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)

A total of 17 leviathans provide a range of challenges, yet this isn’t a series of battles. Instead, crystals must be destroyed to heal each giant, and the focus is on figuring out the climbing puzzle. The experience is quite fulfilling, but also filled with danger… So much threat and rage!

Dodging Rockslides

The Avalanche was the next page on my journey, and this one turned out to be one of my early favorites! Empty spaces made for some very careful climbs… And falls.

A rockslide struck every now and then, too, which was devastating when Kestrel and Hazard were close.

I had so much fun finding ways to separate them, but also figuring out when to simply accept any damage.

Frost tokens introduced a neat mechanic to try to stay reasonably warm. This was a very tough play, and one that looked like it might end in disaster with all the blight!

So Many Injuries

This was the leviathan that introduced multiple injuries that were doled out a lot. Although these were penalties, I enjoyed the thematic way they felt tied into the climb.

Hazard took on most of these, which made sense from her name. Ha! It wasn’t too hard to manage some, while others were absolutely terrible at the wrong times.

Luckily, despite nearly losing when her health and blight reached the same space, this was a victorious play!

I continued to feel completely engaged with gameplay, too, even if I knew my pair of climbers very well.

A Moment to Myself…

Since the goal is to heal each leviathan, the bits of flavor text and lore always have some sort of generally happy outcome. Often, this leads to napping or calming down.

There was no better way to illustrate this than with my own leviathan… A plant plushie! Ha ha! You can find all of the climbers if you look closely at this cozy, happy planter.

I would even go so far as to say this is how I ended up feeling: Happy with my success after a mental workout.

Puzzling through a climb isn’t draining, yet it provides a lovely, constant challenge that I don’t always come across.

Bees! All the Bees!

Next up was the Hive, a living tree with teeth and swarms of bees. These seemed rather interesting, as they moved to intercept climbers and dealt a fair amount of damage.

However, Kestrel and Hazard had some very useful mobility skills. It was pretty easy to keep them out of harm’s way, and only a couple of swarms did damage.

This was the only slight hiccup I encountered up to this point: Things felt too easy, and my play time was shorter.

I think everyone will have their favorites, though, so this didn’t deter me from the game in any way.

Plotting a Victory

The end of this play was pretty neat, though! I knew there would be an early victory, but I still wanted to pull off the final strike with a bit of a flourish. Kestrel was excited!

Yet there weren’t enough action points to move over to this final crystal… What to do? Call in assistance!

Using a skill anytime opened up so many possibilities, and Hazard was ready. She seemed to get close, but with the focus token she earned previously, it was a success.

Kestrel destroyed that crystal, sending it flying off into a million pieces that rained down. No more attack bees!

“Finding” All the Relics

Next up was the Collector, a fairly adorable and interesting sort of leviathan. The important piece was the addition of a victory condition. Namely, collecting the relics.

In practice, I didn’t end up using them for their special abilities. That wasn’t much of a disappointment, though, for blight management was made even harder with relics.

I enjoyed the challenge of the highest heights here, as it was tricky to easily reach every area like with some others.

The Collector’s threat cards were also pretty tricky, with a double pinch offering up a reason to let go and fall a lot!

Dizzy Dancing Dangers

Maybe I’ve glossed over it a little bit, yet there are many thematic and almost cinematic aspects. Leviathans feel huge, and climbing feels like going way up into the air.

Then, fantastic moments have popped up! At one point, Hazard took an injury that made her dizzy. The card text simply meant that a skill card had to be discarded.

But I found the perfect time to erase the injury… During a victory dance where Hazard obviously fell over.

How embarrassing… And hilarious! Kestrel wasn’t nearby, but they would likely have laughed as much as I did. Ha!

Fury, a Volcanic Bull

Still on a winning streak, I set my sights on the Fury. When I saw vents were in play, I figured there would be something going on with a snorting bull. Oh, it was worse.

This right here is a volcanic bull! Vents provided openings to possibly manage upcoming damage, but there were all sorts of lava eruptions all the time. Such a tricky design!

I wish I could say I had a climber go up the chain, but alas, I plotted a different route. Kestrel did go up the tail!

There was no denying that this was a difficult leviathan, although I managed to pull off a win at the last moment.

Session Overview

Play Number: 5-10
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: Normal Difficulty Level
Outcome: 6 Wins

My excitement carried me to the next leviathan, which just started to get into the high complexity section. This one was tough, yet again, Kestrel and Hazard won! Most of these victories came down to the last couple of turns, so although I kept on winning, I was fighting to survive and puzzle through the best options right to the end. As usual, I had an amazing time and just loved the game even more!

Affordability

Price & Value

10

Functionality

Challenges & Mechanics

10

Originality

Design & Theme

7

Quality

Components & Rules

8