This weekend I was playing Destinies with my wife and a Gloomhaven digital soloist. On the one hand, there are two extremes, given the length of their campaign. There are a total of 5 scenarios in the Basic Destinations box and another 3 in the expansion. The basic Gloomhaven box has 95 scenarios. A dollar for the stage, Grimharbour has a much better value. But does it matter?
When my wife and I played non-digital Darkhaven, we played 16 scenarios before we lost interest and moved on. As a board game Gloomhaven is difficult to control and not an easy game. A lot of people didn’t finish the campaign. I don’t know if I’ll get to that digitally first, where setup is obviously a lot easier.
Grimharbor not only has more stories than The Fates, it has more repetition in each story. It is useless to repeat the story of Destinies, as the game is mostly about exploration, as it usually tries to find certain elements. Even if you vaguely remember where the elements of the previous game were, you will complete the game faster by defeating the first player who fulfills his goal.
Destiny isn’t a very deep game, but it’s fun to go through a story you don’t know yet. Since the basic structure of each scenario is the same and only the story changes, it is likely that you will not feel hard to play again after playing 5 scenarios from the basic scenario. It’s not that bad when you both feel like you’re running out of content and running out of content at the same time. Gloomy Harbor is like the albatross on the necks of many board players, a great game that we will never finish. I didn’t save Frosthaven because it would be roughly the same and I knew I would never end up there.
I wouldn’t say Destinies is a great game. The writing is a bit blurry in some places, the mechanics of the game are too simple for my liking, and if you’re not playing yourself, you should be quick to get there as soon as possible. as well as a game of exploration and storytelling for its purpose. But Destinies came to the table quickly, my wife and I easily passed the story in the evening and didn’t have to worry about when it was over and it was all over. Maybe board games don’t have to be that much.
