How does the rulebook stand up? Sit down to this pdf version of the rules with me and let's find out!
Organization and Layout: The rulebook is organized well, you can read it from start to end while trying to learn to play the game. There is also a nice section at the end cut off specifically for more things related to flavor to keep it out of the main rulebook which is nice. The layout is crisp and professional as well.
Clarity: A lot of places in the rulebook were incredibly fuzzy and difficult to interpret. This makes learning this complex game even more difficult. While it is thematic, having every single thing like your deck and discard pile renamed to something else just makes the game more difficult to learn as well.
Graphics: There are a lot of pretty pictures throughout the rulebook with the beautiful artwork from the game. But more importantly are the example pictures. There are some and they vary in effectiveness. There are also definitely WAY too few for such a complex game. This rulebook could be improved a lot with better examples of play and with better card anatomy sections.
Depth: Upon trying to learn the game it seems that parts of the game aren't even in the rulebook. So when certain questions came up there was nothing I could do with the rulebook to get answers. That's very bad. I also found a 13 page FAQ online. Now games can have an FAQ but a lot of the things I was looking for in the original rulebook were there. They should have just been included in the first place.
Writing: The writing is professional and lacks any typos or grammar problems.
Susan is an expert hacker and rulebook reader, so what does he think? On the Susan Rating Scale this rulebook gets:
Susan's Explanation: This rulebook LOOKS beautiful. It has nice looking writing, pretty pictures, and an attractive layout. But it doesn't teach me the rules. This is obviously a complex game so I expected to wade through the rules a bit more but there were parts that seemed to be entirely missing and things were confusing.
Now when we review games we do our best to get through a full game when possible. For this game we had to get desperate and go to BoardGameGeek for rules clarifications and even tried to watch the How to Play videos online put out by Fantasy Flight. These STILL barely did the job. The thing that stuck out to me was in one rules clarification they said it would just be better to have someone who already knows how to play the game teach you in person then reading the rulebook or the clarifications. This rulebook doesn't do what it needs to, and if even those writing rules clarifications are having a hard time this says something loud and clear.
There is a lesson to be learned for those who are writing rulebooks here. Even if your rulebook is gorgeous and looks like a great professional work it is pointless if it can't actually teach the rules. Not being able to sit down to the rulebook to learn a game will turn off a lot of players, so be sure to write your rules right.
Do you agree or disagree with the review? Do you have some good resources for how to learn the game? Let us know below! Until next time: Every Game Deserves A Good Rulebook.