Gloomhaven | Shelfside Review

After completing the campaign, it's finally time to review the current #1 board game! Gloomhaven is a gargantuan euro-inspired dungeon crawler designed by Cephalofair Games' Isaac Childres. Sporting one of the biggest board game kickstarters of all times, only to be succeeded by Frosthaven, Gloomhaven has come a long way with its card based combat. With a plethora of highly asymmetric abilities and mechanics from each class, Gloomhaven promises nearly endless replayability with its absurd amount of tabletop components. It's a double edged sword though, as physically setting up and organizing a Gloomhaven board game night might take a while compared to other games.

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Table of Contents:
Intro/How to Play - (0:00)
Looks/Component Pros - (4:11)
Story/Campaign Pros - (5:53)
Gameplay Pros - (11:03)
Community Pros - (24:29)
Gameplay Cons - (27:20)
Story/Campaign Cons - (46:34)
Looks/Component Cons - (58:53)
Recommender Score - (1:08:35)
Ashton's Score - (1:17:07)
Daniel's Score - (1:22:51)

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Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

#boardgames #tabletop #gloomhaven

[dannyp]

This video has made me realize my biggest problem with Gloomhaven is I'm not playing it with Daniel. Incredibly detailed and thorough review. A masterpiece you might say.

[jeffhoward]

I am here to say a few things: 1) I'm an Ashton fan, but I am really hoping that Daniel gets unleashed now that his two year project is over. 2) Recalibrating viewers to the idea that a 7 rating is good = brilliant and SO NECESSARY. The gig economy and associated apps have ruined the 1-5 or 1-10 scale. Thank you for addressing that critical element of all reviews. And 3) this is one of the best, most well thought out, written, and edited reviews I have ever watched (of any media). Your channel has quickly shot up my subs to my top three among boardgames channels. Well done and thank you!

[colboyfish]

The sit down & shut up mat saying "its a little rat" in the intro <3

[tuandatphan]

I am so happy to see my art getting featured at 25:19. You guys truly make killer videos, please keep them coming.

[meathir]

That intro has so many references, from Obi Wan to SUASD and Egoraptor, it was glorious.

[CareyMcDuff]

Fantastic! I'll probably never play Gloomhaven, but now I feel like I understand it. Plus so many insights on game design. Thank you for putting the time and effort into making this!

[adnamvietnam]

I just got home after a 5 hour drive from getting away for a long weekend. This video kept me entertained whilst unpacking, tidying and getting the clothes washed. Thank you. Now to play some gloomhaven. 👍👍👍

[anonmisfit]

i got 700+ hrs in this game with dozens of hours on almost all chars n having tried out all major builds on said chars and still, i couldnt help but watch this with a fat smile on my face. tyvm

[rahdo]

god damn daniel, this is a masterpiece!

[BenBoersma]

As usual, an amazingly comprehensive and entertaining review! Thank you for taking so much time to put it together 🤠👍

[GgDg]

Amazing review. Funny, fast-paced, and fair.

[Paul_M_Bedford]

What a staggeringly incisive and comprehensive review. I can only begin to imagine the amount of work that went to it. As epic and monstrously detailed as the game itself.
Oh, it was bloody funny, too.
Incredible.

[VariousIdeas-fq]

(Cover your ears Ashton)
Every so often i come back to watch this video just for the intro, and to hear someone talk about GH who appreciates it as much as i do. And Daniel is funny as hell.

[ilanberci]

One of the best reviews I have ever seen.. So fast, precise, efficient... fantastic

[David-jvws]

I agree with Ashton's review. I wanted to like it but I ended up hating it. Yet one of my favourite games is Mage Knight which shares some similarities. But unlike MK I quickly got burned out by GH, which is weird considering that MK is more complex

[chrisdeutsch]

Thanks for the amazing videos! I randomly recently played a Gloomhaven game where the owner just handed out 4 random tuckboxes and we opened up to scenario one and went at it. He only played once before and was never going to actually play as a proper campaign so it worked out rather well.

[yourbeardlybro]

I'm glad you went over the Gloomhaven games! Daniel doesn't disappoint! Quality review

[DeyaViews]

The opening had me absolutely stunned. Amazing piece of work! I found myself laughing upon recognizing Egoraptor's voice and Matt Lees from Shut Up & Sit Down. The special effects were very well done. Mad props. :D

I've played Jaws of the Lion for 5 missions with my datefriend. I liked that pretty well, but Gloomhaven itself would be too huge for me (though minis always tempt me). Gloomhaven digital would be cool to try though. I figure I might have the same thing with Scythe digital in that Gloomhaven digital would cut down SO MUCH on the downtime. (Also a big reason why I like BoardGameArena.) Games on a physical tabletop in my house should have that in-person experience add on to the whole experience, not detract from it. Gloomhaven seems like it COULD hit just right... or completely fail at that.

[lohipuikko]

I have to say while I also like the Digital version of Gloomhaven with my friends we all agree that digital will never beat physical for us. Its just simply more fun for us personally to play with each other face to face and actually touch the components. But the one bad thing I will say is that the game absolutely benefits from an organizer as it makes the setup way faster and efficient. So if you are gonna get this already expensive game a organizer is highly recommended and it ads more to the overall price. Is it worth it still? In our humble opinion absolutely yes and me and my friends cannot wait for Frosthaven.

[curiousintuit]

This review was longer than most board games, and I love it.