Massive Darkness 2

I've been playing boardgames for a very long time, beginning with AH's, SPI's, and Battleline's tactical hexagon and counters. Been deep into MB's forays, Flying Frog and FFG. Cthulu: Death May Die takes the art of boardgame mechanics up another notch, creating a dynamism in play that feels like an excellent, but less repetitive, computer-based game. CMON has been my fave boardgame company since they designed their wonderful Zombicide's product line. Their components are top-notch: beautiful figures, durable thick-cut, board components, cards w great artwork. And C:DMD is right there. The rules are streamlined, simple even, the characters are so fun--in some cases hilarious (imagine Lizzie Borden helping out), and the characters always have creative options and some real power to fight back against the evil ones. The monsters roll out in insidious fashion reminiscent of Space Hulk, crowding you in, and the trick is to finish the scenario off before you have to fight an "elder god" with pistols, serving trays, swords, your pet gorilla, and whatever hocus pocus you can bring to bear. Unhinged and wonderful, and so full of homage to Lovecraft's imagination.Takes about half an hour to set up and the same to put away. Keep the punch-out cardboard to store the map and marker components. For boardgame fans, a must. Enjoy!

Out of the box, this is a super fun game! It has a relatively low learning curve, especially for experience gamers of tabletop adventure games. It has fun episodic adventures, which are different enough from one another to keep the game replayability high.The miniatures are really detailed and well sculpted and as a collaborative board game with a storytelling component, this is one we keep coming back to over and over. And, we haven’t even tried the expansions!I highly recommend this game for anybody who likes dungeon, crawlers or somewhat advanced board games

I like replayability in a game, and this has tons of it. Mix and matching the elder god end boss and the various scenarios was a fantastic idea! Plug in new enemies for a new experience! Materials/figures/boards are all high quality. If you like this, you've got a LOT of fun times ahead!

Fantastic Game! My wife and I have been buying a lot of board games since the pandemic. As we can both be very competitive, we’ve found Co-op games best suit us. They both, get us off our phones to spend quality time, and make us have engaging dialogue on how to complete each episode with brainstorming and problem solving.I was a bit nervous purchasing the game because it’s a bit more complex than other games in our collection. After 2 games, we had the rules down and figured out how to choose characters that best fit the scenario and each others character selection.The art in this game is fantastic, the detail in each character, miniature, the box, it’s all top notch. Beyond that, the game comes with 6 playable episodes that are all unique and independent from the others along with 2 possible “Bosses” that can be used in any of the episodes making for 12 possible games. It’s very neat how the designer used the same mechanics in each episode with a different narrative and setting for each. Replay value is high.I was pleasantly surprised to find that the playable characters in the game are incredibly diverse. Many different races and equal male and female representation. This is a big deal to my wife and I as a lot of games like this usually just have white dudes to play as. The inclusion in this game just elevates the play experience for us.

First, here's a Pro Tip: take a photo of the way they have all the items packed into your box before you remove anything, because it's almost like expert level Tetris getting everything back in the box without a photo. It takes about an hour and a half to play a game, but at least half an hour to box everything back up.Second, everything they did on this game exceeds expectations. The artwork is awesome. The figurines that come with it are themselves awesome. You get a large Cthulhu, Star Spawn, 2 Fire Vampires, a large Hastur, cultists, 12 investigators, and so many things in all, like maybe 30 things [edit: 45!]. The Episodes give you a different map layout with different monsters and objectives so you can combine both of the big monsters (Cthulhu, Hastur) with each of the 6 episodes for 12 different game scenarios.Third, be forewarned that the game is hard. The rules are complex. The general feel of the game is also pretty dark but hilarious at the same time, because you get stronger by losing more and more sanity, and if you don't defeat the Old Ones in time you go completely insane. I think the game mechanics are tilted so that the Old Ones have an advantage. It's hard to defeat them.Fourth, if you are looking for a family game, this one is perfect (if your family is a little nuts) because all the players work together. You win or lose as a group, there are no individual winners. The investigators each have unique skills, and if you have a younger player, they might want to use Rasputin, who can die 3 times before the final death gets him.This game is a little expensive but once you open it up you'll wonder how they made a profit. It really is a work of love putting this game out in the world. It's a must for any fans of the HP Lovecraft stories or table top games in general.