by: Michael Barnes

All it takes to screw up a remake is for the revisers to have enough hubris to think that they can improve on success. So it goes with Fantasy Flight Games’ reprint of the classic DUNGEONQUEST, one of my favorite games of all time. Unfortunately, Fantasy Flight has taken a simple, direct game and added extra mechanics while also tinkering with the setting, thereby losing the tone and charm of the beloved Games Workshop edition.

It is the product of a lapse in judgment on the part of both the publisher as well as the in-house designer tasked with redeveloping the game, and it is an unfortunate one for fans who have been waiting for a reprint for nearly twenty years. They’ve tried their damnedest to make it a ‘Fantasy Flight’ game and all that entails with the result emerging as another misstep in what has been a relatively unimpressive year for the firm. I’m tremendously disappointed to see such a great game with a celebrated legacy mishandled by the same company that brought us outstanding updates to ARKHAM HORROR, FURY OF DRACULA, COSMIC ENCOUNTER, and WARRIOR KNIGHTS.

For the unfamiliar who may be coming into this review without ever having had the thrill of drawing the bottomless pit on the first turn, DUNGEONQUEST pits one to four adventuring heroes against a tile-based dungeon below Dragonfire Castle. On each turn, a player selects an available path and draws a dungeon tile. Hopefully, nothing happens because this game is notoriously deadly, with rampaging monsters, instant kill potions, and all kinds of traps and pitfalls waiting to end your adventure prematurely.

In the center of the board rests a sleeping dragon guarding a treasure chamber. If a player is lucky enough to make it into the chamber, they can grab some loot and draw a card that either indicates that the dragon stays asleep or that she wakes up and burns the crap out of any would-be Bilbo Bagginses in the room. With loot in hand, the players have to also make it out of the dungeon somehow before night falls and anyone still loitering (or trapped) inside dies. It’s fun, simple, and always exciting. I doubt you’ll find a veteran of the game who doesn’t have at least one hilarious story about a session.

The good news about the FFG edition is that yes, it’s DUNGEONQUEST, and the lion’s share of the original game is present and accounted for and then some. You can plunk down your $60 and you’ll more or less get to play the game you’ve heard spoken of in reverent whispers for all these years. The fun of exploring the dungeon, finding treasure, and the jarring thrill of sudden death are still there. It’s also a nice looking edition, although realistically it isn’t any better produced or illustrated than the Games Workshop version from twenty years ago. The addition of cards that have descriptive text on them is a great touch that keeps you from having to reference the manual every turn, but I still miss the impractical corpse and coffin shaped cards of the old game.

Despite my reservations about this edition, there has been some very, very smart development work put into the new game, particularly in terms of how key expansion material such as the Catacombs has been holistically incorporated and rebalanced. In fact, I was skeptical about the decision to include the Catacombs because that has historically fallen into the “expansions that suck” category. But developer John Goodenough actually made the mechanic, which deviates from the tile-laying exploration, not only work but work almost too well. They have made it quite a bit easier to get in and out of the dungeon. Before, it was an absolute deathtrap. I would argue that the game as a whole is much easier and more forgiving than it ever was before due changes in balance and handicaps like “effort” tokens that make the die rolling more forgiving. Some may be pleased that actual victories are more likely, but others (including myself) will notice that the alleged “15% survival rate” boasted in the old rulebook is much higher these days.