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How is this game played?
We at Detective Hawk Games have played this game, and it is a tremendous cooperative gaming experience.
This game is a bit different from the other Arkham Horror Files Games. The main focus of this game is to stop the summoning ritual that has already begun and reverse it.
In this game, you take on the role of an investigator, and you are trying to prevent monsters from arriving at the ritual location.
While this game is cooperative, there is an element of hidden information that makes things more complicated.
Each investigator gets a deck of cards, each with a top and bottom action. On each round starting with the lead investigator, each player draws at least one card from their investigator deck and decides which action they "want" to do. Then they take one of the four priority cards (each has a number on them) and place one face-up on the investigator card.
If there are fewer than four investigators, the lead investigator repeats this process. If necessary, the next player also does the same to bring the total investigator cards with priority cards to four.
The number on the card is essential. It determines the order of the investigator's actions, with the lowest two numbers going first and completing the TOP action. The highest two numbers then go in order and do the BOTTOM action.
During the card selection phase, you can't talk to your other investigators. You can only communicate by priority card number. So you might have someone else who places a lower-numbered priority card even if you want to do the top action. They would be able to do their action instead. Now you will have to do the bottom.
After you start completing your actions, everyone can talk about strategy. The goal is to fight monsters and collect clues. The clues in this game reveal symbols on their reverse side. The game starts with two of these hidden, and if you can determine what two are hidden, you can reverse the ritual.
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How do you Win? How do you Lose?
To win, you need to reverse the ritual by figuring out what symbols are under the clue tokens at the bottom of the board. Then you must, as a group, hold enough priority cards with those symbols to equal double the number of investigators. You can not discuss specifically how many cards you have, but you can discuss what symbols you need.
The investigators lose if any single investigator has no health left or there are no spaces available at the ritual location site.
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Is WHO I play in this game important?
Not as much as the other games in this series, the investigator's action cards do fit their character. In other Arkham Horror Files Games, investigators are more detailed, and their strengths and weakness are essential to balance out. This game is designed for speed and to get you to dive into this world.
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How long does the game take to play?
This game is quick, and it will last at most 45 minutes to an hour. The game will last eight rounds; with every round, a new gate arrives on the board. Finding the clues also should be pretty quick, as there are four actions per round. Almost always, two of them include flipping over a clue icon to see the symbol underneath, which brings you closer to finishing the game.
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Detective Hawk Games Recommends
Final Hour is a great game if you only have an hour to play. It's a good weeknight game as it doesn't require a lot of setup. It does lack in theme compared to the other Arkham Horror Files games. That said, if you like the fighting of the other games or, in fact, the "Final Hour" of the other games, this may be right for you.
If you want to find out more about what we think. Check out our review later in October. We'll also be posting a Game Overview where we go into detail about how this game plays!
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Other Arkham Horror Files Games
