I chose it in this very forum as my top boardgame of the past five years. In that post I said I particularly love the card draw mechanic that allows you to tweak your deck during the rally phase – that’s a reference to scouting. Such a tough decision if your scouting brings you a success card that also has a great ability. Prepare the card to use the ability, or put the card on top of your deck to guarantee a success in the next test? It’s tempting to do the latter, even though I know the former is usually the better choice in the long run.
I also love the test mechanic itself, drawing x number of cards based on a type of skill, and then applying inspiration tokens, modifiers, or skills. The fear and slash cards that are harmful have this face-up-or-face-down thing that takes some getting used to, but it has grown on me. I like the medium weight of the game, and of course the IP. I haven’t bought any expansions but may do so.
I do feel that normal difficulty is a bit too brutal, and adventure (baby) mode is too easy. I just need to get better and stay on normal. Can’t imagine playing on hard. I needed to wrap my head around the fact that adventuring is truly the goal, it is not merely a hack-n-slash. If you spend all your time killing baddies, you may run out of time, so running away is sometimes a better option. In fact some players think the Sprint ability is the most important.
This BGG strategy post linked below has been helpful to my approach to the game. He stresses preparing success cards, but then using them as fast as possible so they’ll cycle back in to your deck. I tend to use those better card abilities sparingly, so they stay prepared for several turns – not good.
He also believes the Scout ability is even more important than Sprint. “Scout allows you to play the game and stops the game playing you.”