First Impressions: Talisman: Horus Heresy
I got some play time with the New Talisman: The Horus Heresy PC Game – Here are my First Impressions…
Hey BoLS Readers, AdamHarry here and I have a small confession to make. I’ve only played the board game Talisman a few times – and that was a LONG time ago. I mostly remember the rules and how to play, but what I remember most was a Dragon kicking the crap out of everyone playing. That thing was TOUGH. So forgive me for my hazy memory, but from what I remember – Talisman: The Horus Heresy is a pretty straight forward translation from the tabletop to your PC. Only this one is set during the Horus Heresy!
Now, this isn’t a full review. I want to put some more time in to the game first, but I did get some screen shots and I will say that I liked what I played! I was able to finish a 1v1 game. I played against myself – on both factions – so I could get a better grasp of the game play. I’ve yet to play it with some friends, but I can see this game being MUCH more intense because of the way the factions and mechanics work. But that’s for later…Onward to my First Impressions!
Talisman: The Horus Heresy
The Graphics in the game looked really well done. It’s not super flashy or animation heavy, but it’s got tons of great Horus Heresy Art and it’s all digitized – keep on reading and you’ll see what I mean.
The game is for 1 to 4 players and you are playing Loyalist (blue) vs Traitors (red). You’re mostly going planet hopping, but you CAN fight Warlord vs Warlord. If a player “dies” they respawn on their next player turn on a random planet with NO gear. Ouch. But that doesn’t mean your out of the game. Especially if you’re on a team. There is some strategy involved if you want work together to win.
Hero Selection
There are a TON of Loyalist Heroes to choose from as you can see. Most are from the Horus Heresy books and Artwork from Black Library, Forge World and Games Workshop…obviously. For the Loyalist, I went with Loken!
…and for the Traitors, as tempted as I was to go with Angron or Kharn, I went with Abaddon! Each character has a unique Warlord Trait – I wasn’t sure how those would really effect the game play so I didn’t bother studying it too much…that would cost me later.
Objective
The entire point of the game is to reach the Imperial Place, teleport to the Vengeful Spirit and defeat Horus or The Emperor. And they are BEAT STICKS so you better be ready for a fight!
Combat was quick and easy. The game rolls a D6 and you add your Combat bonuses which are based off what forces you’ve recruited and gear you have. There are other things that add to that, but that’s not super important. But don’t think combat is boring or there is no strategy – you have to decide if it’s worth the risk to even engage. Sometimes you don’t have a choice. You can also spend fate points to re-roll a die. Do you risk re-rolling your 3 hoping for a better score? What if you’re fighting another Warlord? Do you think they are going to burn a point and hope for that 6? Guess you’ll have to play to find out!
Combat isn’t just against Warlords – there are a ton of planets directly from the Horus Heresy Books that you’ll get to discover. Some of them have different effects. They can give you buffs, they can be combat, they can even make you lose a turn if you roll low… but you have to explore to get stronger so you can face your final challenge.
Will you be Victorious?
I know it’s not a full review – but I really like the game so far. Even as a quick Single Player experience. I like the art work, the mechanics were pretty simple to wrap my head around and I want to keep poking at it so that’s a good sign! There is also some meta-character progression. You get “XP” for playing as the same character and you get rewards. I wasn’t 100% sure as I only played the one quick game but that adds to the replay value! I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into multiplayer and I’ll let you all know my full thoughts once I get to do that. I think it will be a whole new ball game with more than 1 opponent! Wish me luck!
Talisman: The Horus Heresy is coming Feb. 22 to a PC near you!
