Stars of Akarios Review: Space Gloomhaven

1st view 1st comment.... Small things make me happy. Hope the game/review is good.

Jesus, please equalize your volume, I got startled when the overview started.

Looks cool and interesting. But the sheer amount of game content means that it would be extremely difficult for me to find someone local who is interested in playing it with me, which means that I wouldn't get my money's worth out of it. Maybe if my local game store opened up their tables for in-person gaming again, then it might be possible. But alas, they still keep their tables completely covered with product at all times (except for Friday Night Magic).

Very fair review. I’m about to get to the end of act 1. It’s a tonne of fun in space but I don’t do space exploration at all any more. It’s also really easy. I’ve had to up the difficulty a few times to increase the tension. Still plenty fun but a few rough edges

Thanks for the review.
I haven’t played the game yet. But I’m looking forward to it

Good god the Overview volume is so much louder than the rest, please fix the volume inconsistencies. The into is loud, the review is regular volume and the overview is LOUD.

I’ve completed the first act and have thoroughly enjoyed my plays. I wonder if being a board game reviewer makes it really tough to review campaign games. As a hobby gamer, I’m not rushing through campaigns and I certainly don’t have a bunch of campaigns under my belt. I’ve played Jaws of the Lion but have not played 7th continent, so I think I’m much more engaged by the away missions since it is still somewhat new to me. For the tropes in the game, I sort of view them as more nods to various Sci-fi shows and I appreciate those nods. I don’t review board games and am having a blast with this. But I could certainly see that if you’re on your 15th campaign game, maybe it would lend a more critical eye to this.

This is a pretty cool looking game. Similar to GH though, I'd rather wait for a Jaws of the Lion equivalent

It's not perfect but it's an absolute blast to play. The campaign is very long and I wonder how many times these guys played the game that they dare rate it.

Good comments about how the writing needs improvement. Voicing concerns with the writing will help raise the bar for future games in the genre.

I have Gloomhaven and waiting on Frosthaven when I don't have a group to consistently play the game so Ill pass on this one for now. Though I am not a fan of people saying "space gloomhaven" because outside of the hit deck(from what I seen in this review to be clear) , it's a campaign game like many others. That is like saying Final Fantasy 14 is a copy of WoW because it has tanks/healers/dps. Anyways, great review! I will at least add it to my list to buy someday as it does interest me.

Gloomhaven/7th Continent/X-wing sounds like an awesome game.

So many Kickstarter games have elements that should have been cut, but can't be cut because backers want more stuff always, regardless of how well content actually fits into the game. It sounds like the exploration element is a case of that.

I love the new review format and having multiple audiences. I think there should be a bit of a format. In this review, it seems you both played solo. This should be clarified and how does it scale?

See I like this much more than Gloomhaven, but I that is because I do NOT like the puzzle of the cards in Gloomhaven. The space combat is really fun.

I agree with this review completely, and would add that this is NOT a beginner-friendly game. Sure, the first 1-2 missions are fine but the training wheels come off quickly after that. For instance, the first land exploration is very, VERY punishing despite being the 1st time using the land exploration mechanics (which I agree with Tom, they are very luck dependent). Even then, the difficult curve (at 3-players) seems to assume that after 2-3 space combat missions, a beginner will now understand how they can both A) end up on the correct hex and B) be facing the right direction to C) be able to use the weapon they want while also accounting for D) flanking the enemy or being vulnerable to flank. That's a LOT to process for just one sequence of actions!

I also completely agree with the generic sci-fi tropes in the writing and basically rips off a lot of Battlestar Galactica (but is in keeping also with Star Trek, Babylon 5, etc.). I was hoping for a bit more depth than just a sarcastic tough-but-fair captain leading space marines through strife. The combat is where it shines though. But when a campaign game is great for something besides the story, you're probably better digging into something else to get your hex-based tactics fix.

I mean gloomhaven with okay writing and fun combat in space is a fairly good compliment.

3 times the same paragraph is really bad quality control.

Space Gloomhaven... I think Isaac Childres would object to having a game using dice randomness to be compared with his masterwork.

I don't really get the joke when Tom acts like he can't read the title of a game. Akarios has 3 syllables and doesn't have anything weird in it.

