The 5th Edition of Talisman released earlier this year, and we got to try it out! The first expansion to the 5th Edition also releases this year, and we also got a chance to try out Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons, a cooperative adventure where players must succeed in five trials, no longer fighting against one another.
For 2-6 players, the expansion plays just like the original, but with players working to unseal the Portal of Power each trial, defeating a major adversary, and trying to avoid (or attack) all the villain characters introduced in the expansion. It’s a ton of fun, and also a lengthy game even for one trial, so definitely set aside time to play with friends!
What’s in the box?
Fate Beckons includes 30 starting game cards, doom tracker, doom tracker token, rulebook, 24 double-sided strength/craft tokens, 5 boxes with 5 figures, 4 envelopes with 20 game cards (for trials 2-5).
Just like Talisman, the quality of all the items is great, and the boxes with the special figures are great, too. I didn’t have any issues opening or closing them. The envelopes are super glossy and have a small piece of tape on the back, that was easy to remove.
How’s it play?
Set up follows the same steps as Talisman. Players pick the character that they want to play with and get the life, craft, and strength tokens as described on their character card. However instead of separate pools of fate, all the fate tokens are added in a shared pile, and one token is removed for each player.
Players also receive a random card from the purchase card (except for the Raft), and the adventure deck and spell decks are both set up per instructions in the rulebook. For example, certain event, enemy, object, and follower cards are removed from the main deck, and the same goes for the spell decks. The remaining cards are combined with new cards from the expansion deck.
Gameplay starts with villain characters on the board depending on the number of players: 2 for 2 players, 3 for 3-4 players, and 4 for 5-6 players.
Movement is also slightly different. Players can land on another player’s space, but instead of fighting, they can choose to trade objects and gold. If two or more players are on the same place, they can team up to fight an enemy, but if they lose, each one loses a life.
The most significant change in Fate Beckons, is that for each trial, two Talismans have to be buried on two of the Places of Power (Tavern, Village, City, and Chapel). Once both are placed, the Portal of Power is unsealed, the Trial card is flipped to the unsealed side, and players must work to get at least one Talisman so that they can still get to the Crown of Command (for the first trial).
Finally, villain characters are super strong! Adversaries are too! Unlike adversaries who players encounter at the end of a trial, villain characters can move around the board (oof), and all villains on the board will move when one is drawn and placed according to the text on the card.
If you draw a villain, it usually gets placed somewhere on the board, and then all the villains move clockwise the number of places listed on the card, stopping and triggering a battle when they reach player characters. If villain characters are discarded due to spells or adventure cards, the Doom Tracker advances adding Strength and Craft to the villains (extra oof). If the Doom Tracker reaches the end of the track, players lose a life at the end of each turn.
Once players do beat a trial, the next trial’s envelope is opened, you’ll get new characters and figurines you can now play as, and cards to add into the decks for the next trial.
The game “ends” once a trial is finished, but you can choose to pause between trials or keep going until you win all five.
The verdict?
I loved playing Talisman and was really excited to try Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons. I did really enjoy playing it, but whew is it challenging! It’s meant to be, and I was not prepared for how much the villain characters, the doom tracker mechanism, and having a totally different deck would impact the game.
So if you’re getting this game, definitely be strategic about which character you play as and think through how you and other players can really work together. At the same time, all the new spells are super cool, and I’m considering just shuffling all the cards together when I play either Talisman or Fate Beckons.
My friend and I were able to finish the first trial when we played and plan to continue playing a trial at a time until we’re completely done! Then we’ll probably play it again!
You can grab a copy from Hasbro Pulse or Amazon for $33.99 with fulfillment beginning in October.
Images and review copy courtesy of Avalon Hill and Hasbro Games
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