Eldritch Horror Expansion Forsaken Lore

Monday, September 22nd, 2014 | Filed under Games,Headline,Horror | Posted by Luke Applebee

Fantasy Flight Games presents a cooperative tabletop experience where you and your friends attempt to save the world from one of H.P. Lovecraft’s infamous Ancient Ones. If you have already played Eldritch Horror, and you are a glutton for punishment, then you know how addictive and thrilling it is to prevent Cthulhu from awakening or laying waste to Shub-Niggurath before its monstrous minions dominate the heart of Africa.

As an investigator it is your responsibility improve your attributes, scavenge for new weapons, learn ritual spells and—most importantly—scour the globe for clues to help resolve three mystery encounters to stop the big bad.

To emphasise the source material not only do playable characters track health they also monitor their sanity. You can either die in battle or succumb to madness. The cast of characters to choose from are varied and range from well-rounded redeemed cultists such as Diana Stanley to mighty, but skittish, sailors like Silas Marsh.

The boardgame’s narrative is card-driven which is a blessing and a curse. At the end of each round you play cards from the mythos deck—scary cards that trigger icon effects and can potentially spawn more baddies, clues and portals.

The flavour text immerses the player however it only takes a couple of sessions to exhaust all of your options. Avid gamers will learn the probability of particular events and will inevitably pre-empt situations.

Fortunately, Forsaken Lore, the first expansion brings everything Eldritch Horror needs: longevity. The additions (encounters, items, artifacts, spells etc) are refreshing and are thematically tied to the new Ancient One, Yig—the Father of Serpents.

The most prominent change to the core game is the introduction of the ‘poisoned’ condition, which makes a difficult journey nigh impossible. This is not a bad thing. My inner sadist revels in the bad luck experienced by all parties at the table. This is where we derive the joy. If you, however, manage to triumph against all of the odds then that victory feels like a real accomplishment.

Forsaken Lore should be sold as part of Eldritch Horror because it is awesome.