Pronouncing it correctly is a different thing.
Something like Teotihuacán is harder to pronounce correctly but you just need to know that the H is silent and to stress the last syllable.

Here it just seems like a weird dig at the game, like you can't even bother to read the title correctly during the review.

The graphic design of the components isn't very good. For me, that's usually (not always) a telltale sign that a game will be lacking in other places.

I agree with Tom - poor or lazy story telling doesn’t get a pass. Given how great the writing is for so many games now, that and original art is a requirement for me.

Anyone want to buy a kickstarter copy? Trying to sell my unopen box and mini's. We were a different gaming family 2 years ago when we backed...

My game group is about half way through, and we've been having a blast!! I agree that the biggest problem has been the writing, typos, and mistakes in the campaign book. Also the space exploration does feel a little irrelevant... however, the space combat is one of the best I've seen since x-wing, and the planet exploration is pretty entertaining. I heard OOMM is going to do a 2nd edition, so hopefully they will fix some of the issues. If they do, it will be a really solid game.

I love the part where you asked for help on BGG about the game's AI, get a ton of great and helpful answers (including from the designer), and never bother to answer or thank people for helping you. Us boardgame commoners are just there for elitists to exploit and ignore, I guess...

Tom, you can actually play single scenarios of this. In the App there are user submitted one off scenarios you can play.

Also, I disagree that there isn't any variation in the scenarios. Gloomhaven has like 80% of the scenarios be "kill all enemies", however in Akarios I'd say it's closer to 60%. There are tons of missions where you escort ships, pick a side and battle with the other, survive for a certain number of rounds, etc.

♫ This is the review of the Stars of Akarios, Stars of Akarios, Stars of Akarios
♫ Akarios
♫ Akarios

This is making me want to go back and play mycopy of Ironclad.

Sounds like a good game to get used.

Wow just trashed it. I can see where you are coming somewhat but it should be higher than a six.

I backed this, when it finally arrived I had moved country to the US and it is packed away with my family in the UK. I want to play it :( Probably won't get my hands on it for a while...

Just wanted to say I love that the Dice Tower is playing to it's strengths with multiple people on every review. Even if a game ends up not being the best the amount of perspective you get is SO GOOD which many other channels just can't beat.

Interesting. Would you/ could you compare this to Battlestations?

Chris, that is an A+ game overview. Get to the heart of the game, show example game play, stick with the key points. WELL DONE!!

Since they have already announced a Kickstarter for a second version of the game will be coming in 2023, I wonder how many of the noted shortcomings will be addressed.

This description immediately reminded me of the ridiculously repetitive and limited mission resolution parts of Freedom in the Galaxy. However repetitive and bloated this Akarios is .... it could be worse LOL

I don’t trust dice tower reviews at all. Ditch the hat too.

"Following tropes" is the most meaningless criticism of any narrative ever, sadly its become a prevalent one. It's basically meaningless and offers no actual insight or information to the viewer/reader. Do you mean its a genre piece? Say so. Do you mean its a poorly done genre piece? Say that. "It has a lot of tropes" is as informative as "it has words". In the context of the review we can obviously gather the writing is bad, but that particular criticism is, to beat the poor point to death, useless.

This review makes me a little bit nervous about having backed Mythwind. Hopefully they did do some learning.

Now that Atomic Mass Games has taken over X-wing, non-thematic scenarios have been pasted on. This has seemed to kill the game for all but the most competitive players and mostly on TTS. Regular casual in-person play in my area has dried up.

Oathsworn's writing is also fine, not phenomenal. Stars of Akarios will win out over Oathsworn any day of the week for me cuz it's effortless fun. I can set it up and play for an hour and a half and pack it all up again. Oathsworn is a whole day slog to lay out, play and put back again in its ridiculous 3 boxes. Ugh.

For "Gloomhaven in space" I'm waiting for Rogue Angels Kickstarter! Have you guys looked at this? It has that "Mass Effect" boardgame vibe.

Looks like a streamlined version of ISS Vanguard, also.

Im close Tom thoughts Its look like i can make this in ms exel prints and have similar fun

Any chance you guys will do a video on the 1.5 version? I'm curious how it addresses some of your critiques (if at all)].