Tales of the Arthurian Knights - What a game!

I was very lucky to have my pre-order shipped for this, finally, as I've heard there have been some pretty major issues with distribution. Not sure what happened. Did they vastly misjudge the popularity? Seems doubtful. Could be there are simply still things going on with manufacturing and the distribution channels, aka the world wide shipping crises which seems like a permanent fixture of modern life.

But now that it's here, and I've spent some quality time with it, I can happily report that I love it! They've taken Tales of the Arabian Nights and simplified it even more. As a matter of fact, this might be the most simplistic adventure game I've ever played. Each turn you move, and have an encounter. That's it!

It effortlessly slots into that fabled Effortlessly Fun and Easy space!

However, it does not replaces Tales of the Arabian Nights. And here's why. For me, Tales of the Arthurian Nights is the game I'll turn to for solo play, while Arabian Nights is the game for multi-player. And that mainly comes down to how the tales are written. The tales in this new version are longer, and take more time to read, and because of that I can see the game really dragging with more than 2 players. This new game also comes with really good solo and co-op rules, and a whole small deck of cards to randomize things when certain areas / conditions need to be randomized.

It's also not an Arabian Nights replacement because the tone of the game is very different. The best thing about the older version is how wildly random and wacky it is. Arabian Nights always feel like some kind of unbridled madcap, screwball adventure, where as this new version is a little more subdued, and the narratives are a little more focused. There is still a lot of randomness, but the randomness is more contained and reigned in.

But yes, I highly recommend this game. Hopefully they get the distribution issues worked out. If you don't like Tales of the Arabian Nights, I doubt this new version will win you over, so if that's the case you can probably just save yourself the dough. But if you're looking for a very simple, narrative-driven adventure game, and you enjoy that mix of choose your own adventure and moving around a game board, this is a must play.