Descent Journeys in the Dark

by Fantasy Flight Games

Product Features

• A perilous game of dungeon exploration
• Take on the role of Overlord or Hero
• Age: 12+
• Number of Players: 2 - 5
• Playing Time: 2 - 4 hrs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 23.2 x 11.8 inches ; 7.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: 1589942736
• Item model number: VA11
• Manufacturer recommended age: 12 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,299 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

In Descent: Journeys in the Dark, heroes explore the corridors, chambers, and caverns that exist below the surface of the world, gathering equipment and treasure, battling monsters, and working together as a team to complete their quest. Can you survive the dark?

Product Description

Across the land, courageous heroes delve into shadowed dungeons, journey to lost cities, and explore forgotten ruins. In the darkest corners of the world, these heroes confront deadly and terrifying monsters, including Skeletons, Hell Hounds, Giants, Demons, and Dragons. For those few who survive, the rewards are many. Victorious heroes return from the treacherous dungeons with ancient magics, bags of gold, and powerful weapons and artifacts. In Descent: Journeys in the Dark, you play one of these daring adventurers. Armed with mighty weapons and powerful abilities, you venture into the dungeon to battle monsters, escape deadly traps, discover lost treasures, and ultimately, confront and defeat the evil masters that dwell in the hidden places. Can you survive the dark?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun game, October 4, 2009

By 

Chad L. Beach (Littleton, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Descent Journeys in the Dark (Kitchen)

Have sat down with friends twice now and played this game. We are all long time gamers and are familiar with fantasy flight's way of doing things which no doubt helped us learning this game. That being said, the only negative thing I can say about this game is that it takes a long time to setup, and can be slow until you have really got the rules down. Once you have a handle on how things work though, battles are fast and challenging. So far I have always been the overlord, and have enjoyed it. The heroes all seem to enjoy it as well. The same guys that complain in other games whine about the overlord being too powerful, but it really seems well balanced. I am looking forward to playing more and if we continue having fun in the long run (which I see as a very likely possibility), I will be getting the expansions as well.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dungeon Crawling At Its Finest, September 25, 2010

By 

N. Leonardi (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Descent Journeys in the Dark (Kitchen)

Descent is one of the best buys I have made in a long time. I'm an old-school dungeon crawler, with my roots in games like Hero Quest, which whiled away many hours of my youth. This game is what happens if you take a game like HQ and ramp it up about 10 levels of awesome.

The game is expensive, yes, but the components are of extremely high quality. I've probably put over 100 hours of play into this game in the past few months and the pieces are still holding up remarkably well. The plastic figurines are durable and look really cool, especially when painted. There is an excellent variety in both heroes and monsters which keeps things fresh. The customer service from FFG is also very good; I discovered a missing figurine from one of the expansions and a replacement one was mailed to me within a week from FFG

There are about a billion pieces to this game (by far more than to any other I've ever played), and you definitely need some kind of sturdy storage box with a good filing system to keep it all organized (I use plastic baggies). The game is also very long; I'd say an average of about 4 hours for a single quest from set-up to take down (although depending on the quest I've had some go for as few as 2.5 hours and others for as long as 6!). It can get a bit tedious at times, especially in the longer quests, but if you have a strong Overlord player, the pace of the game can be managed well depending on the skill level of your heroes.

The biggest downside to this game is that it is horribly, hideously unbalanced in favor of the Overlord. If you have an Overlord who has a good grasp on strategy and play using the default rules, there is no way the Overlord will lose. It's a bit ridiculous, really. The good news is that it's easy to fix that; I've instituted some house rules that balance things out nicely. It took a fair amount of time and effort to get to the point where the game is balanced, though, and that was a bit annoying to say the least.

Overall this is an excellent game, although not really one for a casual gamer with the steep price tag and very long play time. If you get into longer games, though, Descent is an excellent bang for your buck and will keep you entertained for a very long time.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haven't Seen My Son Since His Birthday, November 2, 2009

By 

TammyN (St. Petersburg, FL USA) - See all my reviews

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Descent Journeys in the Dark (Kitchen)

I bought this game for my son for his birthday and haven't seen him since. He and his friends have enjoyed hours of playing. They've actually left their computer games to play this and have had so much fun doing it. The personal interaction and challenges the game provides are a major plus.