Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients
- Players
- 1-4
- Best withThe player count this game plays best at.
- 4 players
- Play timeHow long a full game runs once everyone knows the rules.
- 120 min
- AgeThe minimum age printed by the publisher.
- 12+
- ComplexityHow demanding the rules are, from 1 (very light) to 5 (very heavy).
- 3.4 / 5
- Year
- 2014
About the game
Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients is a cooperative dungeon-crawl for 1-4 players set in a Weird West mining town overrun with otherworldly horrors. Players create classic Western heroes like the Law Man or Gunslinger, then delve into modular mine tunnels filled with monsters, loot, and portals to alien worlds. A card-driven exploration system and campaign structure let heroes level up between adventures, spending loot in frontier towns and advancing through class-specific skill trees. This set focuses on a frozen otherworldly city guarded by mechanical keepers.
Hobbli's Notes
We admire how Shadows of Brimstone blends Western grit with Lovecraftian horror into a satisfying, miniature-heavy dungeon crawler with real campaign progression. The modular tile system keeps every delve feeling fresh, and the character build trees give real long-term investment. It's a big-box game demanding real table space, setup time, and a willingness to learn a fairly involved rules system. Best suited to groups committed to an ongoing cooperative campaign.
What we like
- Rich campaign system with real character progression between sessions.
- Modular board and card-driven exploration keep every game varied.
- Distinctive Weird West meets cosmic horror theme.
- Class-specific skill trees allow personalized hero builds.
Keep in mind
- Long playtime and heavy setup demand real time commitment.
- High complexity and rules overhead for newer cooperative gamers.
- Large miniature components require significant table space and storage.
Who it's for
Cooperative dungeon-crawl fans 12+ who enjoy miniature-heavy campaign games with groups of 2-4.
