Descent - Legends of the Dark

Descent - Legends of the Dark is the successor to the legendary Descent: Journeys in the Dark, one of the most iconic dungeon crawlers ever. Now you can once again take on the role of one of Terrinoth's heroes, and with your brave companions, venture into the darkness in search of glory and riches. This reinterpretation of Descent utilizes a fully integrated companion app that manages the monsters, allows players to craft, and keeps track of various items and effects.

• 40 detailed plastic miniatures
• Fully integrated companion app
• 100% Co-OP
• Ability to craft and modify equipment
• Redesigned combat system, fatigue, skills, and items
• Combine weapons
• 3D terrain in multiple levels

Terrinoth is in danger! The demon-tainted Uthuk Y'llan barbarians are ravaging the realm, and the undead servants of Waiqar the Undying are venturing beyond their borders for the first time in living memory. The leaders of Terrinoth are divided and splintered, unable to unite against these common threats. And in the northern duchy of Forthyn, the stage is set for the next great confrontation between Terrinoth and the forces of darkness...

For years, your journeys have taken you across Terrinoth's fantasy realm, through dark forests, shadowy cities, ancient crypts, and misty swamps… but your true legend is just beginning.

Forge your own legend with your friends as you embark on adventures throughout Terrinoth's vibrant fantasy realm! Descent: Legends of the Dark is powered by its fully integrated free companion app, placing you in the role of an aspiring hero with their own unique playstyle and abilities. Together with your companions, you begin an unexpected adventure - an adventure told across the sixteen quests of the Blood and Flame campaign. Throughout your campaign, you will face the undead lurking in the mists, demonic barbarians rampaging from the wilderness, and even more terrifying threats. With 46 pieces of 3D terrain and 40 amazing hero and monster miniatures drawing you into the game, your greatest adventure awaits!

Is this the third edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark?
Descent: Legends of the Dark is not the third edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark. While it shares the realm of Terrinoth and the identity of a dungeon-crawler board game marked with the Descent title, Legends of the Dark should be seen as a new addition to the catalog rather than a third edition of Journeys in the Dark. While Journeys in the Dark included the Road to Legend companion app, this game was always designed as a competitive experience, pitting one to four hero players against a single player. Legends of the Dark leverages its integrated companion app to deliver a cooperative game right from the start, allowing you and your friends to fully focus on becoming the heroes of Terrinoth.

The game's core mechanics such as combat, fatigue, skills, equipment, and more have undergone entirely new interpretations with Legends of the Dark, while a new approach to scenario layout and 3D terrain creates exciting scenarios with multiple levels.

The app also brings new changes to gameplay, introducing enemies with adaptive strategies, complex status effects, and triggers fully managed by the app, as well as the ability to develop your heroes based on the choices you make in scenarios. You will also uncover a wealth of activities between scenarios, such as crafting, shopping in town, upgrading equipment, and much more.

Due to these numerous differences, Descent: Legends of the Dark is not compatible with Descent: Journeys in the Dark content.

The heroes of the realm
Descent: Legends of the Dark invites you to take on the role of one of six heroes, each eager to embark on adventures in Terrinoth and brought to life with fantastic artwork and beautifully crafted miniatures. In addition to their visual style, each hero boasts their own tactical approach to combat and their own virtues, which you can choose to pursue during quests.

For example, you can play as Vaerix, Dragon-Hybrid Outcast. A strong-willed survivor like Vaerix awakens heroes to action, to fight for a greater purpose. Brynn, is an Avenger eager to punish any offense, and wades directly into the heat of battle where she dispenses justice with hammer and blade. Perhaps you prefer to attack from a distance with Galaden's balletic combat style, or will you summon magical powers and your bond to your Phoenix as Syrus? No matter which hero you choose for this adventure, you will be able to explore their unique combat style and tactics, and as you can choose your weapons, armor, potions, and even your skills at the beginning of each quest, there are nearly limitless options to remix your character and explore new styles as you play through the campaign!



With Descent: Legends of the Dark, the quality and scale of FFG's miniatures are pushed to new heights!


The gameplay in Descent: Legends of the Dark is fast and intuitive. You take three actions on each turn - one maneuver action and two additional actions of your choice! Maneuvering gives you movement points as shown in the upper right corner of your character sheet, and since you always have a maneuver action, you will always be able to reposition and place yourself in a more advantageous position for attacks. Aside from maneuvering, you can use an action to attack an enemy, roll your attack dice, and draw on your hero's abilities and weapons to deal maximum damage or inflict harmful conditions on your enemies. Or you can use the exploration action to interact with a piece of 3D terrain or a token using the app. You can also use your action to perform one of the most crucial actions in Legends of the Dark: the ready action.

The ready action allows you to flip your hero sheet or one of your cards to the opposite side and unlock new abilities! For example, Galaden can use his Light Step ability by suffering from fatigue to shift his position and quickly move across the battlefield - or if he flips to the opposite side of his hero sheet, he can suffer three fatigue to reveal an enemy within his line of sight, thereby letting the app know that 20% more damage should be applied to that enemy during attacks!

When you make Galaden Ready and flip his hero sheet, you also remove any fatigue or condition tokens that are placed on the sheet!

