Thursday, December 17, 2020
Folklore: The Affliction vs. Gloomhaven
I just opened a parcel from Amazon with the Folklore: The Affliction - Dark Tales expansion inside. That shows that I really like this game: It feels like playing a dark fantasy version of D&D without a DM and suitable for solo play or 2 players. On the other hand it shows that the base box, with only 6 chapters in the story book I, is on the short side; if you like the game, the expansion with an additional 9 chapters plus 22 mini-adventures in the form of rumor cards is a welcome addition. My wife and me now play this more often than Gloomhaven, so this is well worth it.
Folklore has a dark fantasy theme, darker than Gloomhaven. But Gloomhaven is highly tactical, getting through a scenario without running out of cards is nearly a puzzle. Folklore is more of a "throw around some dice and see what happens" kind of game, more random, less planned. On the other hand, Folklore requires a lot more bookkeeping than Gloomhaven, you are constantly noting and erasing things on your character sheets. In other words, Folklore plays a lot more like a pen & paper RPG, while Gloomhaven plays a lot more like a board game.
In Gloomhaven, I am using the Forteller app to read the story to me. But that app shows the length of the audio track, so I know that for Gloomhaven I get between 2 and 3 minutes of story for a 2-hour scenario. So the story aspect in Gloomhaven is rather light, and you don't really play the game for the story. In Folklore the story takes a much bigger part of each scenario, and tactical combat a smaller part. Again, Folklore more like a RPG, Gloomhaven more like a board game.
The downside of Folklore being more story-centric is that you wouldn't necessarily play through the same story chapter repeatedly. While one story in Folklore is longer than one scenario in Gloomhaven, as I mentioned before the 6 stories of the Folklore base box are on the short side. I can see myself playing through Folklore, which is why I spent money on the expansion. I can't see myself playing through Gloomhaven completely: It has 95 scenarios, and to play a campaign to the end you'd play around 60 of them. Even the much cheaper and easier to get into Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion still has 25 scenarios, and offers more playtime per dollar than Folklore. On the other hand, as I own the Gloomhaven core box, my interest in both Jaws of the Lion and the sequel Frosthaven is very limited, as they are still mostly the same game, and I don't really need more of the same Gloomhaven.
I can't give you some universal recommendation whether you should buy Folklore: The Affliction or Gloomhaven. Both of them are Kickstarter board games, that is to say somewhat niche, needing more commitment from the players than the average board game. Gloomhaven is a fantastic game, although I'd really recommend starting with the Jaws of the Lion version unlike I did. But if you want less of a deep tactical board game, and more of an "RPG in a box" experience, Folklore: The Affliction might be the better game for you.
Labels: Board Games