Oathsworn Into the Deepwood – Perhaps The Best Board Game Of All Time
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Kickstarter Link –
Oathsworn is a Twisting Tales Game for 1-4 players where play is focused on narrative choices and rich miniature combat encounters. The game is set in the Deepwood where a Free company (the Oathsworn) fights for humanity’s survival against unnatural horrors and the Deepwood itself.
Each gaming session sees the players participate in a multi path game book where the story unfolds to an inevitable encounter. The encounters are multi phase scripted boss fights on the encounter board where players have to outwit and outplay the AI driven monsters and enemies. As the sessions unfold the group is taken into a deep legacy campaign where they gain levels, loot and new allies to join them in their journey.
Oathsworn boasts a unique push your luck combat system of exploding dice where players are always having to decide between hitting harder and potentially missing the attack. This coupled with a euro style cooldown system called ‘Battleflow’ makes for a vibrant and engaging play session.
BGG Link –
TimeStamps:
0:00:00 – Introduction
0:00:35 – Oathsworn May Be The Best Game Ever
0:04:30 – Overview
0:10:05 – What I Like
0:13:31 – What I Don’t Like
0:15:48 – What I Can See Others Not Liking
0:17:22 – Final Thoughts
0:19:28 – Recommendations
5.0 – My absolutely favorite games. You can pry them out of my cold dead hands.
4.5 – Love this game! At the same time missing something that would make it a 5. Could be hard to table, lacking variability, a little light, etc.
4.0 – Really great game, almost always keeping, although has meaningful complaints as to what takes away from the experience.
3.5 – Really enjoyed, don’t love it, may lose out to better games but the idea of never playing again is a bit sad.
3.0 – A good game, would play and suggest with the right people, if I never played it again wouldn’t lose any sleep.
2.5 – A game I’d play again , but will never suggest it myself
2.0 – A game I don’t want to play again
1.5 – A game I can’t find any reason to recommend
1.0 – A game that is just bad.
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Wow. That's quite the title. Can't wait to watch this one
To think I could have backed this instead of Darkest Dungeon
I just hope this hits retail 🥲
9 chapters in and I can honestly say this is the best boardgame I’ve ever played, it’s got elements of so many games I’ve enjoyed (Conan with the resource spend, Gloomhaven with the card play, KDM with the boss battles and also includes a great narrative story that equals many other titles)
I absolutely LOVE this game! Currently we are in Chapter 10, just finished the story and will do the encounter next time we play. The variety of bosses, and how they fight, the excellent story, and the character options are incredible. This is one of my favorite games of all time and the best campaign I have ever played.
Hey everyone anyone looking for a complete set of CMON’s Hate board game??? nEW condition
I am looking for the complete set of 2021 hero quest and all the expansions.
Willing to trade!
If you have multiple campaign games in your library that you haven't played yet. Is it better to start with one that has the best rating/reviews or the lesser rated/reviewed games? Does playing the "better" game first make you not start and/or finish the other games? (I use quotes for better because it's mostly subjective.) For me, playing HeroQuest after playing Descent, Sword & Sorcery, and others that are similar makes me not want to finish HeroQuest. Just curious if that's the same sentiments if playing Oathsworn before Dungeon Universalis or Chronicles of Drunagor. (And yes, I know they all bring different things to the table.) Just wondering what your experiences have been when you play a "better" game.
Hopefully one day they ll release a cheaper retail version with standees
interesting to see how this compares once Aeon Trespass delivers. Is the enemy AI better than KDM?
I missed this game the first KS and I am so glad the second KS is coming soon. I am currently waiting for ISSV to ship and its been real interesting watching its rating. Its only has around 700 ratings at the moment(English Wave 1 still has several regions waiting on copies) but its setting at an average rating of 9.02.
I think it's going to be interesting to see where these two games end up over the next several months.
Fantastic game. currently on chapter 14. Love every second of it and such the huge variety in the story modes. Easily best story mode in any campaign game I played. quite a lot of different mechanics from (slight spoilers) invesigating around a city to find a cult, infiltrating a camp by invading from four different directions, trying to navigate the deepwood with your party with limited rations trying not to have your allies starve to death. Yeah a lot of the choices end up in the same spot, but depending on what you p ick you could be a different of losing an hp or getting some combat tokens. There are some chapters that have 2 paths where they are actually completely different (two chapters I tried both paths just to see how different they are, and it is completely.)
