Game Overview

Game Name: Leviathan Wilds
Publication Year: 2024
Designer: Justin Kemppainen
Artist: Samuel R. Shimota
Publisher: Moon Crab Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)

Unique climbers use multi-purpose cards to climb a chosen leviathan with its own set of skills and paths. Binding crystals must be destroyed to heal it, all while rage builds and challenging threats arise. Action-packed turns make for exciting victories and narrow escapes!

Decisions, Decisions

The choice in leviathan is the biggest aspect of setup. Although there are 17 types, there is no specific order required to unlock anything. Just growing complexities!

It made sense for me to start at the beginning to get a feel for the game mechanics. However, I like the flexibility to do whatever down the line and focus on my favorites.

Each leviathan has its own spread in this fantastic book, but they also feature unique abilities and even mechanics.

As an aside, note that the goal is not to kill the leviathans, but to help them by removing mysterious crystals. Neat!

Sage Advice to Begin

Not surprisingly, the Sage was to be my first leviathan. Wow! The colorful artwork really illustrates the scope and size of these beings. And they’re all so different!

My only slight gripe with this book is how small the spaces are. I ran into a little confusion about where dice could be reached from, but I went with the nearest space only.

The rules aren’t that complex, although learning the game left me with some questions that I had to look up quickly.

But beyond that initial confusion and frustration lay a wondrous world of giants I was about to explore..

Creating Characters

Another part of setup involves choosing characters. The included solo mode felt a little strange to me with the way it sort of simulated 1.5 characters in a cooperative game.

So I decided to simply play with 2 characters as if there were 2 players, and it worked out amazingly well!

There are a total of 8 climbers, along with 8 classes. By combining these sets, unique characters take shape.

Surprisingly, this resulted in character decks that were a mere 10 cards in size. Ah, but how wonderful these multi-purpose cards are! Absolutely awesome mechanic.

Finding Bits of Lore

My first play against the Sage was mostly to get a literal grip on the rules, which flowed nicely after a handful of turns. It was a lot harder than I expected, which was great!

Each leviathan includes a story card with some bits of information. These aren’t spoilers, but provide more insight into the world and what the climbers experience.

This enormous turtle was healed, and it came down to the very last few turns. So cool to see the climbers move!

I was impressed with the dynamic choices, too, and how much could be done with these small decks of cards.

A Flying Mender

Kestrel was one of my climbers, and they used the mender class to add a lot of support. Mobility, power, and support are helpfully ranked during character deck creation.

I stuck with the lowest complexities across the board. Some of the climbers and classes introduce really cool mechanics, though, and will be worth checking out!

As I played, I figured I would swap out my climbers. But I honestly love these seemingly simple characters so much.

The system is all scenario-based without any campaign play, so climbers can stay the same or change at any time.

Hazarding a Guess

This duo was rounded out by Hazard with the breaker class. Lots of power! She handled a lot of the blighted crystals, which put her in danger of being defeated.

If the health cube ever reaches the same space as blight or crosses over it, that signals the end for that climber.

However, this then initiatives a last chance effort, where the other climber has a single turn to win. Luckily, it never came down to that with my mediocre to decent planning!

Cards really do so much, though, and are important in all different kinds of ways. Never a dull moment!

Threat Assessment

A leviathan will always pose a threat at the start of the turn, which is a very neat element. In this way, a climber usually has a chance to get out of the way of some attacks.

The rage track slowly grows the threats over time, too. A full round involves flipping all 5 cards, then shuffling them and making the leviathan more enraged.

Enraged threat cards are more dangerous. In this example, both climbers may lose health instead of just one of them.

So cool! This is also how the difficulty level is controlled in terms of where the rage track begins. Very, very nice.

Onto the Sentinel

Comfortable with the rules and my extremely narrow victory with the Sage, it was time to move onto the next leviathan in the book. Look at that towering Sentinel!

Not only were there new threat cards to understand, but movement was much different here. Note all of the open spaces and the empty areas between the body parts.

Some threat cards push a climber. Landing in an open space results in a fall, which can be rather devastating!

Certain spaces can also harm a climber’s grip or lead to lost health. Planning upward mobility was a challenge.

Hazard’s First Injury

Although not every leviathan makes use of them, the injury cards are there to add complications. Hazard was exposed at one point, leaving her open to more damage.

I loved the thematic feel of these cards, along with the threat cards. The Sentinel roared, leading to damage. Imagine a climber getting knocked over from the noise!

Overall, this was a very engaging sort of puzzle. Managing a pair of characters felt right, too, without any confusion.

Although the game supports up to 4 climbers, using more in solo could add lots of overhead and reduce the fun.

Saving the Sentinel

Success! Actually, both Kestrel and Hazard were in terrible shape during the last round. I had to keep their health almost at maximum to avoid immediate defeat.

Striking the blighted crystals was an interesting choice, and I had to time it carefully. Yet the Sentinel dealt direct blight, which had me reevaluate my plans many times.

I loved it! There’s not too much more to say, except that I can’t wait to see the rest of the leviathans and more lore.

Maybe I’ll swap over to different climbers, but I’m rather attached to Kestrel and Hazard already. They’re excellent!

Session Overview

Play Number: 1 & 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: Normal Difficulty Level
Outcome: 2 Wins

Poor Hazard really lived up to her name… Exposed, confused, and graceless injuries piled up. Ha ha! Yet she endured while Kestrel did a lot of healing from afar. The card play and decisions were amazing, and I’m still thinking about how I can make some different choices the next time I play. Doesn’t look like I’ll get tired of saving these leviathans for a long, long time… If ever!

Affordability

Price & Value

10

Functionality

Challenges & Mechanics

10

Originality

Design & Theme

7

Quality

Components & Rules

8