Review of The Dreamlands

Blurb from the publisher: 'Dream and reality become one!

The Dreamlands expansion brings the Dreamlands side board into the fold, opening strange portals that lead from the waking world to the land of dreams. Eight courageous new investigators join the cast of heroes who would defend the world against ever-increasing danger, joined by such stalwart allies as the enigmatic Randolph Carter. Bring mind-warping spells, awe inspiring talents, and reality-defying artifacts to bear against the might of the Ancient Ones. Descend the steps of slumber to the Enchanted Wood and into the fantastical realm of the Dreamlands!'

What you get: Your USD 49,95 or equivalent will buy you The Dreamlands, the third big expansion for the wildly popular Eldritch Horror game line. It is reminded that the basic game, one of the most prominent cooperative games as well as one of the most popular games in the world (top-50 on BGG by the writing of this review), accommodates 1 to 8 players in around two hours.

In addition to the 8-page English rulebook that can be found in the publisher's website free of charge, the game also contains the following: 2 Ancient One sheets, 8 Investigator sheets, 24 Mythos cards, 130 Encounter cards, 12 Mystery cards, 6 Prelude cards, 4 Artifact cards, 16 Asset cards, 19 Condition cards, 12 Spell cards, 25 Unique Asset cards, 8 Investigator tokens with plastic stands, 6 Monster tokens, 5 Epic Monster tokens, 4 Health and Sanity tokens, 7 Clue tokens, 12 Focus tokens, one Adventure token, one Dream-Quest token, 3 Dream Portal tokens, 4 Round Overview cards, and one Dreamlands side board.

Gameplay: Prelude cards were already introduced in Mountains Of Madness; new ones appear here with quite a few twists. They can be used randomly, chosen as desired, or not used at all. They alter the game from the setup already, before the start of the game. They might make the game slightly more difficult while making the Investigators more powerful, simplify game effects etc.

The Dreamlands includes Unique Assets, another rule innovation first introduced in Mountains Of madness. They are assets that cannot be acquired through an action like normal assets. They can only be obtained through Mythos cards, location encounters, Adventures or through other specific means.

Just like many other expansions, the present one includes Mystery, a mechanic that can lead to different effects. Clues, Gates, Monsters or even Health might need to be placed on the card.

The expansion's main attraction is the new Dreamlands side board. It can only be used either with Hypnos as the main adversary or with the Otherworldly Dreams prelude. Locations include the Enchanted Wood, Ulthar, the Moon, the Unknown Kadath and Celephaïs. The Dreamlands leak into the real world, with dream portals that may lead directly to specific locations. As expected, each space has different location abilities that can be performed by those in that space. Additionally, these spaces have their own location encounters.

The game also includes an optional rule leading to Staged Difficulty, by using different types of Mythos cards when building stages one and two of the game. Insane Game Difficulty is also an option. Just build the Mythos deck with hard Mythos cards. Depending on the chosen Ancient One however, you might need additional expansions to pull this through.

The rulebook ends with a 7-question FAQ.

The strong points: The Dreamlands nails it when it comes to theme. Dream-Quests are a thematic way of enhancing the Hypnos Ancient One and the Otherworldly Dreams Prelude, even though mechanics-wise they are not that different from the different Encounter types. As expected, these encounters can only take place in some of the Dreamlands' locales. Travelling to the Dreamlands is even more easy than it was with the Egypt side board. Once there, however things can become a bit rougher. Dream Portals ensure that when on the table, this side board will see a lot of use. I can see this particular side board being used outside of its recommended prerequisites for that reason alone: it is easy to both go there and return. How much help one can get there however really depends upon the Ancient One he is facing.

The Dreamlands board notwithstanding, the vast majority of this expansion's new elements can be used with any adversary and prelude. The additional cards add a lot of flavour to the game, while at the same time increasing variety and replayability. The more cards I see as options in each location, the better. I also enjoyed how rules from the previous expansions are further supported here. Why was Focus omitted from Under The Pyramids in the first place? I am a big fan of the Prelude mechanic (I always play with it); providing more options is the way to go. As much as Impairment makes the game harder, I enjoy it. It adds to the vulnerability of the Investigators and the overall feel of the game.

