As mentioned above, Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape is a cooperative dungeon-delving game where players take turns traversing modular map tiles. Each game round of Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape is divided into four phases: The Hero Phase, The Enemy Phase, The Level Up Phase, and the Darkness Phase. Let's dive into the Hero Phase first, as that's where the bulk of the gameplay lies. Sometimes, this isn’t a big issue for a game, but Massive Darkness 2 is supposed to be a premium product, so it’s annoying that the given storage system is poor. What’s worse, the game’s already lengthy setup and tear-down time is elongated by the poor storage system. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s head-scratching for me to think about how easy Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion made its rather involved set-up with token trays and character boxes 2 years ago. Why couldn’t Massive Darkness 2 have been at least as good as that? Players play as Lightbringers, fending off Hell’s invasion, eventually taking the battle to the demons in Hell. Demons and spirits abound, but beyond some mildly disturbing images (a character’s guts are held in by an iron cage), Massive Darkness 2 doesn’t feel as dark as the likes of Dark Souls or even Gloomhaven. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the game is the feeling you get when you level up. Every time you defeat a monster, you gain experience points. If a lead monster or one of the more powerful roaming monsters gets defeated, all players receive XP. The fact that all players get experience adds to the cooperative nature. It avoids players wanting to take all the glory and experience for themselves.

Though this is not a campaign game, the Quests in Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape do tell a story from adventure to adventure. The heroes are trying to stop the flood of evil coming from hell, and venture deep into the bowels of this forsaken realm to battle the demons that lurk within. The first quest sees our heroes attempting to open the portal to nether world, and they succeed in this quest when they've successfully stepped into hell. One of the big bad's of Massive Darkness 2, the Archangel MichaelIn the sequel to Massive Darkness, players take on the role of Lightbringers fighting against Hell’s hordes. Massive Darkness 2 add light and dark tiles to the game, which can grant players specific bonuses, Content Guide

Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape is a dungeon-crawler through-and-through. Its foundations lie in CMON’s Zombicide series, just like the original Massive Darkness. There are tons of dice, tons of loot, and tons of baddies. The core game includes a tutorial and 10 scenarios for players to enjoy, 6 heroes, 62 bad guy miniatures, and a host of tokens and cards. Massive Darkness 2 (MD2) is the sequel to, you guessed it, Massive Darkness. The original saw a group of heroes known as the Lightbringers. They worked together to defeat the Massive Darkness that threatened their world. Massive Darkness 2 sees the return of this evil, placing the world in peril once more. The Lightbringers must again join forces to defeat that which promises to devour all. This time, the Lightbringers must venture into hell itself. But they have trained for this. The dark has become their ally. I must confess that I have not played the original game. Massive Darkness 2 is my first experience in this world. The game is designed by Alex Olteanu and Marco Portugal. It builds upon the original work of Raphael Guiton, Jean-Baptiste Lullien and Nicolas Raoult. You may recognise them as the designers of the infamous Zombicide series. Published by CMON, there are similarities in components and mechanics to the zombie battler. However, MD2 feels very much like its own game. Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape is a new triumph in the world of dungeon crawlers. The asymmetric player powers (and their corresponding special components) left us wanting to re-play quests with different heroes, and the gameplay loop of leveling up in the middle of a quest and gaining loot is extremely satisfying (even if it doesn't carry over from session to session). As they fight toward their goals, they'll gain valuable loot and level up as they work through the scenario. Without an overarching campaign-style game (which you can tap into with the campaign expansion Massive Darkness 2: Heavenfall sold separately), each session is its own self-contained adventure, and players will have to work in concert to achieve the various goals of a given scenario. The full contents of Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape. Image: CMONThroughout the game, there are opportunities to gain new items. These can be more powerful weapons, armour or consumables such as health potions. Every time you defeat a lead monster or roaming monster, they drop loot. You can also gain loot from exploring rooms and treasure chests. Every time you gain a loot token, you reach inside the treasure bag to pull out a treasure token. This will determine whether you gain a common, rare or epic item. As the game progresses, more rare and epic tokens get added to the bag. This increases your chance of gaining those powerful items. At times, it can feel like you are drawing items that are not suited to your character or don’t add to your strength. However, you will find you will gain many items throughout the game. You can then use 'forge' points on the map to trade three items for one higher value item. You can also trade between players meaning there is more chance of you getting hold of that coveted epic weapon. This all adds to that feeling of character growth and gaining power. Like A Boss If you're looking for a new dungeon crawler board game to play with friends, are intrigued by the game systems presented above, or enjoyed some of the core mechanics of the original Massive Darkness, then Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape is absolutely worth your time.