To the monsters! – review of the game “Karak: Goblin”

Daggers, shields, helmets and hosts of monsters to annihilate. Can you get all the keys and reach the boss that will end the game?

Karak  is a very nice proposition for younger players, who can be introduced to adventure board games thanks to it. Exploring the dungeon with the help of matching tiles, searching for treasures and fighting monsters is great fun. The Albi publishing house has also decided to publish a card from this series, i.e.  Karak: Goblin . It is a standalone title in which I was hoping to feel the pleasant atmosphere of the tiled predecessor.

In this version, we also have a choice of a hero to play as – a wizard, warrior, sorcerer, thief, sword master or oracle. Everyone has a special skill, so the games, depending on the chosen character, will be slightly different from each other.

In three rows we lay out the cave cards marked I, II and III and the corresponding monsters – five cards from the closed deck and the key cards at the end of the line. Place the merchant, potions and arsenal above the creatures, while at the bottom you should find the X cave and a randomly selected Lord of All Monsters. Each player receives his character card and six starting actions, as well as five double-sided endurance cards. From our pile, which will be enlarged during the game, we take four cards for our hand.

During our turn, we can perform one of the three available actions. Purchases involve taking one of the three potions or an item that other players have left in the arsenal. You pay for everything with the cards in your hand, which you put back in the merchant area. The second possible action is to heal your hero. We have to do this if he has no more hearts, but we can make that move sooner. It consists in flipping all endurance cards with skulls so that they show hearts again.

Most often, we will decide to fight the monster. We choose the monster we want to face from the first row. We lay out the cards from our hand and count the sum of strength and acquired equipment from them. If it is equal to or greater than the monster’s toughness, we win. However, we still take damage equal to its strength, so defense points are also important. If we do not have enough of them, we turn the Stamina cards to the skull side. After winning the fight, we take the card to our discard pile if there is an action on its back, or we put it in front of us if it is inventory. Regardless of the result, the cards used are set aside and will be returned to us later. Then we draw cards up to four for our hand.

In order to be able to attack the monsters from the next level, we need to have the key from the previous level, i.e. defeat the key at the end of the row. After passing all levels, we can face the Lord of All Monsters and win.

Karak: Goblin is an easy deck builder, thanks to which our kids will be able to learn about the mechanics of building their own deck found in many card games. Getting the equipment after defeating the monster was very nice. We turn the card over and it’s ready. Indeed, I had the feeling that after killing the creature something fell out of it, like in a computer game.

Laying cards out of your hand requires planning and that is a huge plus. We cannot put everything we have in front of us. We must pay attention to the colors indicated on the right side of the card. Only these colors can be used as the next card. A simple rule of thumb, but it forces you to mess around and makes it harder to defeat monsters.

Creatures aren’t that easy to kill either. Depending on what is at the bottom of the card, we may have additional restrictions. Sometimes we won’t be able to place an item of a certain color or one that gives us defense points. Then we have to think not only about the color order, but also the icons. It is still an easy but very enjoyable puzzle with extra conditions to fulfill.

Graphically  Karak: Goblin is similar to his older brother. I don’t like the illustrations, but they don’t bother me either. They fit the game and the story, so they are consistent with what we do in the game. The symbols used are simple and intuitive, so you know immediately what is strength and defense and what is extra life. The case of items falling out of monsters was also very nice. On the left side of the creature, there are hints, which can be obtained after flipping the card. We do not have full information, but this is a hint that allows you to choose the monster that we would like to attack.

If I were to choose one of the two versions of the game, I would probably bet on the tile version, because board games are closer to me than card games. But it doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the title under review. Rather, I will not take it out for board game evenings with friends, because it is too simple for adults. However, if I want to explain to younger players what deckbuilding, acquiring equipment and adventure games are, this is a very good example of such a game.