Side Quest: Arkham Horror

Departing the realm of Middle-earth, I took a detour tonight into the world of H.P. Lovcraft's Cuthulu Mythos. Even before it's release, Arkham Horror: The Card Game was receiving positive press and speculation that it heralded the downfall of Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. The same designer (Nate French, along with Matthew Newman this time) took five years of lessons and combined them with a theme that is arguably more popular these days with the gaming crowd (at least publishers seem to think so). Now that is has been released, the word on the street is that Arkham Horror is indeed a strong contender for the title of best cooperative living card game published by Fantasy Flight Games.

My first impression? This is a fantastic game. The art does not appeal to me as much as LotR, and it has been years since I was into Lovecraft, but the gameplay itself was highly enjoyable. The designers directly state that they are looking to bring an RPG feel to the table and they succeeded. While not an open-world game, you are responsible for decisions that will not only impact the success or failure of the scenario but what that success or failure looks like. I found myself deciding between achieving a beneficial task or holding insanity at bay for my investigator. Either choice seemed positive and I had no idea which would have the bigger impact on future scenarios. That was exciting and refreshing: Having a list of available options that color the outcome of the quest instead of simply leading to a clean victory or defeat. Another positive was that the start deck I used was actually usable and able to defeat the introductory scenario (a sore point with LotR's own core set that frustrates 10/10 new players).

So has Lord of the Rings: the Card Game been made obsolete? No. I am not the first to state this, but Arkham and LotR are both very different types of games and neither should directly replace the other. Arkham does show lessons FFG has learned in designing living card game which would be great to see retroactively implemented in LotR. In fact, as has also been pointed out by others, you can see how different elements of Arkham were tested out in LotR over the past year (such as the travel mechanic of Temple of the Deceived and the how the ability on Galdor of the Havens is almost identical to the standard mulligan rule in Arkham). The basic fact in favor of LotR's continued existence is that, from what we hear, it is still making FFQ cold, hard cash. What I do think Arkham brings to the surface is the need for an LotR reboot. Five years of lessons can be used to make a smoother, more immersive experience. A way can be found to encourage more frequet social play (if not on a competitive front). And a re-boot allows new players an entry point into a game that has now grown very costly to complete.

Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and Arkham Horror: The Card Game are both very welcome parts of my game collection. After I take time to discover the full Arkham core set, I have a feeling I will be quickly adding this to my LCG subscription and begin spending my game time hopping between the rich lands of Middle-earth and the mysteries of realms beyond.