Leviathan Wilds
This year definitely belonged to cooperative games. Because I fought Demons in Massive Darkness 2 and Deliverance. I knocked down huge Kaiju’s in Primal the Awakening. I checked out what was going on under the inn in Tales from the Red Dragon Inn. I fled the darkness in Chronicles of Drunagor. I did some quick shopping in Tiny Epic Zombies and asked my wife if our cat can be a pilot in Sky Team. All of these games are great and really in terms of co-op games this was a very good year.
Therefore, I invite you to a review of Leviathan Wilds. One of the best co-op games I’ve played.
In Leviathan Wilds, we climb huge monsters to smash corruption crystals out of them. We will fight with our endurance, grip and the changing conditions these titans will serve us.
Climbing Guide
Each climber has his own deck of cards. At the beginning of the game we draw 3 cards and in our turn we will play one of them for action points. This allows us to move, jump, glide, strike crystals and sometimes even rest to regenerate our strength. In addition to this, we will also be able to play the remaining cards for their lower abilities. These are already so varied and depend on the chosen hero and character class. When we have completed our actions we move on to the Leviathan attack. At the end of our turn we draw up to 3 cards and the next player can go. We win when we smash all the crystals on the beast, and lose when at least one member of the team dies and after that we don’t manage to achieve our goal.
Colossally huge replayability
First and foremost, we have 17 different colossuses at our disposal. Our living climbing walls differ in the paths we can take, their abilities and practically each of these bosses has its own unique mechanics. The Spider, in addition to spreading Arachnophobia, deploys webs and tries to catch us in them. The debris cluster called Avalanche freezes us, and its body parts are spread all over the map. Larry the Lobster requires us to collect relics. Beholder winks at us for various interesting effects. Literally every monster is a different level of challenge, different threat cards and most importantly a lot of variety for us. There are even 2 of those fancy twin goats that jump over mountains while moving around the map all the time. The developers of this game really had a great imagination designing the opponents for us.
Heights of combinations
To create our climbing deck we add hero cards and one character class of our choice. We have 8 heroes and 8 character classes at our disposal. This gives us a lot of combinations. Considering that each hero and character class has its own special abilities. Just WOW. There are heroes who have a simple skill such as +1 to hit, but there are also some that provide special tokens for themselves or other players. The same is true of character classes. The more advanced ones require us to manage their mechanics better. However, it gives quite a bit of satisfaction. My favorites are Magus and Gambler. Magus has 3 magic tokens, which he spends to enhance his effects from the bottom of the cards. Playing as Gambler is just pure gambling. Because he flips his big coin and sometimes something extra will come in, and sometimes we will get fat nothing. Each profession is described by 3 stats. Mobility, support and breaking level. This will help us to mix everything in any way to find a good balance for the whole team. Although I will tell you that everything works well together anyway.
There is no pause
All right, but how is the gameplay? It’s simply awesome. Because seemingly it’s just climbing on circles and playing cards for action points. However, it makes a huge difference what we have in our hand at any given moment and what we want to do. Because we often have to adjust to the attacks of our opponents, who telegraph them with their card, which we reveal at the beginning of our turn. Then we know what awaits us and can think about how to avoid it. Threats also await us in the turn of our friends. But the best part is that we don’t stand helplessly watching the monster’s tentacle heading towards us. Because we can play cards at any time during the game. Even in the turn of our companions and just before the beast attacks. We are in the game all the time and can react to everything. Leviathan Wilds keeps us in suspense until the very end.
With cards we can also help our team members. Because we can also give someone an extra move or attack. I love such things in co-op games. In my opinion, more games should have such mechanics that we influence each other with our plays all the time.
Rotating aggression
I also really like the fact that at the beginning Leviathans use ordinary attacks. However, as the game progresses their attacks become more aggressive. It’s also cool that we can change the difficulty level of the game. It’s a simple system because we just move one cube to the left at the beginning of the game and that’s it. Although let’s rather not set ourselves up for an easy climb. Leviathans can give us quite a beating and that’s what I like about this game.
When we feel a little more confident then we can make the game even harder for ourselves. Because we can add additional mutations to the monsters. Then each of them gets an extra skill and further increases the difficulty level of this game. By the way, increasing its replayability. This is the kind of thing we love the most.
I am not clinging to the balance
The cool patent is that our deck is also our grip. Because when we run out of cards we just fall off. Therefore, all the time we have to take care of the balance of how much we want to push our actions and when we should rest. Many colossus attacks target our deck so we have to be careful not to suddenly fall to the very bottom. Although sometimes a planned fall is also good. Because, for example, we know that we will land on a safe rock shelf that provides at least a moment’s break.
Better cards in hand than 2 decks together
Leviathan Wilds is a 1 to 4 player game and works well in any configuration. Although, in my opinion, it is easiest on four climbers. Because then you can distribute all that boss damage well among the different heroes. The game also has an interestingly thought out solo mode. Where we operate 2 meeples simultaneously having one deck. I personally prefer to play with 2 hands because then each climber has his own mechanics and it’s well distributed.
Book map
As always the hit for me is the map in the form of a book and the bosses placed on them. Not only does it not take up too much space, it also makes game preparation quite quick. I also like the graphic style of the monsters, but the characters look quite specific. Rather not to my taste. The insert is also great, which, by the way, accommodates cards in sleeves. Though maybe don’t lay the game vertically. From the big pluses there is also a player board with printed actions and a place for inserting our cards.
Of such downsides, it’s sometimes hard to see where to place a particular dice or mushroom. They simply blend in too much with the background. However, such situations are quite rare and as there are more of us, someone will quickly point out our oversight.
The end of the journey
Leviathan Wilds is a love letter to fans of Shadow of the Colossus and boss battlers. It’s also one of the best co-op games I have ever played. Mainly due to the fact that we are constantly involved in achieving our goal. Even in the turn of other players. It’s this mutual help we can give out to each other that makes my co-op heart beat harder.
Although the gameplay is mostly about choosing the right path and destroying crystals, it’s these 17 Leviathans with their unique mechanics and the 64 character combinations we can create that makes such a cool and interesting variety. Leviathan Wilds works well with any team composition, and the map components in the form of a book further enhance the enjoyable feelings we get from climbing.
Final Verdict: Leviathan Wilds is a mountain of fun, the pinnacle of co-op games, and the heights of boss battling.
Pros
- Mountain of replayability
- 17 unique Leviathans and 64 character combinations
- Simple but engaging gameplay
- We are in the game all the time
- Our deck is our grip
- Works well with any group
- Variable difficulty level
- Book map
- Insert
Cons
- Sometimes is hard to go mushroom picking
[Game provided by Moon Crab Games]
