If you have been reading our game of the month blog for any length of time, you may have picked up that I am drawn to fantasy themed games, games with dice, cooperative games, and games with high replay value. Wakening Lair, April’s Game of the Month, checks off all those boxes! Speaking of boxes, the game box is stylized after an ancient tome. How cool is that?
In Wakening Lair, the players take on the role of a party of adventurers exploring an evil lair, with the goal of preventing an ancient evil from escaping and bringing pain and sorrow to their world!
The Lair was built long ago by an ancient evil, and lies at the heart of a dense forest a short distance from your village. The Lair has lain dormant for generations, but lately the taint of evil seems to have returned and foul creatures stir, heralding the awakening of an ancient, unspeakable terror. Will your group of adventurers dare to venture into the depths and take the fight to the ancient evil that lurks within? Or will you become yet another victim of the Wakening Lair?!
Wakening Lair is a fully cooperative, dungeon delving game for 2-6 players. Players take on the roles of heroic adventurers banded together to defeat the monsters in the nearby lair. Choose heroes and heroines from nine different character classes, each with unique abilities and skills to help vanquish foes and silence the awakening lair. Double-sided hero cards offer both male and female versions of each class for a total of 18 heroes from which to choose.
Players take turns exploring rooms in Wakening Lair, defeating monsters, disarming traps, and gathering weapons and magic items. Equip those items to maximize your hero’s abilities, all in preparation to defeat the slumbering monstrous terror that is bound to awaken at any moment. Players will roll each turn to determine if the monstrous terror has awakened. When it does, you need all your collective might, guile, and magical power to keep it from escaping the lair and destroying the land!
The game offers a variety of monsters and nine different monstrous terrors. Randomized boss monster awakenings further change the game narrative each time you play, offering tons of replay value.
One of the things I like most about this game is Grant Wilson’s artwork. While the subject of the game is a dark and mysterious exploration and fantasy fighting, Grant’s light-hearted style makes Wakening Lair suitable even for kids. I have never seen a game with a more adorable necromancer!
Be sure to give Wakening Lair a shot on your next visit to the Malted Meeple!
Karington Hess is a lifelong gamer whose passions for hospitality and all things game-related led him to Ravenwood Castle, where he served as an Innkeeper before joining The Malted Meeple. When not pouring beers, crafting milkshakes, or teaching boardgames, Karington can be found behind the DM’s screen, weaving intricate stories for his fellow gamers.