The voice acting in the app is incredible. I would highly recommend doing the story and not the preset one. I think you would be missing out of a lot.
Also I hijghly recommend gluing the oathsworn minis together (minus the arms). I found the push fit kept falling out, but after gluing it they no longer fall out and works as intended.
I think these things are innovative: companion system so game is balanced for 4 but you don't have to play 4 full characters, (also allows kids and non-gamers to join more easily), battleflow card system, letting players choose dice or cards and even count cards for those so inclined, and maybe the level of variety in the bosses and their AI.
Im actually at encounter 6 with my friend and i drove to him every time with 3 boxes + encouter that we playing and the next one (my wife gives me numbers and symbols if needed from encouter book). Anyway i gave it for now 10/10. Only Sleeping Gods and Kings dilemma got this rating.
Thanks for the timely review. I have my eye on the crowdfunding campaign and am lucky that I get a chance to play the first scenario next weekend before making a decision.
Maybe you said this and I didn’t catch it – do you prefer using the dice or the cards for combat?
Struggling to decide on this one still. Mostly because of time vs number of campaign games.
I agree with the title! Will watch later today
Oathsworn really does deserve to take the number one slot from Gloomhaven. I hope it does.
Thanks for sharing! Been anxiously awaiting to hear your opinion of Oathsworn.
It was my most anticipated game for 2022. I have now played 9 chapters (solo, with 4 full heroes) and it has greatly exceeded my expectations. It hits on A LOT of the cylinders that personally make for a game fun for me. I greatly enjoy just about everything about Oathsworn. I would change, or enhance, a few things, but all are minor. Currently my favorite for 2022 and maybe my over all number one. Time will tell. (Also, it has already blown away Gloomhaven for me.)
Any spoilers in this review?
Oh boy, my wallet is bleeding, and you Alex, are not helping! :p
I wonder how much more the second campaign will end up costing compared to the first. Inflation is insane right now. Guess we'll find out in a few days.
Surprised haven't seen a MD2 review yet. But on topic going to be taking a hard look at Oathsworn 2nd Kickstarter. Canceled my first due to something else running close alongside although can't remember what it was. This time around tho feel it's going to be CDMD season 3 that takes the lead
I am probably going for the standee version (unpopular opinion I know) but the shelf space of the miniatures is not doable for me and the game/narration really pulls me in.
I saw some standee photos and give me a Gloomhaven vibe (colored and nice drawings) which I like
Ummm, I got the miniatures version and only have three boxes. Am I missing one?
I’m 3 chapters in and I’ve never had this much fun or immersion in a game before.
How many bosses do you fight in Oathsworn? Do you beat them once and that's it? Or can you fight with them again and still have fun?
Hey, can the miniatures be painted upfront without spoiling the game?
Glad you got round to playing this one Alex! Have to completely agree with you here, I'm 10 chapters in and this has shot to the top of my favourite board games. It's completely killed gloomhaven for me to the point that I sold my copy of Gloomhaven and don't regret it.
The thing that turns me immediately off is that hex map where the miniatures seem kinda lost and floating around, seemingly very disconnected from the background graphic. It doesn't pull me in at all.
Iss vanguard is building up momentum as well. Think i wil join late pledge on Oathsworn this Tuesday. Great video 👍
Its awesome
Better then kingdom come
I still don't understand what's the fuzz about gloomhaven. I really don't like that game 😋 guess its not my type of game.
Alex, out of curiosity, where do you recognize the Battleflow system from?
This game is so good that even my 2y olds keep asking for it.
Well… almost… they run to my desk and ask for the bear.
I don't put much weight in the bgg rankings. Gloomhaven is good but nowhere close to best game ever (imo subjective for each player), Oathsworn is probably the same (maybe very good). The game is expensive, even with standees. The game is also too much for Solo. Too big, too much to table, etc. I'll probably pass on this again.
