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Quick Look: Dusk Runners

Designers: Zsolt Haszpra, Boldizsár Németh
Artists: Mikul Mácsai, Gergely Nagy
Publisher: Dragonmount Press
Year Published: LATE PLEDGE (link at bottom of review!)

No. of Players: 1-4

Ages: 14+

Playing Time: 45-180 minutes.

Find more info HERE.

From the Publisher:

Take up the role of Dusk Runners, survivors and explorers who stay a few steps ahead of the night. Gather forgotten technologies so powerful they look like magic, battle monsters in the night to get stronger, make allies or enemies of survivor factions and learn ancient secrets in order to defeat the ultimate threat of the darkness: the Nightstalker.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of Dusk Runners. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Review:

Out of all the games I have ever covered, Dusk Runners is without hesitation the most incomplete I have ever experienced.

Now before you stop reading, I want to make clear that what I received from Dragonmount Press was in fact a prototype, and included a lot of materials that seemed to encompass what the final vision of the product will consist of, but nevertheless, quite a lot was left to my imagination to fill in the gaps.

But what visions remained in my head left me excited as to what the possibilities Dusk Runners will eventually bring to the table when complete.

For those of you who may not know, dungeon crawls are my favorite style of board games (though 4x games seem to be challenging and equaling this norm lately…). As such, it should come as no surprise that I would be intrigued by this sort of offering.

But conversely, there are already a lot of dungeon crawls out there, many of which are largely identical to each other in core aspects of utilizing d20 systems and limited character progression upon tile-based overlays. And by this reasoning, I should have little to no interest in adding yet another dungeon crawl to my collection when I still have many that I have purchased and not even played yet. 

But yet, here I am, politely requesting an opportunity from Dragonmount Press to try out their latest offering. Because at a cursory glance, they seemed to have procured something that I have cherished and desired for what seems like indefinite ages…

Now you may also not know that while I am a big fan of deck building games, I am also one of their fiercest critics, as many are way too derivative of say Dominion and lack distinctness to my own vantage. The most notable exceptions to this norm for me are Mage Knight and Shadowrun Crossfire, both of which are often in my top 10 favorite games of all time.

As just stated, I have always loved Mage Knight, but secretly (or not so secretly) always pined for a sort of way to incorporate its unique deck building system into a more traditional dungeon crawl, with an epic narrative, storyline, and encounters. My heart has desired this for at least 10 years now, and to no avail. 

There have been a few noble efforts to fill this void ; The most notorious of such instances came in the form of Etherfields during the pandemic, and for me and my group this was such an epic flop that I almost wish to stay away from any other subsequent attempts to create this sort of system entirely. Almost…

And, at a glance, Dusk Runners seems to carry much of a sort of similar vibe. Although not quite as evasive and enigmatic in their marketing as was the case with Etherfields, Dusk Runners seems quite deliberate in highlighting that this is a pure and classic dungeon crawl, clinging the the strengths of the genre and embracing the past with a new vision as opposed to uprooting the history of the genre all together in its employment of deck building. And while this may seem to be a harsh criticism for Etherfields, I do feel there is merit to it, as it sits on my shelf collecting dust. 

Now I must reiterate that Dusk Runners is the most “incomplete” game I have ever been sent. While its box is big, many of its cards are still needing art, the rule book still needs a bit of tweaking (although this is technically just a tutorial, so maybe I can let this slide), and a lot seems to be in general disarray from a certain standpoint. But bear with me, as I have a tremendous amount of good to highlight in spite of these shortcomings, and I can see what the Big Picture entails. 

As such , keep in mind that the elements that follow are just mere snippets of what the full game seems like it will end up being.

—The most apt and focused description I can make of Dusk Runners thus far is that it combines virtually all of the best features of my favorite board games and dungeon crawls into one, singular experience.

That is about as big as things get for me, folks.

Among these big names that it resembles are :

—Mage Knight 

—Shadowrun: Crossfire

—Dungeons of Infinity

—Space Kraken

Let me quickly elaborate these parallels :

—Mage Knight : Monster tokens almost exactly resemble those in Dusk Runners, so combat can feel familiar. Limited card use (will explain later). Exploration.

