Single player, is it worth it?

[Skull]

Wanna play single player, is it any fun?

[Magyar5j]

Of course it's fun if you enjoy a challenge. Gloomhaven isn't for the feint of heart as a single turn when the enemies draw well, can spell the difference between victory and defeat. If you decide not to restart rounds, then this can be devastating to success for scenarios. One of the best parts of single player is that you can enjoy greater cohesion and coordination between mercenaries. The tinkerer (which everyone seems to give a bad beat) plays exceptionally well with parties but requires that you coordinate well.

Single player can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game as you don't have to find other players and you can develop your own style and pace.

I hope you enjoy!

[Aerothorn]

I think it's more fun with other people, but still absolutely worth playing in singleplayer. I wouldn't include more than 2 characters to start, though, as it might be overwhelming; you can always add more characters to your party mid-campaign.

[Magyar5j]

I am currently playing both a single player, and friends only, campaign. Both are fun in their own right. Do what you enjoy!! That's the point of these games isn't it? To relax, have some fun with friends, and just kick back.

[wantwon]

The only caveat to single player is you have to play at least 2 characters. That in itself isn't bad when you get used to reading the cards. Plus, it makes it easier to do combos and plan awesome turns! I recommend starting with one of the following pairs to make starting easy:
Brute + Mindthief: Melee focus with Mindthief bringing some utility.
Spellweaver + Cragheart: Mostly ranged, but Cragheart is flexible and Spellweaver can recover her one time use cards during a mission.
Scoundrel + Cragheart: A little more than 50% melee, with Scoundrel able to easily run away from enemies before they can strike her.

[Jamison Wolf]

I allways play it solo - so yeah, its fun! ;)

[mrcipolla]

Originally posted by Magyar5j:

Of course it's fun if you enjoy a challenge. Gloomhaven isn't for the feint of heart as a single turn when the enemies draw well, can spell the difference between victory and defeat. If you decide not to restart rounds, then this can be devastating to success for scenarios. One of the best parts of single player is that you can enjoy greater cohesion and coordination between mercenaries. The tinkerer (which everyone seems to give a bad beat) plays exceptionally well with parties but requires that you coordinate well.

Single player can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game as you don't have to find other players and you can develop your own style and pace.

I hope you enjoy!

Hi, I have a quick question for you as well, since you really seem to know this game.

I have never played the boardgame, but am pretty head-over-heels for games like this.
Also intending to play mostly singleplayer, here. So just a few quick questions:

1. How long would you say a "campaign" lasts? A successful one, at least.
2. How "hard", persay, is it? I love a good, challenging game. Too easy just feels like a waste of time, especially if it is a lot of time. I don't care if it takes me 30 tries to get a successful run.

3. Replayability... what would you say it is? I'm not sure how the game "works". Is the layout/over campaign random, in some ways?

[Azzo]

TLDR: Yes!

[pokerdan99]

Originally posted by mrcipolla:

Hi, I have a quick question for you as well, since you really seem to know this game.

I have never played the boardgame, but am pretty head-over-heels for games like this.
Also intending to play mostly singleplayer, here. So just a few quick questions:

1. How long would you say a "campaign" lasts? A successful one, at least.
2. How "hard", persay, is it? I love a good, challenging game. Too easy just feels like a waste of time, especially if it is a lot of time. I don't care if it takes me 30 tries to get a successful run.

3. Replayability... what would you say it is? I'm not sure how the game "works". Is the layout/over campaign random, in some ways?

I joined a weekly in-person campaign back in November of 2019, transitioned to playing remotely with Discord & webcams throughout COVID, and we are now halfway through the Forgotten Circles expansion pack - almost 2 years later.

We "beat" the main campaign somewhere in the middle (maybe after a year?), but this doesn't mean you are done with the campaign at all. Of the ~95 scenarios in the base game, many are optional side content. Some involve branching paths, so you don't necessarily play them all unless you intentionally go back in "casual mode". A handful might involve failure & take more than one attempt.

Difficulty is adjustable. As you feel more confident, you can optionally up the difficulty which grants higher rewards. At the default difficulty, it was a decent challenge early on. Many times when we won, it felt like we just barely won - and I was impressed how it consistently found that balance. Of course, Many characters & scenarios later, past the end-game, we feel a bit overpowered even with bumping up the difficulty level.

In terms of replayability... yeah. This is pretty much the golden standard for replayability. Every 10-20 scenarios or so, you typically end up retiring your character and starting a new one with completely different play-styles & mechanics. 2 years in, and I'm almost tempted to start again with this new digital campaign.

[DepressedRacoon]

For previous comment about length of time for campaign, digital is much faster than tabletop, with less set up and tear down time.