Delving Deep Into HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon
Experience a sweeping adventure through dark, dangerous forests and encounters with HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon.
Narrative-based solo games are often some of my favorites, particularly when they remind me of tabletop RPGs in some way. I picked up HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon to continue my collection of this series! With a new way to play and relics to re-forge from fragments, I was excited to dive into this immersive world for a lengthy experience!
Game Overview
Game Name: HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon
Publication Year: 2019
Designers: K. Kimoundri, N. Loos, and J. Mariucci
Artists: Yanis Cardin and Konrad Langa
Publisher: Mariucci J. Designs, LLC
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
With all sorts of random events, destinations to visit, challenges to overcome, and bosses to defeat, this is far from a simple experience! Characters grow over time, too, becoming more powerful and gaining access to improved abilities. It all culminates with a battle against Adrimon.
First Play
May 14, 2022
Complexity
3
Latest Play
May 14, 2022
Expansions
2
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
1
Play Time
4 Hours
High Score
N/A
Game Area
50" x 34"
Low Score
N/A
Starting Decisions
During setup, character choices play a pivotal part of the experience. However, this isn’t too complicated: Each individual takes on a role and ancestry. That’s it!
Compared to the first game in the series, I was a little surprised by the limited number of new roles. Not an issue since I’ll likely combine everything someday.
Although the game can be played with a single character, I like to have a duo to take advantage of beneficial abilities.
I couldn’t decide between a handful of roles at first, but it all became clear as I kept reading through the masteries.
Peas in a Pod
With a decidedly fairy-like element to many of the ancestries and the forest itself, I went ahead and found some rather cheerful names to erase some of the despair.
Camellia Gigglemint was a Floromancer who could harness the power of the forest to heal. Always useful!
Pepper Tanglemuddle ended up with one of the best names, and he was a Verdant Keeper. Petal Storm sounded like an awesome mastery to utilize in combat, too.
Their starting statistics came from their ancestries and roles, along with a few random rolls of the dice.
And with that, it was time to begin and set out to explore this world, hoping that Camellia and Pepper survived!
The Acropolis
With a random setup, Adrimon’s domain was far to the south of the party’s starting position. No complaints!
For in the end, the final battle marks the ultimate test of each character. They must fight their way across the land and discover ways to improve before time runs out.
Speaking of that, the timer mechanism here allows for a lot more freedom than the first game in the series. There, a certain rush to get stronger takes hold pretty early on.
The world was filled with places to explore and fragments of ancient relics to hunt down… Onward to the adventure!
Fragmented Power
The various destinations and fragment deck were the elements that intrigued me the most. Powerful relics were partially destroyed, but they could be re-forged.
Destinations were practically identical to quests, yet I enjoyed reading all of the flavor text. Collecting fragments was exciting, too, aside from the reliance on luck.
As was customary for me, the early turns were filled with excitement as I watched Camellia and Pepper explore.
Circumstances opened up more possibilities as they began their journey to defeat the mysterious Adrimon.
Life with Endless Dice
I certainly enjoy the dice skill checks required here, particularly since they simulate daily exploration and survival. But there were tons and tons of rolls!
Sometimes, I’m prone to rolling dice over and over, thereby losing part of the story. But this only happened gradually with this play, likely my own fault.
Most importantly, combat uses dice fairly sparingly, and mainly to choose random enemy actions.
Adrimon’s growing power pushed me forward, though, as there could be a time when these daily checks might fail.
Main Boss Battles
Many challenges littered the forest, yet the specific bosses provided clear places to test Camellia and Pepper. First up was the easiest of the bosses, though he had his strengths.
Yet herein lies one of the system’s biggest weaknesses: Bosses don’t scale according to the number of characters.
There is a set way to modify the difficulty by adding health to each boss and encounter, but finding the right balance isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time to find what works best.
Granted, this follows the path of a lot of RPGs, where house rules and modifications can be very important.
