by Tangerini
I'll be honest; I don't seek out strategy heavy games. I don't particularly enjoy chess or checkers. I haven't ever played DnD.This game definitely has a good dose of strategy, it does have mechanics a la chess/checkers, and it fits squarely into the DnD theme.
That all being said, I was surprised with how much I enjoyed playing Dungeon Heroes.
Dungeon Heroes is touted as a 'lunch break dungeon crawl.' This tagline does a great job of explaining what you're getting yourself into. The game can easily be played in a small amount of time, but its NOT a lightweight game. Dungeon Heroes is meaty and condensed.
Dungeon Heroes is not difficult to pickup and play, but it did take my husband and me a bit longer to straighten out some of the smaller details. As with most new games there's a bit of a learning curve during the first couple play-throughs. I think this only surprised us with this game in particular because we thought we were embarking on a lighter weight game. However, after the first couple goes the heft became apparent and we were able to adjust and read through the rules a bit more 'seriously.'
Yes, this game is heavier on strategy than I would generally chose, but I don't feel that it negatively impacted the game play for me. If anything it pushed me just a little bit beyond my usual comfort zone. Dungeon Heroes takes the mechanics and strategy of a chess-like game that I do enjoy and made it more approachable and enjoyable. On the flip side my husband has played DnD and Chess heavily in the past. He found the game very enjoyable, though he did complain about the rules not being quite as clear at the initial onset. With it being a dungeon crawler themed game, he missed skill check rolls (during combat, when the rogue disarms a particularly nasty trap or how much the cleric would heal her ally).
Overall my husband and I really enjoyed playing the game and are happy to not only add the prototype to our catalog of games we look forward to the finished product via Kickstarter.
