Darkness envelopes Miskatonic University. The school, once the haven for knowledge and wisdom for many at Arkham, has now become ground zero – and an influx of evil, beyond the scope of human imagination is now breaking through…
‘Arkham Horror Final Hour’, part of the Arkham Files series of thematic Lovecraftian games by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG), was released in 2019, and has, perhaps like ‘Lovecraft Letter’, been overlooked by many fans of the games – which, from Arkham Horror onwards have been around in various forms since the 1980’s, resurfacing every few decades in new guises and expanded or revised rulesets.
It could be looked upon as ‘Arkham Horror Lite’, you play investigators exploring the University, trying to fend off monstrosities that keeping invading from gates across the board, investigating to try and uncover clues to the right incantation that will save the University – and potentially Arkham and the world, from some Elder Beast, lurking between worlds.
Darkness envelopes Miskatonic University. The school, once the haven for knowledge and wisdom for many at Arkham, has now become ground zero – and an influx of evil, beyond the scope of human imagination is now breaking through…
‘Arkham Horror Final Hour’, part of the Arkham Files series of thematic Lovecraftian games by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG), was released in 2019, and has, perhaps like ‘Lovecraft Letter’, been overlooked by many fans of the games – which, from Arkham Horror onwards have been around in various forms since the 1980’s, resurfacing every few decades in new guises and expanded or revised rulesets.
It could be looked upon as ‘Arkham Horror Lite’, you play investigators exploring the University, trying to fend off monstrosities that keeping invading from gates across the board, investigating to try and uncover clues to the right incantation that will save the University – and potentially Arkham and the world, from some Elder Beast, lurking between worlds.
Playability
It’s a quick to run, fast paced game, that creates tension through FFG’s fantastic mechanics, that work on both timing, balance of the board’s elements and good strategic co-operative teamwork and placement.
Much like Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror and to a lesser extent Mansions of Madness and Elder Sign, A.H Final Hour has a learning curve that can seem somewhat overwhelming at the start, but once the rules have been picked up, it’s easy to play, and replay if you have 1 hour or so to spare. It has Solo-play (albeit not true solo), which does feel like a bastardised version of the co-op mode, and it does change several mechanics from co-op to solo, the main being the Priority Cards, drawn by each investigator determining what will happen and in what order of play, a couple of plus sides in defending the campus, investigating and smiting the evil, then followed up by a wince-inducing mini-mythos style reckoning with gate bursts and then some sweeping monster actions which provoked the reaction of first round: ‘this isn’t so bad’, midway through: ‘this is bloodthirsty Lemmings from Hell’, to ‘Oh dear God, make it stop!’, all monstrously fun and quite suitably Lovecraft. Dread and cursed luck ooze from its core.
And that’s the fun thing about AHFH, the mechanic keeps the pace, there’s little story, but if you’re imaginative, you paint those gaps in (perhaps with blood red, or blackest, maddest black).
Mechanics and Lore
Old familiar faces return in Final Hour, investigators from the previous Arkham Files are here, and play narratively like a pocket version of themselves. Lots of reused art - as with reusing the investigator characters, you either start to feel like they’re familiar and it’s not so jarringly new, or you tire of the sameness (I fall under the former and now like to explore more with the novellas and new releases such as the Arkham Horror Living Card Game) - and some new works – such as the imposing, well laid out and beautiful fixed board layout, something the 3rd Edition Board Game moved away from, and the mechanic itself – part Arkham Horror, part Cluedo (or Clue to American gamers), part Mastermind, you seek to find ritual signs that will seal the gate, or seal your fate (poetic) and then have to ultimately use some guess work and decision making in the final rounds to win or lose, and its multi-timer system – lose stamina or sanity, trigger effects on the Old One’s card, or get the campus buildings flooded with monsters, there are many ways of failing, and only one way of winning – and the devious folk at FFG have created another corker of a balanced game here – you feel the tension mount and can predict how long you may or may not have, the decisions you make versus the decisions you are stuck with that will start to haunt you as you progress or fall apart physically and mentally under the strain.
Conclusion
It’s seven years old, so why discuss this now? As a newly converted fan of the Arkham Horror series, I’ve gleefully found that each game has their own place at the table. If you want scope and global mystery, play Eldritch Horror. Paranoia and insidiousness in a small city leading to ultimate chaos? Arkham Horror has your back. Deck building? Covered in the LCG, dice, luck and strategy in Elder Sign. Fancy an old-fashioned dungeon crawler with great narrative? Mansions of Madness is a big box full of dreaded goodness. Final Hour is the Zombie Dice/Munchkin/Forbidden Island of the bunch, the game between more epic games, the ‘I have an hour to spare and no time to deal with a full table of elements’ - and shouldn’t be overlooked by the die-hard Arkham gang. And ultimately, even when you lose, you don’t feel cheated. It won’t rob you of a challenge, or the experience of a race against time, and all without stealing away your annual tuition fee at Miskatonic U.
