Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven is a tactical RPG set in a medieval dark fantasy world, adapted from Isaac Childres’s board game. You lead a band of 2 to 4 mercenaries through dangerous dungeons, forests and caves, taking on work for anyone who can pay, from city officials to corrupt cultists. Its branching campaign puts your greed against your morality as you make difficult choices with life-or-death consequences.

Mercenaries and abilities

You can play alone or in online co-op for up to 4 players. The game has 17 unique characters, each with their own skills, and more than 1,000 abilities to master. Before each expedition, prepare your ability-card deck and choose a combination of mercenaries suited to the fight.

Tactical combat

Combat takes place in turns on hex-grid terrain. Each turn, you select two cards for each mercenary, using the top half of one and the bottom half of the other. Position your team to use the dungeon environment, set up combos and unleash powerful abilities. Cards are a limited resource as crucial as your life points, and running out can lead to exhaustion.

You improve your mercenaries with enhancements and perks, level-ups and new equipment. You can also seek powerful artifacts and buy the favor of the Great Oak.

Campaign and missions

The branching campaign contains 95 story missions. Powerful opponents compete for control of Gloomhaven, while others search for ancient crypts and forgotten artefacts; you can choose to side with the inhabitants, though it may not pay well.

Guildmaster is a separate adventure with more than 160 digital-exclusive missions, featuring new storylines, quests, maps and NPCs. Lead a guild of mercenaries through a region overrun by threats far worse than bandits, choose a team for each fight and follow the mercenaries’ character stories.