Board Game Skyrim

 I'll start with a disclaimer that I'm a big fan of PC Skyrim and have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in it. I bought the tabletop simply because the box had the word "Skyrim" on it.

 Here are my impressions after playing the first campaign solo, including learning and replaying the first chapter (because I didn't understand all the rules right away). In total, it took about 12 hours.

WHAT IS ENJOYABLE IN THE GAME

 — The atmosphere of "Skyrim" is perfectly conveyed. The art, the field (although it is huge), the game mats, the equipment, the quest markers... everything is perfectly in line with the spirit of Skyrim. It plays very atmospherically if you turn on the soundtrack from the original.

 - The battles are very simple, but quite fan-like - in this they are similar to the original. You have several attacks to choose from, and enemies have several types of armor. You roll the dice, subtract the armor rating and deal damage. During the course of the game, the loss increases, different types of attacks, status effects, armor appear... but the calculations do not become excessively complicated. You can make a thief build and make a free attack with 2X damage at the beginning of the battle, you can chop with a two-handed ax. For me, the simplicity of the fighting game is a plus, although to some people. Those who expected deep battles that require a lot of thinking will be disappointed.

 — There are both scripted quests and those drawn from the deck. In my opinion, this is quite an interesting feature. Once a villager gave me a quest to find a fugitive, for which I had to go back and forth in different locations. I did it in parallel with the main quest and as a result had to decide what to focus on. Desktop "Skyrim" has a lot of freedom of action. You can spend the entire game clearing dungeons and doing side quests, or you can follow the main story. Most likely, it is optimal to combine both, but there are always a lot of options. Also, losing a battle or failing a mission doesn't mean it's game over. It will just make your life more difficult.

 — There are a lot of side quests here: from the most primitive to those that branch and are performed in several stages. Sometimes very simple tasks (for example, helping a resident of a fortress) can open access to a much larger quest with a significant reward. It is very similar to the computer original. I really liked how well the quests and exploration of the surrounding world were developed here.

 — It is nice that you can easily change the level of difficulty of the game. As a person who does not like overly complex games, this option is useful for me.

 - All character classes play very differently, which increases replayability. True, the game forces you to pump according to a certain pattern (Nords are always melee fighters, Khajiits are thieves, etc.). You can, of course, do it your way, but then you will lose all class bonuses.

 — In battle and during skill checks, you can take risks using the "try your luck" mechanic. This adds tension and intrigue.

WHICH IS NOT VERY HAPPY

 - The rule book is a real horror. The rules are haphazardly scattered throughout the book, some nuances are explained to you even before the basic elements are explained, it is problematic to find the right rule (they are scattered throughout the actual rule book, the scenario book, and the training mode book). The tutorial book has a bunch of typos (wrong page numbers where the book refers to the main rulebook), etc. Overall, it's terrible. I eventually managed to make my way through these slums, but it wasn't easy. In most decks, I can more or less understand how the gameplay is set up after reading the rulebook, but not in this case. I had to watch the video walkthrough.

 - Crafting, upgrades and equipment enchantments are very poorly done from a thematic point of view. These mechanics are completely random - and the outcome depends entirely on what you are lucky enough to draw from the deck. Maybe I was just unlucky, but all my attempts at enchantment gave bonuses to magic, which is useless for my melee character. By the third chapter, I finally scored on charm, because I never got anything useful.

 The same goes for drawing gear cards from the appropriate decks (melee/magic/stealth) in cities: you might end up with something that's perfect for your build, or you might end up with garbage, and the outcome is unpredictable. You have to pay for drawing the card, and then pay extra for the actual purchase, which is a clear overkill. As a result, I introduced home rule (you can look at the top three cards of the deck and choose one for a fee) to reduce the role of randomness.

 — Layout instructions and quest descriptions are sometimes confusing. Yes, the rule book instructs you to take card 209 at the start of one of the quests. But the tutorial book says you draw this card at the end of your first turn. And at the end of the first turn, I thought I must have done something wrong, because I had no idea where to get that particular card. Also, when the game instructs you to remove cards from the game, you have to be very careful. If you need to draw a card that is not in the deck (because it has been removed from the game), then you draw the next card in order. For example, if card 102 is needed, but it is no longer available, you take 103. If 103 is not available, then 104, etc. During most quests, you remove several cards from the game. If you forget to remove any of them (I've had this happen twice), you'll be very confused by the results. And correcting the situation and finding out where and when you made a mistake will not be easy.

 — There is little artistic text in the quests. It's not a problem for me because I've spent countless hours in Skyrim on PC, but many may be disappointed by the fact that most quests only have one or two lines of art text. For a game with such an emphasis on story and atmosphere, this is a clear oversight.

 — Personally, the main minus for me is the crazy price of the game. The components are good, but for $140, I was hoping for more substantial stuff in the box than 6 minions and a bunch of cards. I have games in my collection that are $30-$50 cheaper that have trays with tons of minions, colorful tiles, thick company books, voice acting, etc. Compared to other games with massive campaigns and a similar price (like " Gloomy harbor" or Middara) the content of the desktop "Skyrim" is not impressive at all. And I am silent about the prices of 70-90 dollars for additions, and for the Upgrade Kit with a rather gloomy appearance of minnows ... for 90 dollars. I understand that the authors had to fork out for the franchise, but the kickstarter campaign looks like clear extortion.

 Overall, Skyrim is a fan game, but the price is way overpriced. I would give her a 7/10.