Tim Conkling and his expert team have created the ultimate digital board gaming experience by bringing role-playing, strategy, exploration, action, and resource gathering elements together into one single game and...yes, it all happens on a board. That is to say...if you are a fan of any of these elements...you’ll be extremely happy to play Antihero. A high replay of royal treasure value exists here! There is a Skirmish mode that allows you to play against AI or a friend via pass n play. The Online mode will give you a chance to play those who are further than an arm’s reach of you and, if that wasn’t enough, there’s even a Campaign mode that offers challenges with each level/stage. The chances for a person to get bored with this game is next to nil. (In my mind, the best value on the entire AppStore at this time.) Music, artwork, and character voices are incredible and suit the theme of Antihero perfectly. I rarely hit the credits button on a game but I felt compelled to acknowledge every member of the supporting staff behind the game that has set the bar on digital board games. My only gripe is that there are too many to name here individually. But I sincerely want to thank each one personally so...THANK YOU SO MUCH! I wouldn’t be surprised if more gamers do the same as I after playing this crown jewel. To sum it up: THIS IS A MUST PLAY!

I’ve been playing Antihero, the first great mobile digital board game of 2018. You play a Master Thief in a Victorian setting. Your turn-based tasks are to scout and burgle hidden locations, build up your thieves’ guild, hire and deploy your army of thugs, street urchins, and other underworld characters. But wait, each level is a race against a rival Master Thief and guild. If your rival beats you to the coveted victory points by achieving each level’s objectives (bribes, assassinations, etc.) before you, you are defeated, and must restart the level. Gameplay is brisk and the learning curve is gentle in the early going, gradually building the challenge as you progress. Strategy comes in the form of various upgrade decisions: do you spend your limited resources first to attract more street urchins, so they can infiltrate and earn money? Or do you focus on beefing up your gang of thugs to guard your turf and block the opposing gang’s progress? Presentation is polished, with appropriate graphics that evoke the gaslight era, and brief voice clips that define each character as you issue them orders (ala Warcraft — “Yes, my lord!”). It’s a premium game with only cosmetic characters reskins available via IAP — no pay-to-win here. It has quickly shot to the first spot on my iPad games screen. Highly recommended.

I’m a huge board gamer, and was honestly very impressed by the mechanics of the game. It’s sort of like Stratego meets Monopoly. My only complaint is that the game is too short, and even on Hard, is a little too easy (but that’s subjective). The campaign only has ten levels, and first few are just tutorial-style; probably only two or three levels where all units are unlocked. I beat the whole thing in under three hours, which is fine for just a few bucks. But even the Skirmishes against AI are pretty repetitive, and skirmishes against real players feels like Words With Friends—waiting for the other person to take turns means games last for days on end, and you end up starting so many that you forget what’s happening. I wish they’d made more levels since the game is wildly addicting.Also, the win conditions boil down to mainly the same strategy and is slightly unbalanced. Make a gang, protect the gang’s movements with thugs, rinse and repeat. Gangs are just so OP since they can clear out buildings, can generate up to 3 gold a kill, and can assassinate for victory points. Why even bother with other units when you can just spam and protect gangs? A fully stocked bank makes the same money per turn as a fully upgraded gang.

Everything about the game from its art to its flavor to its play is great. But the campaign is extremely frustrating because the AI opponent is so overpowered. Rather than having an even, if asymmetrical, playing field, you feel as if your strategy doesn't matter because it's more of a case of having to do specific moves in a specific order to win. The AI opponent gets powers of the bat that might take you 10 rounds to earn for yourself which completely undermines the area control aspect. If the opponent can evict you in round two and you can't get that power until round twelve, why even try to control the area? It's unfair even to call it an AI because it doesn't have any intelligence. It doesn't change its strategy according to your moves. It just uses brute force to disable you. That is my least favorite kind of solo game -- one that acts like a random puzzle where if you don't make the right move in round one that will defeat the opponent, you've already lost. It's a shame because everything else is so cool.