Second Look - Boardgame reviews in depth. Check out that cat.I’ve played a few deck-building games. Not all, but enough to know a fairly good one when I see it Demonslayer: Siege of Mt. Kunlin is a good one, if not a great one. Similar in my mind to Ascension, you’re using currency and attack power to buy cards and attack enemies. The difference here is that you’re fighting waves of enemies, each with an Overlord. Defeat all 7 waves and overlords and see who’s got the most points in the end. The game has several other really cool mechanics like each of the Sects players can play as. Each has different disciples, masters, and a sage to buy cards from. Each of these have a higher attack value and a special power, and each set plays a bit differently. There’s also Miasma cards that are sometimes added to your deck when you defeat a Heart-Eater. Most are pretty bad, but a few are actually helpful to keep in your deck. Add in the ability to use alchemy to create powerful artifacts, and you’ve got a few great layers of depth that don’t detract from the overall flow of the game.

demonslayerThe game is a bit long, but I’ve come to expect that from deck-builders. My son and I actually had the misfortune of drawing the toughest Overlord first, along with a wave of pretty tough Heart-Eaters. By the time we built our decks up enough to defeat the wave, the next 6 waves were MUCH easier in comparison. It didn’t detract from the fun, though. We tried really hard to beat that first wave, and were rewarded with 6 waves that were easy enough for us to play with different card combinations.

I have to admit that the game looked a bit more complicated at first glace of the rules that it turned out to be. In the end I was thoroughly impressed. Everything from the components, art, mechanics, and flow are really top notch. It’s a bit too early to say just yet, but this may replace Ascension as my favorite deck-builder. There’s a lot more meat to it and I’m really excited to see how EOS Press expands upon what they already have. New Sects, Overlords, and Heart-Eaters seem like a no-brainer, so I’m hoping we’ll see more releases soon.

A copy of Demonslayer was provided free for review by EOS Press.