This is a heavy brain-burner built for more players than my house has, and I want to say upfront that a lot of what people love about it, the alliance negotiations, the reading a table full of strangers, doesn’t fully translate to two-player. Reviewing it anyway because the core system underneath the negotiation is genuinely excellent even stripped down.
The fog of war here is real, you’re committing to actions before you know exactly what everyone else committed to, and untangling how that plays out is most of the tension. Every clan feels meaningfully different, different starting strategies, different monster and deck options, and I’ve found some clans have a more obvious optimal line than others, which knocks a little off the replay value once you’ve found the strong plays for a given clan.
Combat is where the game peaks. The bidding system for battles makes you commit resources without knowing what your opponent’s holding back, and correctly reading what Renata was willing to spend on a fight we both wanted became its own mini-game inside the game, genuinely exhilarating when you call it right and feel the scale tip your way.
Production is stunning, the monster miniatures alone are worth some shelf space even if you never play, unique bold colors you don’t see in a lot of other games on the market. That said, the alliance mechanic that’s supposed to be a centerpiece feels almost decorative at two players, there’s nobody to actually negotiate with beyond a simple yes or no, so a big piece of what this game’s known for just isn’t in play for us. If you’ve got four or five regulars this earns another half point easy. At two, it’s a very good strategy game wearing a diplomacy game’s clothes.
Worth owning if the brain-burn is what you’re after. Just know what you’re not getting at our table size.