Gloomhaven Review for PlayStation 5

You probably don’t need me to tell you that Fall 2023 is absolutely stacked with promising releases of all kinds of genres. Reading that sentence probably reminded you of several upcoming games that have caught your eye (I know writing it did that for me), and the struggle to keep track of it all is daunting. Which is why I am proud to help bring light to high-quality releases that might be right up your alley, and Gloomhaven is one such release. Developers Flaming Fowl Studios have done an excellent job bringing Isaac Childres’ beloved tabletop game and the challenging card-based combat fans love to consoles.

Gloomhaven will see players take control of a group of mercenaries, each with their own unique abilities and roles, as they embark on quests throughout a dark fantasy realm. The game is a turn-based strategy that utilizes a card-based combat system, with each character having their own unique deck through which players can utilize their unique skills. At the beginning of each round, players will choose two cards per character, with the top and bottom half of each card representing a possible action the character can perform on their turn. On their turn, the character can only perform one half of each card, meaning that, if the player used the top half of one card, they can only use the bottom half of the second card and vice versa. Once played, the card will either be discarded or, depending on the ability, burned (more on this mechanic later) and the turn ends. In addition, each card has a number attached to it, with the number of the first card you pick determining the order of that character’s turn in a round.

This system allows players to plan the best course of action to synergize their parties abilities with each other and manipulate the battlefield to their advantage, and the burning system adds an extra bit of tension to combat. As mentioned earlier, cards will either be discarded or burned on use. Discarded cards can be recovered through a short or long rest at the cost of burning one card, but burned cards are unrecoverable. This system adds a sort of ticking clock to combat encounters that forces players to be as efficient as possible in battles before characters run out of usable moves. On top of this, short and long rests require the player to burn one of their discarded cards to recover their discarded cards, which further adds to the tension of combat encounters. Players can also have the option to discard or burn cards when a character is attacked to avoid taking damage, which adds a risk/reward element to combat that I appreciate.

If I had any issues with the combat, it would be the damage modifier system. When any character (both party members and enemies) makes an attack, the game will roll a number that generally ranged between -2 and 2 during my time with the game, and it will add that number to the attack. There are ways to influence this, such as giving characters advantage (where the game rolls twice and picks the higher of the two values) or disadvantage (where the game rolls twice and picks the lower of the two values), but I’m generally not a fan of chance playing a big roll in the combat system. Some plans can be screwed over by a bad roll, but as I said that’s more of a nitpick. The combat of Gloomhaven may seem daunting to pick up at first, but it is enticing to master.

The game has no shortage of content for players to try out. Not only does it have the original campaign of the game that boasts over 90 missions for players to try out, it also has a digital-only “Guildmaster” campaign that is designed to teach newcomers the basics of the game (and it’s what I played the most during my time with Gloomhaven). Guildmaster sees players traverse a large map with a wide variety of missions. On top of that, the game gives you a wide variety of challenges to complete that unlocks a wide variety of useful items and even unlockable characters for you to experiment with. Add in a multiplayer mode to test your skills against other players. Gloomhaven is a game that players will easily get lost in as they traverse dangerous dungeons and face off against the ancient horrors within.

I have my nitpicks with the game (the animations in battles can be a bit slow and the control scheme can be a bit difficult to get used to at first), but they’re ultimately minor in the face of Gloomhaven’s strengths. It’s an excellent strategy game with a complex card system that will have players endlessly hooked.

I give Gloomhaven an 8/10.

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Josh Freeman

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I love games and love talking about games. Some of my favorites include action games (both 2D and 3D), metroidvanias, roguelikes, shooters, and Indies.