—Dungeons of Infinity : Square tiles. Persistent effects on tiles, with both enemies and items available on them. Can attack enemy tiles from range. And there is a persistent threat hunting you throughout games (Dungeon Lord in Dungeons of Infinity, Night Stalker in Dusk Runners). Also exploration.

—Shadowrun: Crossfire : Also a deck builder that highlights a limited number of cards in your deck.  Four very distinct roles and play styles. 

—Space Kraken. Okay, may seem stretchy in terms of gameplay at a glance, but both games are very rogue-like, it would seem. Also, the artistic vibe feels totally the same. It can somehow convert both a dark yet somehow vibrant aesthetic. 

Now these are the elements of Dusk Runners that seem like they were dragged fresh out of the best games my collection has to offer. But, wait, there’s more…

Because despite drawing from my favorite elements of the past, Dusk Runners surprisingly manages to do a lot that is totally unique as well…

The first thing I would like to point out is from the standpoint of functionality. The game comes with a variety of tools that make for a magical, transcendental experience straight from the get-go. 

Firstly, each player assumes a highly distinct and specialized role. No big surprise there, we already said that. One is a fighter type, the other may be a wilderness survivalist /ranger archetype, and yet another may be a more roguey or tech-savvy exhibition. You know, the usual sorts of archetypes.

Each will get their own custom deck with unique cards and items. But what is really cool is each character will have their own colored sleeves so that as players acquire more cards, they can clearly identify their ever-changing deck instantly as needed. For example, some sleeves have red backings, others have purple ,blue or orange, each aligning with a specific player. 

And each item or ability card can be flipped as it is upgraded to have new powers unlocked as time goes by. This is perhaps the most important gameplay innovation I have yet seen, as this leads to an insane amount of customization available since each card can effectively have double the use in not employing a standard , monolithic back art as is common in 99.99% of the other games out there….

Secondly is the fact that the tile system is again doubly revolutionary. While these sorts of systems aren’t unheard of (Mage Knight uses a sort of hex grid, Dungeons of Infinity square tiles), how Dusk Runners does it, steals the show. Each tile (well, square card, actually) is essentially layered into a plastic tray piece that can interlock with other tray pieces. At a most basic level, this keeps tiles from moving , and that alone would be considered outstanding in its own right. But add to that the fact that each tray piece has a storage compartment that can hold other important quest items/cards in a dedicated space UNDERNEATH the map card and you’ve got something beyond mere functionality ; this is something superlative.

Moreover, I discovered another added benefit to this quite by accident when attempting to play this demo, when running out of space and needing to stage the position of my game to better depict things in photos for the purposes of this review. At the time of my play-through, I had left a rather messy section of my game table in clear view of any photos I was trying to take, and needed a solution. I didn’t want to have to clean up the table, no-no, that would have been too much trouble…but…what if…?

And I had the idea that I could maybe…just maybe…move the whole game since the pieces were all connected.

Could this work?

Absolutely. I just shifted the entire collection of connected game pieces in one easy move. Nothing came apart or became undone. I could then swiftly proceed to take my pictures and conclude my review.

I mean, I know that I have encountered similar situations in dungeon crawls running out of space and needing to consequentially readjust and reorient my play area in the past. Or even with 4x games. With Dusk Runners, this problem may just be mitigated entirely with zero fuss.

I’ll try to attach a video to show this procedure. 

Components, at a glance, all seem to be exemplary, though with this being a prototype, don’t hold me to this, as things may change during manufacturing. But all card stock and tokens were more than sufficient , with the tokens again matching Mage Knight’s precisely. 

Now, ahem, the gameplay?

Let’s talk about what stands out. But again, keep in mind these are impressions from what seems to be a very limited prototype, so I do not know how things will unfold over the course of a multi-leveled game campaign.

—The total lack of symmetry between players really stands out. Again, much like I described with my previously mentioned favorite games, each archetype seems unique in such a way that one will want to try them all at some point.