Note the fatigue limit in the lower right corner of each hero sheet as well as other cards, such as weapons or skills. When you take fatigue to trigger Galaden's Light Step ability, you place this fatigue on his hero sheet. Moreover, attacks from enemies or effects from the environment can cause your hero to suffer from special conditions, such as infected or fear, which are also placed on your hero sheet. When you use Ready on a card or a hero sheet and flip it to the opposite side, you also remove all fatigue and condition tokens from it - making this an ideal way to keep your heroes ready for action as well as draw the right abilities for each situation.

Your hero sheet is not the only thing you can ready - each hero also has an attack card and skill cards! Each hero starts the game with two weapon cards that are combined in a card sleeve to create a single attack card. (sleeves for creating attack cards are included in the game!)

For example, Vaerix creates his attack card by combining his two starting weapon cards, Ironthorn Warbell and Riverwatch Spear. When a hero attacks, the attack is determined by their hero sheet, but damage and other special abilities, such as the type of damage dealt, are determined by the weapon you attack with! And as you can see, your attack card can also take fatigue - which is cleared by Ready-ing the card. Throughout the game, you will have the chance to discover and forge new weapons, and at the beginning of each quest, you can build your hero's attack card by drawing from the discovered weapons from your hero's two weapon archetypes.

Two different weapon cards are combined in a single card sleeve to form the attack card - which can be flipped back and forth to offer different tactics.

Skill cards can also be Ready-ed by switching between two complementary abilities, such as Vaerix's Destiny's Call and Fate's Embrace - two complementary abilities on opposite sides of the same skill card. Ready-ing constitutes a large part of the strategy and tactics in each enemy encounter. There is even a positive condition token - that can be placed on one of your cards, allowing you to Ready the card without using an action!

Strike back against the darkness
Evil stirs once more in Terrinoth, and countless dangers arise throughout the game's vibrant sixteen-quest campaign. As previously mentioned, the gameplay foundation of Descent: Legends of the Dark is built on a fully integrated companion app that manages everything from activating enemies to building an unfolding scenario to opening the door for activities like crafting and shopping between quests.

At the beginning of a quest, you may start with only a single tile in play - but as you move deeper into the map and explore your surroundings, the app will prompt you to place more and more tiles and terrain. The combination of double-sided tiles and underlays provides unparalleled depth to the number of scenarios you can create - and the depth is elevated with the addition of vertical levels and 3D terrain, giving Legends of the Dark an unmatched presence on your tabletop.

Your banners will be filled with stairs leading to other rooms, sturdy bookshelves, tall trees, treasure chests, barricades, doors, and statues. And all this 3D terrain is not just decorative: you can interact with it all through the app. You can find valuable books on ancient shelves, open treasure chests beset with traps, or climb a tree to scout the terrain.

Your goals will change from quest to quest as you follow the overarching story of the campaign, but you will encounter constant resistance from enemies. From bandits lying in wait on the road, to Uthuk Y'llan berserkers howling for blood, to deadly fae, horrific golems, ravenous wolves, undead wights, and even more terrifying foes. Each enemy is brought to life in wonderful ways with fantastic miniatures.

Thanks to the Legends of the Dark companion app, each of these enemies can employ their own cunning tricks and adapt to the battle as it unfolds, whether that means planning a devastating future attack, inspiring other enemies in combat, or even more devious tactics. The strategic interplay between your heroes' abilities, weapons, and skills is a crucial part of every quest in Legends of the Dark!

Crafting your weapon
The Legends of the Dark app is not limited to your quests - it actually opens the door to even more possibilities between scenarios, such as crafting and weapon upgrades. As you slay enemies, open chests, or explore dusty chambers, you will discover valuable crafting materials and gold throughout your adventure, all managed by the app. Once you have found the recipe for a piece of equipment, you can craft and upgrade it in your hometown's Frostgates crafthall. Perhaps you craft new Seer's Blades for Galaden or a gilded Warbell for Vaerix! Whatever you create, all weapons can be upgraded as long as you have the resources to pay for it and unlock an even more powerful version of the weapon.

Weapons can be further modified in the Frostgate armory. In Descent: Legends of the Dark, weapons have three parts. The first part dictates the weapon card you use, but the other two parts give your weapons secondary abilities with a percentage chance to trigger every time your hero attacks. These bonuses are fully managed by the app, and through your Armory, you can optimize for your next quest or customize your weapons to fit your playstyle.

As your hero grows and gains experience throughout the campaign, you have even more options to customize your hero. Each hero has unique achievements, tracked by the app, that you can complete to develop your hero's personal growth. Completing achievements can grant you great rewards, such as new skills or exclusive recipes, so be sure to keep your achievements in mind as you play. Your hero also earns experience points during a quest, which can be used to unlock skills. However, your skills are not fixed - at the start of a new quest, you can choose which skills you want to take by reallocating your Exp throughout the campaign while exploring new playstyles and learning more about how you like to play.

Your legend begins
The story told across the "Blood and Flame" campaign is an epic tale that escalates to the finale - but at the same time, it is only the first chapter in your story. Keep an eye out for upcoming expansions in the future, filled with new content and the next full-length Legend of the Dark campaign.

Terrinoth needs heroes - and there is no better time to start crafting your own legend. Get ready to begin playing the ultimate dungeon-crawling board game with the release of Descent: Legends of the Dark, scheduled for the third quarter of 2021.