Y is for Yggdrasil Chronicles

By Ludonaute

Dustin and I played Yggdrasil at a gaming convention maybe 7 years back and couldn't get it out of our heads. We've since been unable to find a copy for under $300!! So when this one released, we were excited to give it a try.

 

Please ignore Rescue Riders in the background...

Players: 1-5
Time: 90 minutes
Ages: 14+
Theme: Norse Mythology
Mechanics: Co-Op, Dice Rolling, 3D Movement, Map Deformation

So how does this compare to the original? This version plays fairly similarly, but with an added 3D board and campaign mode.

3D board? How does that affect setup time and ease? Not too bad, actually. After the initial construction, the setup is pretty quick and simple.

How is the 3D board incorporated into the game? It's used in several ways. Each level of the board (there are three total) has 3 worlds on it. The middle level rotates so that the orientation of the three worlds on each level shift in relation to each other. This makes it a little more difficult to get where you want to go, as you can be easily thwarted with an unexpected rotation. The 3D board is also tall, so if you're vertically challenged, you may be sitting on your knees or standing up occasionally to see what's going on up there.

 

What is campaign mode like? Good question... We didn't actually try the campaign mode yet. And we only played the base game in easy mode. And let me just say that even in easy mode, it was quite punishing.

What do you mean? Well, we both spent the entire game almost dead. There aren't a whole lot of opportunities to heal. And this was in easy mode! Yikes... It's definitely not very forgiving. But in its defense, neither was the original-- This game wants you to be clever and strategic.

So how would you rate it? It's hard to say, because the holidays have cut into our playing time and we haven't had a chance to really give it a few good gos. So we're going to give it a 7/10 as a placeholder, but specifically for the easy mode of the base game. We definitely want to play more and see how it holds up in the campaign mode.