A Flawed Session vs. an Incredible System
I lost some of the enjoyment after over 3 hours had passed. Many actions felt repetitive, and since I hadn’t figured out the best way to adjust the difficulty level, Camellia and Pepper were easily dealing enough damage to win most battles in a couple of rounds. The immersion felt broken as I didn’t feel as connected to the world. It seemed too easy.
Yet in looking at the experience, it’s clear that this is a series that calls for players to customize it. I feel like it should have provided some guidance on making bosses harder, yet I suppose that can be something different for everyone. Merely adding health extends combat without necessarily adding more difficult decisions or situations.
At a quick glance from this single play, it might appear that this series isn’t for me. It may very well not be. However, it’s not something I’m done with. Why not? It takes time and effort to transform it into a workable game. Will I have that time, though? That’s the real key. This is a system that needs to be played a lot in order to be adjusted properly.
I absolutely love the open world and how the different volumes add new mechanics. The choice of ancestries and roles is also an excellent character creation process. Yet is it enough to keep me engaged with making the game my own?
Perhaps the answer will lie with the Klik’s Madness Campaign Book, which should arrive later this year. Having a more guided exploration of the world could very well solve some issues and be the ideal way for me to play. I still think this is a fascinating hybrid between a board game and roleplaying game, though, and hope I’ll be able to make it work!
Unintended Humor
The unexpected is what I enjoy in some narratives, and that’s precisely what I got! Early on, an annoying pixie joined Camellia and Pepper. An absolute terror.
He sent them roaming around a couple of times. In essence, they were sent way off course from this terror.
During a boss battle, this pixie was a valid target. To my sheer delight, it was this pixie who was devoured! Pardon the callousness, but a rescue effort was not attempted.
And with a little luck, that was the end of the pixie and his menacing ways. Camellia and Pepper were quite happy!
The Final Countdown
While there was time to explore and roam, Adrimon’s growing power began to threaten the party. If any of their basic skills stayed too low, they might be mindwiped.
Pepper was in a bad spot when he got unlucky with his random advancements, but Camellia held it together.
With their powerful relics, they dominated a lot of the late-game encounters. And Adrimon? Well…
I stopped early and called it a victory. The lack of difficulty scaling made it a finale that would have dragged on, but it was pretty clear that Camellia and Pepper already won.
As I said, there are many excellent aspects to enjoy, yet I have a lot of work ahead to fully appreciate the system.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: Starter Difficulty Level
Outcome: Win
The relics certainly made a huge difference! It was very fun to travel around, collecting fragments and trying to piece together the story. One oddity I discovered was that I didn’t find the app as useful as it once was. Tracking items in it can be a nightmare, so I’ll likely scale back how I use it. All in all, I had a somewhat disappointing experience, yet I can see lots of potential for customizing the rules!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
6
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
6
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- With so many cards and possibilities, the system is highly customizable to create exciting adventures.
- Hunting down specific fragments to forge relics is an exciting mechanic that encourages exploration.
- Some story moments emerge organically from the combination of cards, adding unexpected humor and drama.
- Although dice play a big role, combat is mostly known so that attacks don’t randomly miss or deal little damage.
- Most of the artwork is limited to the map tiles and bosses, yet the text adds a lot of flavor to the experience.
- There are all sorts of character combinations that can be interesting to try out, especially in a party of 2-3 heroes.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rulebook is lengthy and not laid out that intuitively, leading to many confusing moments with exceptions.
- Although the system is amazing, it takes some effort to figure out the best way to customize the various rules.
- Gameplay is rather lengthy, which can be a lot of fun, yet certain sequences can feel very repetitive near the end.
- Finding a way to fit all of the components is tricky with the way the map tiles expand the already huge play area.
Victory Conditions
Defeat Adrimon
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Defeat boss 1.
Defeat boss 2.
Defeat boss 5.
Win at least 1 game at the starter difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon? Do you like the different elements compared to others in the series? I’m still on the fence about whether this is a system I want to dig into, yet it’s a wonderfully unique part of my collection! There are so many ways to combine the games and tailor the difficulty level. Hopefully, I’ll figure it all out!
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