I am not usually an expansion kind of guy. But lately I have been entering a phase of being pretty content with my game collection, so my eye has slowly drifted in the direction of expansions. I love the original Destinies game. Whilst I wish there were a few more scenarios in the core game, you can’t beat its value for money. But that is where expansions come in. Myth & Folklore is one of the several expansions released for Destinies that adds those much-needed extra scenarios.
What Is In The Box?
But is it worth it? Does Myth & Folklore deliver on the experience in the core box? Well, lets take a deeper look. To avoid too many spoilers, I will only talk about specifics from the first scenario.
So, the first thing worth covering is what you actually get for your money. This Expansion comes with 3 scenarios that sees you and up to 2 others embarking on personal quests in the setting of medieval France. And as the name of the expansion suggests, you will be interacting with some of France’s mythological creatures. The scenarios follow the same structure as those in the core game giving you 3 characters for each scenario: each with their own destinies to achieve. It also comes with a deck of new items that you can come across in your new adventures. There is also a new deck of location cards to go with the new scenarios and new minis to place on them. And that is it.
Did I deliberately leave out mentioning the rulebook? No. There isn’t one. I would have appreciated a simple slip of paper at least to let you know that one isn’t included or needed though. Especially given the fact that the back of the box states that there is one in the box.
How Does It Play?
If you have played the original Desitines (which, if you are here, I presume you have) then you know exactly how to play this expansion. It is the exact same. You load up the app, pick the expansion and then the app runs through the set up with you. I imagine this is why there is no rulebook included. Even though the other expansions do have rulebooks included.
The scenarios themselves are very fun. Whilst I loved the original Destinies’ scenarios, I enjoyed theses ones more. I love any kind of myths and folklore so this expansion just really vibed with me. Whilst the original did include things like a devil/imp, angels etc, the Christian overtones didn’t particularly captivate me. But coming up against or working for actual mythical characters such as Melusine just sings my tune. Whilst there is still some Christian undertones in places during this expansion, it is not the forefront of the story telling.
The gameplay loop of this game always has me coming back for more. I love the concept of being presented with a challenge that requires an item to solve and then the process of wondering whether or not your spattering of random items can be used. Then consequently discovering that no, a bottle of alcohol can not be used to dig up something from the ground. The downside of the system is that all information is open. So if another player has managed to pick up a more realistically usable item, they can swoop in on their turn to complete the encounter. The system evokes old-school styled point and click puzzle adventure feels for me. Like Simon the Sorcerer which have you trying to solve things in ludicrous ways, even though there is usually a simple solution. But maybe, juuuuust maybe…
Is It Worth It?
The great thing about Myth & Folklore is that if you enjoyed the core game, you will enjoy this expansion. No question. The downside is that it is the hardest of the expansions to get a hold of. With it not being readily available at retail it makes this the rarest of the expansions available for Destinies. Which is a damn shame because it is the theme that appealed to me the most, and imagine it is the same for a lot of you too.
The other thing that I don’t understand about this expansion is that you also need to use some of the item cards and minis from the base game in the scenarios. But this makes separating them a pain in the neck when you are finished playing. Especially because (as good as they are) a lot of the minis look the same. I can’t help but wonder if this would have sold better and been more easily accessible for people if it was standalone instead. Which would have been incredibly easy to achieve.
Final Thoughts
So, this has been some what of a smaller review. If you have read my reviews before then you will be familiar with how much I can write for small games. But I can’t talk about too much of this without ruining the story in the scenarios. But I think it is obvious that I recommend the Myth & Folklore expansion for Destinies. Mainly because it is simply just more of what I wanted from the base game. The scenarios’ stories are not particularly good for replayability as when you know where encounters and items are, then there is no getting around that knowledge. So having some new scenarios to dive into helps keep the game and its systems feeling fresh and relevant. Of course, with the expansion following the same format, this means I will be left wanting more some time soon. Luckily for me I happened to purchase Sea of Sand, Witchwood, All That Glitters, Bound By Fate, Character Trait modules and Adversity modules to help give me more scenarios. And add replayability to the core game. Stay tuned for more reviews for how many of these I can get away with reviewing here at Zatu! I may enjoy Destinies a little too much.
Long review made short: if you like Destinies, you will like Myth & Folklore. If you can find a copy or it makes its way to retail, I recommend adding it to your collection.
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