Gloomhaven is a game of tactical combat inspired by classic Euro mechanics that work brilliantly together to produce a remarkable fantasy board game experience.

The game was released last year and has taken the board gaming world by surprise. The second printing attracted 40,000 Kickstarter backers raising $4 million in total.

Not only has it managed to become the best fantasy board game of the year, but since, it has climbed to the top of the pedestal within a matter of months to become the best board game ever made according to BGG.

Gloomhaven features a cooperative campaign mode consisting of 95 scenarios giving you over 200 hours of play time.

Players get to control fantasy characters completing scenario objectives and advancing in the overall campaign. Besides each character gets to accomplish personal quests. Completing hero quests grow your characters but make them exhausted at the same time.

You will find yourself changing characters multiple times through the lengthy campaigns. Characters age and retire making way for new characters to enter the play. It may feel strange at first, but if you think of your characters as mercenaries rather than heroes, it feels right.

Over time, we have learned to like it. It feels like an additional flair that helps to maintain a good level of engagement throughout the game.

There are 12 different character classes in the game. Each features a surprisingly unique playstyle and abilities which contribute to the already impressive replay value the game offers.

At the start of the round, each player chooses two cards to use in the given round. Selecting the right cards for the circumstances is the key to a successful round.

Overall, individual actions may feel essential, it is the team strategy that you want to keep coherent and efficient.

Getting the team alignment is more challenging than it may sound at first. Players are only allowed to communicate using general terms. You are not allowed to mention specific actions you are going to take or cards you are planning to use. It pushes the team coordination to a new level and gives a great bonding feel as your teamwork matures.

Unlike a typical dungeon crawler board games that feature dice for combat, Gloomhaven uses cards to resolve battles. They act as modifiers to the player’s attack values, items, and other player abilities. Overall, the change feels quite welcome and refreshing to the otherwise staid combat mechanic.

If you like cooperative boardgames with a fantasy theme, you will love Gloomhaven.  The concept of cooperative play is profoundly and firmly ingrained in everything you do in the game. Fighting monster, solving quests, coordinating rounds and even shaping the storyline, all done together in a joint team effort.

Moreover, Gloomhaven does a fantastic job on multiple fronts. As a result, in our other reviews, we have also nominated the game as one of the top coop board games and best RPG board games around.