Armello never seems better than its beginning, with a lush animated video of animals in a medieval fantasy world. A wolf warrior holds a bloody sword, a lion king descends into darkness, a bear priestess awakens. It looks as good as a digital board game should, and beyond that its rules are clear and its tutorial is an effective introduction. But it lacks a driving purpose; it has no strategic hook. More damning, though, is that Armello doesn’t encourage enough interaction between its players - and that’s a huge problem for any board game, digital or physical.
The premise is a good start for both politics and adventure: both the king and kingdom of Armello have been corrupted by the magical Rot, and four heroes set out to take the crown. It’s the follow-through that’s lacking. Because while there are four supposedly different and balanced victory conditions, they don’t work effectively. In practice it works like this: be the first to assassinate the king, or get a prestige victory by having completed every quest and won the most battles. Yet prestige wins are thoroughly dominant -- it took me over a dozen games before I saw another victory type.
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The premise is a good start for both politics and adventure: both the king and kingdom of Armello have been corrupted by the magical Rot, and four heroes set out to take the crown. It’s the follow-through that’s lacking. Because while there are four supposedly different and balanced victory conditions, they don’t work effectively. In practice it works like this: be the first to assassinate the king, or get a prestige victory by having completed every quest and won the most battles. Yet prestige wins are thoroughly dominant -- it took me over a dozen games before I saw another victory type.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...