Hypnos and Atlach-Nacha are tough. Hypnos has 9 Doom only; there's hardly enough time to prepare! Rest doesn't regenerate both health and sanity. Good grief! Atlach-Nacha isn't any easier. If you are disgusted of spiders, you will have the hell of a theme riding on the mechanics.

Many of the new characters are particularly intriguing. Those who have been playing Arkham Horror before might recognize some of them. My favourite in this expansion would be Kate Winthrop, the scientist. Buff up her observation if possible, and send her to gates to discard even tough monsters.

Component quality is on par with the basic game, namely it is excellent. Fantasy Flight Games didn't face any trouble providing surreal, mesmerizing, dream-like imagery and texts.

The weak points: If you own the previous two big expansions, you have probably discerned the design pattern. The Dreamlands doesn't introduce any new rules whatsoever. It repeats some rules, and it even makes others reappear (the Focus rule created in Mountains Of Madness was not repeated in Under The Pyramids). The sideboard and all the paraphernalia it adds make the game substantially slower. That is not necessarily a bad thing; I enjoy engaged gaming experiences. Yet, complex and engaging is one thing; long and convoluted is another. The new board doesn't behave in the same way as the main one, leading the light-hearted gamers amongst us to perceive it as an unnecessary complication. I also stated how it will see very few plays. I don't mind it that much, to be honest. What I find quaint is that the expansion is thematically based on it, yet it doesn't anchor the game more convincingly on it. That's the third time that a board is only good enough for one out of the two Ancient Ones it accompanies, plus one out of the six Prelude cards. That's 2 out of 8, or a 25% overall usability. I feel it should have been at least double that.

As with every other expansion, mechanics-wise, the inclusion of many more and different cards dilutes the initial deck composition. The game is likely to get longer, seeing how more encounters lead to additional complications, additional randomness and missed turns. I already covered that in the strong points: I do enjoy a harder challenge, as long as it is well-structured and it is not a result of randomness or poor engineering. The Dreamlands expansion does not get all the details right; I will use the limited usability of Investigators like I did in previous expansions as an example. There are three of them whose powers relate to the systematic appearance of particular Conditions in the game. Yet, if your are not Injured, Ill, Mad, or the Talent condition does not see as much use, the Doctor, the Psychologist and the Student are substantially less effective. When is that sure to happen? When you mix more and more expansions, or when you play against Ancient Ones that have nothing to do with these conditions. This is just an example, mind you. It can be seen on many other occasions (e.g. in cards), both in this expansion as well as others. I understand how hard it is to get something like this right. When obvious instances however of limited usability occur, I would have appreciated clear instructions about which expansions to use together and which to omit, in order for card draws to remain statistically relevant. I won't tire of repeating that an Eldritch Horror guide tackling exactly that would be a great product.

The more expansions for Eldritch Horror one has, the more obvious it is that the material cannot fit in the basic box alone. I am now using two boxes for the game and six out of the eight expansions. If you are space-starved, storage of this game and its expansions is an issue. I start wondering whether it makes commercial sense for Fantasy Flight Games to produce a box as big as the one in Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition without any contents, but just with the correct arrangements and inserts in order to contain this game's spiraling demands.

Eldritch Horror already takes quite the space on the table. If you are playing with the Dreamlands board also in use, you'd better have access to a very big table. If you want to utilise both the present side board as well as the Antarctic or the Egptian one (by using the relevant opponent from one and the Prelude from the other), I suggest you rent a dance hall. No, you can't use all three at the same time. I mean, you can, but game-wise there will be very limited reason for the Investigators to endeavour to at least one of the boards.

For what the present expansion contains, the price tag is steep, and pretty close to that of the basic game. Shop around before you invest in it.

Conclusion: The Dreamlands is a solid expansion; it is clear that Fantasy Flight knows what it's doing. Mechanically it does not introduce any novelty whatsoever, while thematically it occupies the same spot as its source material does within the Mythos. It is more hopeful and fantastic, as opposed to maddening and despair-inducing. Those into Eldritch Horror do not want to miss it, especially if don't own other expansions out there.

For more info on The Dreamlands and the whole Eldritch Horror game line, visit Fantasy Flight Games at https://www.fantasyflightgames.com.

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