Thursday, February 25, 2016

Horus Heresy Talisman

I was there the day Horus killed the Emperor. . .


I beat Horus Heresy Talisman tonight.  For anyone who is not familiar with the game, Talisman started out as a fantasy themed adventure board game that came out in 1983.  Fantasy Flight games made a Warhammer 40K version of the game called Relic about two or three years ago.  Then last week, a computerized version of Talisman was released on Steam, set in the Warhammer 30K universe.

30K Talisman is a reasonable amount of fun.  You start out with a Warlord, such as a primarch or other notable character.  By rolling dice, you move around the squares of the board, encountering potential friends, foes and curiosities.   As you defeat enemies and gain equipment, your character's stats improve, just like a role playing game.  Once you are strong enough, you will take a quest to achieve a challenging goal.  If successful you will be granted a Talisman, which will allow you to face the Emperor on Terra with Horus in a duel to the death.  

Once victorious, you will plunge the galaxy into chaos and darkness and cast down the false emperor from his golden throne.

Overall, a pretty good game despite some limitations.  The gameplay mechanics, while simple, can be a little mystifying at times.  It's also not quite as imaginative an experience as Relic is.  It's a little disappointing that only a certain number of warlords are included with the game, with additional characters available through DLC.  Moreover the game is too long for a single sitting and can drag on a bit if you are playing versus AI.  

Nevertheless, it remains a nicely packaged way to get the essence of a Horus Heresy RPG experience in a neatly arranged experience.  And you get to kill the Emperor! 


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