Oathsworn Into the Deepwood

What happens when you blend genuine passion, ample resources, and the finest practices from top-tier board games while adding a dash of innovation? You get ‘Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood.’ Lately, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding this game. Many players are scouring the second-hand market, while others eagerly await the upcoming Kickstarter reprint campaign in October. So, is ‘Oathsworn’ the game for you? Let’s dive into our candid and meticulous review. Please note that this video contains no spoilers. However, we’ll discuss some aspects in general terms to ensure we don’t spoil the fun.

The Story We’ve Been Yearning For

After experiencing ‘Mortum,’ we believed it would be a while before another game matched its level of storytelling. However, ‘Oathsworn’ proved us wrong. The world depicted here is nearly devoured by the Deepwood, a living forest teeming with horrors and beasts that few can withstand. Humanity teeters on the brink of extinction until a life-saving revelation is made—salt can provide some protection against the forest’s onslaught. In these dire times, a Free Company emerges, training select individuals, and even other intelligent humanoid creatures that populate this world, to combat the Deepwood’s terrors.

We often liken campaign board game plots to the ‘Witcher’ Saga, and ‘Oathsworn’ comes remarkably close to it. Skilled heroes, battling monsters for a fee, in a bleak medieval world fraught with inexplicable occurrences that unleash horrors on its inhabitants, creating a desperate quest for refuge? ‘Witcher’ serves as a great source of inspiration, but ‘Oathsworn’ crafts its own unique, original, and captivating narrative. Many elements of the story are exceptionally well-written, immersing players to the point where they feel like active participants. The full voiceover, delivered by James Cosmo, perfectly complements the setting. The friends you’ll encounter, the obstacles you’ll face, and the choices you’ll make place ‘Oathsworn’ among the pinnacle of campaign games.

Mechanics Derived from the Best and Refined

To encapsulate the mechanics during enemy encounters, we’d say ‘Oathsworn’ is a fusion of ‘Gloomhaven’ and ‘Kingdom Death,’ seasoned with innovative elements and streamlined for accessibility, despite the multitude of factors to consider. Most actions in boss encounters are executed by playing unique cards for each class. These cards often offer multiple choices when played, and after their use, they must be placed strategically on your hero board to track cooldowns referred to as ‘battle flow.’ The ingenious twist here is that cooldowns don’t naturally progress—moving cards from spaces 3, 2, or 1 towards zero requires the use of battle flow tokens or playing other cards at the right moment. The initial learning curve may seem daunting, but once mastered, the satisfaction of executing a well-devised strategy is priceless.

You have the freedom to engage foes and pass tests using cards, dice, or a combination of both, but we believe that relying solely on cards provides the most strategic and controlled experience. The cards used for attacks and tests are reminiscent of those in ‘Gloomhaven.’ However, they’re divided into four separate decks, with the decks growing in potency as they progress towards the darker end of the spectrum. Nevertheless, each deck contains an equal number of blank cards. Two blanks signify a complete miss, while criticals grant the privilege of drawing additional cards. There’s more to this mechanic, making it even more balanced and engrossing, but we’ll leave it to you to discover. Damage allocation is straightforward. Damage is divided by the value of your armor, with the result rounded down to determine the final hit points deducted. In practical terms, if your armor exceeds the damage by at least one point, you sustain no damage at all, and the rest of the calculation is straightforward, thanks to rounding down.

In addition to this, you’ll have to consider your positioning relative to the enemy, specific keywords, cone and area attacks, wave attacks, knockback, obstacles, pushing, throwing, and much more. Reaction cards come into play to assist in countering enemy attacks, and unique item skills affect you, your fellow players, and the overall board. We could delve into more details, but we’ll refrain from revealing too much, such as how allies function. Despite this array of complexities and the introduction of more mechanics throughout the campaign, most rules and mechanics become easily digestible after the initial chapter, perhaps two.

Creativity at Every Turn

Each encounter introduces an entirely different boss, complete with unique board setups and mechanics. The game’s narrative also unfolds with surprises and new mechanics introduced during play. Without divulging spoilers, we can confirm that playing through the story isn’t a mere rinse-and-repeat experience; expect a variety of twists, both minor and major. We’re astonished at how many ingenious references from other board games, video games, and literature were incorporated to craft an engaging story.

The Perplexing Class Selection

Every class in ‘Oathsworn’ is meticulously designed, from their backgrounds and visual art to their distinctive playstyles. We spent over an hour agonizing over our initial party composition because each class is distinct enough to breathe new life into the game. While you may encounter familiar archetypes like tanks, witches, and rangers, each class exhibits enough uniqueness to prevent boredom. Our initial party comprised Ursus, a warrior bear capable of dishing out heavy damage and tanking when necessary; a Ranger from the A’Denrdi race with the ability to grow arrows within her body; a Huntress accompanied by two massive falcons, and a grim Priest, adept at both healing comrades and pummeling enemies with a hammer. Every class promises a good time, and even if you’re not typically drawn to certain archetypes, ‘Oathsworn’ ensures you won’t be left unentertained.

Balanced Hero Development

The evolution of our party members is thoughtfully executed. It’s engaging enough to contemplate and discuss with your group but not so overwhelming that it forces you to scour the internet for optimal builds. The hero development framework actively encourages experimentation. Some elements, like permanent tokens, provide you with special buffs at the start of each chapter. These buffs are represented by tokens you can employ at your discretion. Every few chapters, your class gains access to new ability cards, which you can freely combine with ones from previous levels, provided you maintain exactly seven in your hand.

