descent are extremely simplified compared to D&D. It is very luck driven in skills and combat and uses a unique set of dice.
In combat, unlike D&D, there are no tables to use, simply count the number of hits, and special abilities triggered by the surge symbols (lightning bolts) against the number of shields the defender rolls. If there are more hits than shields than damage is given. If the damage is greater than the life points, the enemy is defeated. However, if a hero is hurt, he is knocked down and must be healed in order to stand up, meaning a hero will never be killed.
Actions like opening doors, chests, or interacting with objects in a room, are skill test rolls. If the player rolls the needed amount of surges, he succeeds. Again, no charts or tables to consult.
Descent allows a full Dungeon crawl experience, but easier. I can teach someone new the basics of how a character works, their actions and abilities, and actually, start playing in a fraction of the time it takes to create a character in D&D.
Furthermore, these are the core mechanics also used in Imperial Assault, which is basically Descent in the Star Wars universe. So if you wanted to, you could actually mix the two universes for a wild unique game.
For more information about Descent, Rodney Smith of Watch it played, has a great overview video below.
Written by Ed Carter
Ed Carter. Hi there! My name is Ed and I am your guy for all things tabletop. I look forward to sharing with you the amazing world of board gaming. Drop me a note if you have any specific you want to know about. Until then. Happy gaming!