Did you find the first Karak too easy, or did the competitive part not suit you in some way? Karak 2 will definitely make you happy, which in many ways takes this brand to a whole new level, which you will learn more about in the following lines.

Exploring the Karak dungeon is sometimes not easy, but in the end the heroes manage to overcome everything and finally get out into the fresh air. But those who think that now only fun and relaxation await them, may be a little disappointed. Karak 2 places the Dark General in front of a group of rivers, who have taken the remains of the dragon’s power and are now conquering the world with them. The heroes’ task is simple, they must take up arms, gather allies, and together start a battle for the fate of the world.

There are a total of six characters in the character menu of Karak 2. However, don’t expect the crew to be the same as in the first part. Apparently, some of the heroes from the base game have yet to surface, so we now have the warrior Horan, the scientist Taia, the ranger Lorraine, the wizard Xanros, the warrior Elspeth, and the explorer Darius. You may know some from the past, but as some of the names show, there are also newcomers. Darius or Elspeth immediately attracts your attention, because both have very unusual “horses”. Basically, everyone in Karak 2 moves by riding animals or their remains.

Even though the character offerings are slightly different from the first game, that doesn’t mean the heroes don’t have special abilities. Each crew has two unique skills in Karak 2 that differentiate them from the rest of the crew. For example, the relatively uninteresting wizard Xanros has the ability to summon skeletons with the help of his actions, thereby acquiring skeleton cubes for use. Additionally, every time his units die, he has the option to heal the life of each fallen unit. Elspeth gives you the chance to reroll heroes who die once, plus she can move around the map faster. Overall, the heroes are handled very well. Moreover, I don’t think their balance is bad at all.

When you have a choice, you can place your champion on the game board. On it you place portraits, lives, and also building tokens, which you only work with after you build your city. In addition to these innovations, Karak 2 also has an inventory where you store weapons, spells and amulets that you acquire during your travels. If your hero is defeated on his journey, he will fall unconscious and be unable to play the next turn to regenerate properly.

Once you have controlled your hero and set up the game board, you can start playing in Karak 2. Each player can perform two actions during his turn, with the possibility to move one tile before each action. In total, this continuation of the famous adventure game will offer seven possible steps that you can take. However, the basic idea is that you explore the landscape while encountering monsters. The landscape has two stages, which in practice means that in the first stage you will always face one monster, while in the second stage you will be forced to face two enemies of increasing strength.

And the Battle with the Monster Armies event is actually related to encounters with monsters. As the name suggests, this is a fight where you roll a dead hero and a certain number of dice from your squad (units recruited in the city), after which you add up the results. However, with non-heroic reinforcements, you have to take into account that you could lose them after failure and thus lose their future help before you recruit them again in your city. There you have the opportunity to recruit as many archers, warriors or mages as you can according to your level of fame. After all, who would go to war with an insignificant hero, right?

Recruiting is another action you can take while playing Karak 2. But it always requires a certain amount of raw materials. And that’s not all. To recruit brave warriors, you need to build cities as well as certain buildings on your game board. You can build a Magic Tower that produces wizards, a Military Camp that recruits knights, a Banner of Glory that increases your ability to lead men in battle, or a Stable that gives you one extra action, which is useful because you can use that extra move. for things like healing or getting resources from boxes meant for “mining” wood, food, or stone. You use these materials to build and recruit new forces.

Although at first glance it may seem that troops are not necessary, you will need them to succeed. Because the dark general is being dragged into the field with a group of loyal praetorians that you don’t have. And eventually, with a little luck, you’ll be able to defeat him. For defeating this brutal sap, you will receive an archstone, which is one of the main victory points. You may also hit other boulders or small rocks on your journey. The winner is the one who manages to get the most points before defeating the general. The game ends with his death.

The dark general has fallen, and thanks to this I can now give you a report on how Karak 2 actually performs in the context of this text. This game board offers you a high level of replayability. The units support the impression of grandeur and the building is not a bad element either. I think this is an excellent competitive adventure, its creators managed to move the game for children to a higher league, thanks to which we have a wonderful experience with the ability to tie you to a chair for several hours. You definitely don’t have to stay at one party.

I thank the Czech distributor, Albi, for providing me with a copy of Karak 2.