One minute you are still during the Middle Ages defending a castle in Scotland against the vikings, are betrayed and turned to stone for a long time. The next moment you wake up in 1990s New York – with technology they certainly didn’t have in the 1990s. That must be scary, but made of stone you’re thankfully not a softy. How rough is your awakening in Disney Gargoyles: Awakening?
Background
Did you grow up in the 90s? Then you may remember a time when cartoons were a little less loud and are a bit longer in length and even a tad darker and more mature. I remember Batman: The Animated Series very well, for instance. Those who dig deep into their memories may also remember Disney’s Gargoyles. This animated series, like Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, featured so-called gargoyles. Gargoyles are stone-faced statues that are used as an aesthetic show off on churches and castles. Unlike the statues from Hunchback – which provided comic effect – the titular gargoyles from Disney’s Gargoyles are a bit more serious in nature. Disney’s Gargoyles set a somewhat more serious tone than earlier (and also later) animated Disney series.
Gargoyles was about a group of living gargoyles from a Scottish castle who sat in deep slumber for centuries until the castle was rebuilt by an evil businessman to be used as a penthouse on top of a skyscraper for his nefarious deeds. Together with Detective Elisa, the benign gargoyles try to prevent the bad guys’ nefarious plans and also solve mysteries and conflicts from their past. Gargoyles, instead of individual storylines per episode, consisted of a continuous chronological storyline with various subplots and character development full of references to Shakespeare and literature. As a result, the series offered something new for Disney fans and therefore also managed to win the hearts of a slightly more adolescent audience. As a result, it also had all the makings of a cult favourite. Gargoyles was not shockingly popular with mainstream audiences and after some internal political wrangling within Disney, the plug was pulled on the series. Fortunately, you can now stream it via Disney+ and possibly a new awakening is taking place partly because of this. Can the same be said of Disney Gargoyles: Awakening?
Goal and setup
The game Disney Gargoyles: Awakening is a cooperative game where players take on the roles of various gargoyles and the detective Elisa to stop evil. The game contains several scenarios in which players reenact events from the cartoon series. At the beginning of the game, players each choose a character and collectively a scenario they want to play. They set up the game board and 3D buildings, and depending on the scenario, they set up specific game components. The scenario board shows specific rules related to the scenario and the relevant bad guys. Each player gets a player board, miniature of the matching character and a personal stack of action cards. Players win if they complete the scenario – often this is if they manage to defeat all the bad guys – and lose if one of the heroes is defeated or another condition is met. While the box does not indicate that this game can be played solo, aside from the last scenario it is possible to play the scenarios on your own.
Gameplay
The gameplay is slightly similar to other cooperative games such as Pandemic or Horrified. One of the heroes has a turn where he or she may perform various actions and this is followed by a turn of the bad guys where, if it is night, a card is drawn from the pile indicating what the bad guys are doing or a day phase where the heroes replenish their cards and gain life points and the bad guys do specific actions based on the scenario. It becomes day once four cards with a moon symbol are drawn from the bad guys’ pile of cards/the scenario.
During their turn, players can perform as many actions as depicted on the specific character’s board: so-called action points. A player can move a miniature, float off buildings to move a longer distance or attack. Players also have action cards. These cards state how many action points playing the card costs. Often these cards state a move action and attack action and often complemented by a special effect.
Attacks (of both heroes and villains) are done with dice. As many dice are rolled as the strength of the character (hero or villain). The dice can show two possible symbols (claw or lightning bolt) or a blank side. Claws are hits, lightning bolts activate special abilities and blancos are obviously misses. The life points of heroes or an end boss (or bosses) are tracked on a separate board and if helpers receive damage, their token is flipped.
Verdict
Due to the 3D buildings that do not fit built-up in the box and the different scenarios, setting up the game can take some time for a game that is relatively light and quick to play. Players will mainly move and fight during the game. Players do rely largely on luck. Depending on the scenario and associated cards, the bad guys sometimes move randomly all over the board, making it sometimes difficult to keep track of them. Battles depend on dice, although you can influence luck to some extent with special cards and effects. The game mechanics are very light and simple, but the game can sometimes be unrelenting if you have bad luck. This makes it a fun challenge for Gargoyles fans who like less heavy or serious cooperative games. Fans will recognise events from the series and this gives the game a great nostalgia factor. I don’t know how popular the series is – to be honest, I hadn’t thought about it for a long time – but for fans, I’m sure it’s a welcome thought that Ravensburger hasn’t forgotten about their favourite cult series either.