Hero progression also hinges on the items you acquire or discover during the campaign. These include common items that change from chapter to chapter, as well as unique rewards for defeating bosses. Following each encounter, you must relinquish at least one of the items equipped during the battle. This ingeniously encourages experimentation with different playstyles and approaches for each encounter. Your entire party also accumulates points over time, unlocking traits that aid in various aspects of the game, from expanding your backpack capacity to providing extra redraws during tests and bolstering your allies.

Free of Gloomhaven’s Drawbacks

While I’m an avid ‘Gloomhaven’ fan, I acknowledge its drawbacks, beyond the non-engaging story. Sticking to a single class until it retires grew tiresome over time, and some scenarios felt repetitive, lacking the twists that make each one unique. Plus, the setup time was extensive. Many years have passed since ‘Gloomhaven’s’ debut, and these issues have become more apparent with the plethora of games available.

In these regards, ‘Oathsowrn’ makes it clear that it’s designed for players to enjoy the game on their terms, without limitations. You can alter the classes you play and your party composition with each chapter, and it’s relatively straightforward to do so, allowing you to sample every class during the campaign. The game offers flexibility in several other aspects too. During encounters, you can take your turns in any order, even allowing players to act multiple times if everyone agrees. Setup is quick, and with the app, the entire session flows seamlessly, enabling you to concentrate on gameplay. Failed an encounter? No worries, you can skip it or replay it. Is your group experiencing player changes during the campaign? No problem. Players can depart and return later. Are you reluctant to commit significant time to saving your campaign progress? In ‘Oathsworn,’ it’s a breeze because much of the game resets between characters, and other elements requiring preservation are effortlessly managed or established at the outset of a new chapter.

Components that Dazzle

You can easily find images of the boards, maps, and other components online, but the majority of the miniatures representing bosses remain a mystery. Rest assured, many of them are both colossal and stunning. The creativity behind these bosses is commendable, as is the quality of their minis. The game’s components are rich and of such high quality that we can’t help but hope the developers reap the rewards during the upcoming campaign and future projects.

More Complexity Than Expected

A single chapter can span 4 to 5 hours, depending on your group’s decision-making pace. For some, this might pose an insurmountable obstacle. Fortunately, the designer anticipated this and divided each chapter into two parts: the shorter story segment, taking roughly an hour, and the boss encounter, which usually lasts 3 hours or more. This approach makes it convenient to play the story part, save your progress, and pick up the next session with the boss encounter.

One Chapter Takes an Entire Afternoon

While I’m an avid ‘Gloomhaven’ fan, I acknowledge its drawbacks, beyond the non-engaging story. Sticking to a single class until it retires grew tiresome over time, and some scenarios felt repetitive, lacking the twists that make each one unique. Plus, the setup time was extensive. Many years have passed since ‘Gloomhaven’s’ debut, and these issues have become more apparent with the plethora of games available.

In these regards, ‘Oathsowrn’ makes it clear that it’s designed for players to enjoy the game on their terms, without limitations. You can alter the classes you play and your party composition with each chapter, and it’s relatively straightforward to do so, allowing you to sample every class during the campaign. The game offers flexibility in several other aspects too. During encounters, you can take your turns in any order, even allowing players to act multiple times if everyone agrees. Setup is quick, and with the app, the entire session flows seamlessly, enabling you to concentrate on gameplay. Failed an encounter? No worries, you can skip it or replay it. Is your group experiencing player changes during the campaign? No problem. Players can depart and return later. Are you reluctant to commit significant time to saving your campaign progress? In ‘Oathsworn,’ it’s a breeze because much of the game resets between characters, and other elements requiring preservation are effortlessly managed or established at the outset of a new chapter.

Minor Bugs

Frankly, the only drawback we encountered was minor bugs and occasional ambiguities in the rules. The rulebook is quite well-written, surpassing the quality of ‘Gloomhaven’s’ rulebook, for example. However, it’s nearly certain that you’ll find yourself in situations where you’re not entirely sure if you’re executing a specific action correctly. Each encounter varies significantly, featuring unique mechanics and challenges. This means that each boss comes with their own boards and decks of cards, often laden with walls of text. While this level of detail is essential to facilitate smooth and immersive battles, sometimes it’s not entirely achievable due to minor bugs or a lack of clarification in certain aspects. These issues don’t significantly impact gameplay; they merely require players to occasionally consult the BoardGameGeek forum or follow their own interpretation of the rules without strictly adhering to the official rules. The reprint version will address these issues.

Verdict

The game has taken over our entire collection, and right from the start of the first chapter, Oathsworn is the only cooperative game we play. I don’t exaggerate when I say it’s probably the best story-driven campaign experience we’ve ever had. The story, narration, and plot filled with suspense are on par with those in Folklore, Mansion of Madness, and Mortum. The game’s mechanics draw from the best of the board game market and enhance them with clever innovations. In addition to these elements, it features tense and creative encounters, stunning miniatures, and numerous other aspects that make it an incredible game, likely to rise to the top of the BGG list.

What makes it even better are the smaller details, such as the open approach of the designers, their attentiveness to the community, and their efforts to make everything run smoothly, despite Oathsworn being a massive game. This includes a short setup, convenient storage, and a decent app with full, climactic voiceovers. We can’t think of any reason not to give Oathsworn a score of 10 out of 10, with only a half-point deduction for minor bugs and occasional lack of clarification that may slow down some encounters. This recognition also means that Oathsworn is receiving our highest honor, known as the Mark of the Beast, reserved for the best games on the market.

Scratches: 9.5/10