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The world of app assisted story-based games has been slowly growing over the last few years. For good reason. They don’t require the need of a game-master who would traditionally take the role of storyteller; they are easily accessible for players of any age and skill level and most importantly: they usually provide you with a memorable game experience.
But in a gaming landscape where app assisted mainstays such as Mansions of Madness exist in harmony with value for money juggernauts such as Destinies; where does Freelancers fit into your collection? The short answer is simple. It fits in right there, right next to them, offering a different experience than either of the others can provide.
The long answer is this…
Good To Know
With this being a story-based game, I will refrain from spoilers as much as possible during this review. The only thing I will brush on is how the first (tutorial) scenario ends which I will warn you when it is coming. But in case you somehow made it this far without realising it, this is an app assisted game. That means that it will read the story, scenarios, dialogue etc to you and you will use the app to progress the story and to input your actions and choices. As the website acts as an app client, any device can be used.
Whilst it is true that Freelancers requires an app (or the website), I must admit, it’s a damn good app. And if you download the app for offline use, it means you should be able to play the game at any time. Even if you have to blow the dust off the box in twenty years’ time – provided you still have the app installed. Of course, that is the caveat with every app-based game. Plaid Hat Games is one of the frontliners for games of this nature, so I expect the web client will run for many years to come, but of course, who knows when it will cease support.
Adventure is Nigh!
So, let’s not dilly dally around the proverbial bush for this one. Freelancers is fun. It uses the crossroads system. Which (if you are unaware) is the system in place for Forgotten Waters and soon to be released Wandering Galaxy. Or you know, previously released depending on when you read this review. When the app takes the story to a new location, you will turn to a specific page in the story book. This will give you a really pretty splash art page for the location and a list of choices that you can place your character’s standee on. Once everyone has decided on what they want to do in the location, the app progresses down the list one by one and gives each player individual situations and scenarios to deal with. These moments are what makes the game enjoyable as they can shift and change depending on what race people are playing as, what class they are and if there are multiple characters at the location. It also gives each player agency in their own characters as they are in control of their own scenarios.
That leads me nicely onto what is arguably the biggest selling point of Freelancers. The way in which you create your character is very unique. You will select a race from one stack and a class from the other stack. Smash them together and it gives you your character. You can pick yourself but I think it is more fun to choose at random. You could end up playing as something generic like an elf cleric. Or you could end up playing as something pretty mad like an imp divorcee. Or a troll friar. This makes the game feel so fresh at times, especially if you enjoy the roleplaying aspect of games like this. This is already a stark contrast to the other games of its ilk. Everyone in Mansions of Madness are just random humans. Destinies’ characters are all just random medieval humans. Being able to play as a drunk stick insect is a breath of fresh air that I did not know I needed. Another thing that I love about Freelancers is the distribution of roles. These roles help tie in the necessary upkeep of the game with the immersion of play. The game master is basically the one that controls the app. The bookkeeper is in control of the story book and reads the resolutions and turns to new pages. The cartographer has the map and is in control of marking it and knowing where the party is. The medic keeps track of the party’s wound track. The scout keeps track of the threat tracker. The lookout is in control of the location dial which comes into play during specific encounters. The influencer takes control of the influence track (player order). I love this as it takes the weight off one person who usually ends up keeping track of everything during story driven games and distributes the responsibilities. Some of them are also really simple and can be given to younger players or newer gamers. Of course, playing with smaller groups means you will have a few roles, but some of them work hand in hand with each other.
Apart from the choices you make, the main way you interact with this game is when you do dice roles for checks. You will be using a traditional dice set. This gives you another use for those expensive dice sets you have been collecting for not reason. But the hook here is that you need to level up your individual character traits in order to use the bigger dies. I love this system. It condenses the systems that you would usually see in a roleplaying game such as Dungeons and Dragons, and ‘gamifies’ it into a simple and easy to understand levelling up mechanic.
The final thing I will touch on (in fear of running this review too long) is the rule book and tutorial. Both of which are absolutely outstanding. They are both incredibly approachable and eases you into the game and its systems naturally and smoothly. After the set up and tutorial were done, I was left with no questions about the game. And that is a very rare thing indeed.