—The game really forces you to use your cards well from what I can gather. You will not amass a huge stockpile of cards akin to Dominion or Thunderstone, but rather each and every card will be important in both timing and execution. Save each card for exactly the right time if you can…

—However, take care not to run out of cards (and reshuffle) too often ; resting can bring new threats in the dark of night.

—A fun yet mildly complex system of attaining injuries. This part is highly immersive, and again, makes the peril feel quite palpable. 

—The manner in which how both items and abilities are used and refreshed is a pleasant change from how such things are often handled in games like this.

—The way deck building is used is totally distinct from any other game I have encountered in the way that it is implemented. Cards are used for both skill checks and combat, with each character trying to match up icons pertaining to their unique strengths against target challenges. The matching component almost (but not quite) resembles the use of icons in Shadowrun : Crossfire, but is done in a way that is reminiscent of the push-your-luck feel of the classic card game of 21. It is expected that each player knows the consistency and composition of their deck, and will be expected to first declare how many cards they will draw before each challenge. If they have sufficient matching symbols to the challenge after their declaration , they win. Otherwise, they lose the challenge. While you could in theory just simply declare to draw enough cards to absolutely declare an easy victory in all cases, remember that the game punishes you for resting too much through its Darkness cards, which are acquired whenever you need to reshuffle your deck. This mechanic is a highlight of how Dusk Runners creates magnificent tension.

— Tons of items and abilities that I discern so far, though most of this is eye candy for the purposes of this preview, as much of these luxuries were un-usable in the context of the tutorial.

—Brilliant use of branching pathways. Each quest or game may have multiple routes that lead to entirely different areas upon completion of the map, which consequently leads to different stories and encounters in the future, and it appears that taking one path will lock you into a totally different play through experience than if you had chosen another option, which seems like it will contribute to a massive amount of replay ability.  Different dungeon configurations seem pretty easy to set up, too , from what I can tell…

—limited (but creative) use of standees (as opposed to minis). This is a strength that will help save shelf space in the long run. The final version will use acrylic standees, which for me is a boon as it means I can go straight into playing instead of painting!

—I like how dice are mostly used by enemies to determine how much damage is dealt as opposed to whether or not your or their attacks hit. The aforementioned novel use of cards to make this determination makes things sooooo much more refreshing.

—After talking with the devs, it seems like Dusk Runners will also offer a one-off mode for times when you don’t want to be in campaign mode. Just like my favorite aspect of Dungeons of Infinity.

Weaknesses :

—As mentioned before, the version of Dusk Runners I received still seems like it needs quite a bit of fleshing out (mostly in terms of finishing up art design, and obviously seeing the complete story and structure of the game). Without these intact, I cannot really make a full report on anything other than to say that this game looks very promising. 

—Also , the rulebook may need to be carefully monitored for consistency and clarity of thought. Needless to say, though, I am so excited by this game that I will be volunteering to help edit this if needed!

—Again, the uncertainty of things tugs on me more than just a bit. Yes, things look superb at this juncture, but I still can’t quite shake that sense of looming dread Etherfields left me with years ago…

Closing thoughts: This is now one of the two most promising games I have seen this year. 

Part of me wants to squeal like a child with glee in anticipation of what the full game may end up encompassing in its final form ; it seems to bring together the best elements of my innermost desires into the most perfect campaign deck-building dungeon crawl ever.

I can’t help but feel that Dusk Runners will be the result that I have waited for for years, but yet, I have to really restrain myself from wanting to preemptively garnish too much praise from what is still a very much unfinished product at the time of this preview. There is indeed a lot that can alter between now and the games’ final release, and I have seen cases where games undergo some pretty wild swings for either better or worse while undergoing this process. 

But as I spend months hibernating in anticipation, I will take some solace in remembering that many and most of my current top 10 favorite games of all time came from very small developers. Dusk Runners seems to be one of such games that are driven as projects of passion, and that, for me, would be the greatest indication that this is the type of game that you should pull the trigger on if it sounds ever remotely interesting.  Because the wait for a second printing will be excruciating if the game ends up being anywhere near as good as I hope it will be when finished.

After reading Jazz’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Game Name is live for LATE PLEDGE on GAMEFOUND. Check it out and back it HERE.

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