Alive and Well: Fantasy Flight Launches an App and Announces a New Expansion for Descent

Ever since Imperial Assault burst onto the scene like a rampaging Wampa, there have been questions about whether this meant Fantasy Flight will slowly (or quickly) kill Descent. Well rumors of Descent's death have been greatly exaggerated. The Road to Legend app is live now, and FF just announced a brand new expansion: The Chains That Rust. Long live Descent!

The Chains That Rust acts as a companion piece for The Mists of Bilehall expansion (look for our review of Bilehall later this week). Bilehall mentions this expansion, but until now we didn't know what it was, exactly. Chains continues the undead theme introduced in Bilehall, and now adds dispossessed, marrow priests, and shambling colossi--which look awesome!

There's also a major new rules change: hybrid classes. From what we can tell, each hero now has twice as many classes available. We can't wait to try this!

The Road to Legend app has breathed serious new life into Descent. On Boardgamegeek I've subscribed to Descent, which means whenever there's a new post for Descent, I get a subscription alert. Ever since The Road to Legend launched, my Descent alerts have easily tripled. It's bringing new people to the game. It's bringing people back to the game after they've left it. And for people like me who already love the game, it's just more fun and more to explore. 

I've been goofing around with the new app, and it's very cool. I'll have a more in-depth review soon. But the short version is that with this app, Descent turns fully cooperative, with the app taking the role of the Overlord. The game slowly reveals the map, and things behind doors are hidden. This is a shift from the regular game, where everything is known from the beginning, and it gives Descent a more ominous feel. You have no idea what's behind that door. 

And the app adapts to what expansions you have. You tell it which ones you have, and it uses those for the games. Between quests you can visit towns and buy new loot--and the app keeps track of everything you have, so you don't have to!

It's available for free on iOS, Google Play, and Kindle Fire. It comes with a four-quest mini campaign, and you can buy new campaigns and quests through the app.

This app is a brilliant move for Fantasy Flight that will almost certainly equate to new sales for Descent. As I said, look for full reviews of The Road to Legend app and Mists of Bilehall very soon!

Thanks for reading!