Off the Beaten Path
It is important to note that this is a 3-player minimum game. Whilst it is probably obvious to most, it wasn’t to me. Having played other app driven narrative games that are all playable at 2, I just presumed this one was too. It was a comical experience setting up a dummy character though. We decided to set up a dummy character and made a joke about the cat playing with us. Pulling out a random race gave us the feline race which was comical. There is a mechanic in the game where you can ask other players to aid you in a challenge roll. So, we made a rule that we would roll a die to see if the dummy character would help or not. Every single time I rolled; the character refused. Every time my partner rolled; the character accepted. Whilst this made for a comical experience, the game itself was hindered by this. I put this out there as I know some people set up dummy characters for games like this to play at 2 players. But I would suggest running two characters instead if you do wish to play at 2 players. Even if this would take away from the immersion and role-playing aspects.
If you are overly sensitive to spoilers, skip to the next paragraph. One thing that I really enjoyed in Freelancers was the writing. I really loved how your race and class tied into the scenarios. At character creation, you fill in the blanks for you character such as favourite long object or write in the name of another player’s character. I loved how these choices were weaved into the storytelling at times. So, it was really disheartening when the several hour long first session scenario ended with a quippy, one liner, stupid joke. It just betrayed the immersion and left a sour note in my mouth. This kind of ending may appeal to a younger generation of player though I suppose.
One of the biggest issues I have with Freelancers is the lack of reusable materials in a game that begs to be replayed. The race and class sheets are all paper and there are not that many of each. And there are more of some than there are others which makes no sense. Best make sure you use a pencil so you can rub out the memories you made with a character. This makes me sad as I am the kind of person that keeps the used score sheets in the likes of Kingdomino or heck, even scraps of paper used for words in the likes of Boggle. I do this so that I can look back at them in consequent games to see who wins most or to see what score I received last. Having to rub out entire characters that I got invested in with their treasures and earned titles makes me sad. I have neither a printer nor a laminator to combat this issue. Pour one out for Klyve-Akk the Stilt-Kin Warrior, proud member of the wall of shame.
It is worth noting that there is a lack of missions available. It is possible for the likes of Mansions of Madness to add new scenarios (official and fan made) due to the nature of the modular tiles that make up a scenario’s location. This is not possible with Freelancers due to the nature of the story book. Thankfully Freelancers is not heavy on the wallet, so this isn’t a major factor. But one worth mentioning.
Also, the dials on the lookout board are incredibly loose. This makes it really easy to loose track of several things that the board is used for such as boss health.
Adventure is Nigh! … Again!
OK. So, I lied. I have a few more great things to say about Freelancers. Just a few more though I promise! This will end up being one of my lengthier reviews, but I just have so much to say about this game!
I mentioned briefly about how well the writing is in this game. And how your character creation can tie into the story at times. It was woven into the paragraph with the spoiler in it, in case you are confused. I just wanted to elaborate on this a little with an example that had me beaming. So, in my first game I played as a Stilt-Kin which is an insectoid race. At one point, I had the option to eat a fly for some reason. I shrugged and adopted a ‘why not’ attitude. The best thing about this encounter was that the app knew it was my character in this scenario, and promptly reminded me that I was an insect myself. The app then bestowed upon me the ‘cannibal’ title which I needed to write on my character sheet as a constant reminder.
There are lots of little things about Freelancers that make me smile. Each scenario is a few hours long. Even longer with more players. The game includes a save sheet printed on the back of the map sheets. This helps you pack the game away and come back to it at a later date. There is also a splash page in the back of the rulebook where characters with the most titles can etch their names; forever leaving their names in the annals of history. This is a nice little in-universe flavour that adds to the legacy of your character. I just find it a shame that this is in contrast to the one-shot nature of each scenario. I would have loved the option for a longer campaign to stick with a character for longer than a single scenario.
… I told you it was a long answer. Where Mansions of Madness leaves your wallet screaming for mercy and where Destinies lacks in replayability, Freelancers stands tall. It offers a delightfully colourful adventure that is rife with great writing, memorable characters and engaging scenarios. It is very accessible for players of any age or skill level and offers replayability in the form of crafting new and unique character combinations to run through the different missions. It is fully voice acted and acted well at that. The only drawbacks I have with Freelancers are more personal gripes than knocks against the game itself.
If you enjoy story driven games, have younger gamers in your group or even looking to bridge the gap between your RPG group and game group then I think Freelancers will scratch an itch you may not know you have. I really do recommend you give this one a try.
