What Gloomhaven is
Gloomhaven is a tactical RPG and a digital adaptation of Isaac Childres' board game, set in a medieval dark fantasy world. You lead a band of 2 to 4 mercenaries through dungeons, forests and caves, taking contracts from city officials and corrupt cultists alike. The game offers two campaign tracks: the branching board game campaign of 95 story missions, where your greed is pitted against your morality, and the Guildmaster adventure, a digital-exclusive mode with more than 160 missions, new storylines, quests, a different map and new NPCs. Both are built around difficult choices about who you work for and where you draw the line.
Playing together with friends
You can face the world alone or in online co-op for up to 4 players. Each player controls their own mercenary from the party of 2 to 4, so the group decides how to split the roster and which combination of characters suits the coming fight. Guildmaster mode leans into this, letting you pick the best mercenary pairing for each encounter and follow individual character stories as you go. Coordination matters most in combat, where positioning on the hex grid and combining abilities decide whether a mission goes smoothly.
How combat works
Combat is turn-based and driven by ability cards. Before setting out you build your deck, and on every turn each mercenary selects two cards: you use the top half of one and the bottom half of another, so every choice trades one ability against another. Cards are also a resource as scarce as your life points, and running out means exhaustion, which puts a hard limit on how long a mission can drag on. Movement happens on hex grid terrain, and the dungeon environment matters for setting up combos and unleashing powerful effects at a cost. There are 17 unique characters with their own skills and more than 1,000 abilities to learn between them.
Before you start
Expect a demanding game: choices carry life or death consequences, and planning ahead is rewarded. Between missions you improve through level ups, new equipment, enhancements and perks, so a growing roster gives you more options rather than an easier time. The campaign content is large, with 95 story missions plus the Guildmaster track, and the character roster is deep enough that learning each class takes time. Bring patience for deck preparation and for reading what a card actually gives you before committing to a turn.