I have played the game solo to end of chapter 9 with full 4-characters without much difficulty. I am perfectly happy with the core/standee version and my only complaint has been some of the push to fit miniatures full apart given slightest excuse. I am currently taking a break to glue and paint my four Oathsworn. The heroes are very large (~60mm) and joy to paint.
I’ve played the entire campaign. In my opinion, your choices matter. Even ones you think do not. Didn’t you get to Chapter 5 yet? That’s when I had my first inkling.
I really tried to like this one…. But I didn’t. Felt so boring and the decisions not meaningful at all… also felt bloated far more than it had to be.
What chapter are you up to? Your story mode choices definitely DO MATTER. Don’t want to spoil anything…
Hm… if this is a story driven dungeon crawler, I’m not sure I should go for it.
One of the most important things in a story game (at least for me) is having some agency over what happens – according to the way you described it, it might not be that.
Regarding the combat system, Gloomhaven is still the best of the bunch with the only caveat being late-game balance, which will hopefully be fixed in Frosthaven. Oathsworns design here seems interesting, but it kinda stops there.
What I’m trying to say is, it’s hard to justify spending a LOT on a single game that seems to excel at neither of its two core aspects – especially when there are other games that to a similar thing arguably better for a cheaper price.
Thanks for the review, Alex 😊
I did not know Oathsworn, so when I saw 'Perhaps the best board game of all time' I wanted to know what it was, but unfortunately your review only confirmed that these kinds of games are not my thing, I even got bored listening to you talking about the game and that is not because of you talking, you are a great reviewer. Story-driven games and Dungeon-Crawlers are not my thing, though I admire and respect all the effort the creators put in creating those stories. I tried Gloomhaven and I just did not have the feeling I was playing a board game, I sold Near and Far because I got bored having to look through that book the whole time, the same with This War of Mine, but in my younger years I also did not like Final Fantasy because I did not have the feeling I was playing a computergame.
12 chapters done. 12 different encounters (boss fights) mechanism… real tactics and wonderful adventures with choices and stress, emotions…
After 2 months of constant HC playing and 3 weeks pause we are back in and hungry for 2nd playthrough. Hands down my favorite board game.
we are on chapter 13 now and right not its my top one game out of the 200 games I own(or did play) and I have only the standee version with 3D printed terrain. the story and the dark world is just my thing as it so much brings Berserk to mind.
How does this compare with Tainted Grail Kings of Ruin as far as gameplay, mechanics and story immersion? If you only could choose one, which would it be
By knocking BGG for their ranking system you are knocking yourself.
I am thankful that BGG uses their own experience as a function of the ranking and I give their number more weight than a nebulous mass of people that make up the average ranking. Just as I would give your opinion much more weight than the average person. I assume that to ensure that the rankings remain legitimate they weigh in on the game as experts. Putting in zeros??…. come on Alex…. you have no idea how BGG calculates their rankings. BGG input is important because so many people that like a game will give it a 10 which is lazy and throws off the scoring for those who carefully consider their ranking. The same happens if someone doesn't like a game they might give it a zero which is again very lazy. I believe that is an accurate assumption that most people don't want to put in the work which requires careful consideration and considerable experience with games in general.
I’m torn now. I was thinking of pulling out of my unsettled backing (don’t have 2 players) to either do kings of ruin or oathsworn. Any suggestions?
Some points I found very interesting with this game are as follow:
– The stories AND the encounters feel very different each chapters (only played the first 4 chapters);
– The rewards from encounters feel flavorful and exciting to get. They only have a little edge over the "common" items, nothing game breaking;
– Encounters require a certain level of tactics, but the turns are not too long. ( I don't consider our group to be hardcore board gamers );
– (a bit of a follow-up from point 1) the encounters are super interesting and feel fresh each time.
– The way they made lower amount of player not a burden. (their "companion" characters "simpler version of a full character controlled by a player" without making them weak); *
– This game make me care about what's happening and the characters (even the allies (very minor characters));
* Some elements I feel are weird for companions, but I guess, at this point, house rulings could fix them for me.
– Of course, there's some elements I don't like about this game, but what game is perfect right?