Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical battles in a persistent world of changing motives. Players will take on the role of a roaming adventurer with their own unique set of skills and their own motives for travelling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to wipe out threatening dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process they will strengthen their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and raid, and enlarge an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.

This is a legacy game with a persistent and changing world that is preferably played over multiple game sessions. After a scenario, you will make choices on what to do, which will change how the story continues, kind of like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Playing through a scenario is a cooperative task where players will battle against automated monsters using an innovative card system to establish the order of play and what a player does on their turn.

With, each turn you will play two cards out of your hand. Each card has a number at the top, and the number on the first card played will decide their initiative order. Each card also has a top and bottom power, and when it is a player’s turn in the initiative order, they decide whether to use the top power of one card and the bottom power of the other, or in reverse. Players must be cautious, though, because over time they will permanently lose cards from their hands. If they take too long to clear a dungeon, they can end up spent and be forced to retreat.