Talisman: The Cataclysm Expansion Review

Perhaps the most impressive thing about The Cataclysm, the new expansion to Fantasy Flight’s edition of the legendary Talisman is that it is the fourteenth such expansion. This franchise has come a long way since 2008 and now it stands as one of the most heavily-expanded FFG properties. This might come as a surprise to the game’s many detractors, of which there are many. The Cataclysm probably won’t dissuade them, but those who have stuck with this classic since the early days will find a treat in this newest installment.

The Talisman expansions have covered a lot of ground, both mechanically and thematically. There are four new regions to explore that sit on the corners of the board, there’s a new Inner Region for those who want to drastically change the endgame, and there are seven small-box expansions that do everything from flavor the game slightly, to creating new systems to generate specific feelings. The Cataclysm seems to take its inspiration from the last expansion, The Harbinger, and explores a world that has survived a world-shattering apocalypse and is now recovering. To generate this it does away with the original board entirely. It uses a brand new board that is completely compatible with all previous expansions. It creates an experience that, while not exactly earth-shattering (sorry), still makes welcome changes to the Talisman experience.

A couple of these changes feel designed to give the game a slightly better pace, which will relieve those who feel Talisman can drag out. One such change is the Remnant cards. These are seeded around the board during setup and act as hidden adventure cards until someone lands on them. These range from magical objects and somewhat easier enemies, but they all are the kind of thing you want to see in the early game. There are a good number around the board, and they speed up that early grind of finding manageable enemies and solid objects so your character will be able to level up enough to advance. They also provide some of the main post-apocalyptic flavor in the game.

The other change that feels calculated to quicken the pace is the new Inner region, which is now a frozen wasteland rather than an inferno. The new spaces are much more focused on draining life and generally are a bigger challenge than the original board. This might seem like something that could delay the game as people try to level up above the challenge, but with spaces like the Lich, who drains a number of lives based on a die roll, that’s actually not an option. It underlines that Talisman is a game where there are no sure things. The best you can do is shift the odds a little, but you’ll get hurt in this new Inner region no matter what.

Like most of the Talisman expansions this one comes with some alternate endgames. In spite of owning every expansion these have so far remained an unexplored facet of the expansions for me. But here a new one is actually part of the experience. The new Crown of Command ending actually generates different results based on how high or low the roll for the Command Spell is. Instead of being a simple yes-no proposition, now a low roll will actually take life off of the person casting the spell. This is a simple change that produces some great finishes. There’s now a 1-in-3 chance that the caster will be hurt themselves, which makes the endgame much more high-stakes and tense, especially in those cases when another player can’t really catch them to wrestle the crown away.

There are other new elements as well, the best of which are the Denizens. These are NPCs, who in the old board were tied to specific locations, but here can appear on any number of spaces on the board. It creates a lot of interesting choices on those spaces as Denizens accumulate, since you can choose which one you face. There are also some new Talismans with new (and sometimes negative) effects, which are drawn from a deck now. And of course, there are new characters and spells. My favorite new character is probably the Black Knight, whom veterans will remember from the original board. Here he roams the board as a playable character, hassling everyone by making them give up a life or gold.

In an effort to change up the experience some of the Talisman expansions have added new mechanics and upkeep to the experience. This can produce some cool outcomes, but it always feels a little overbearing in such a breezy game. The Cataclysm doesn’t fall into this trap, though the trade-off is a somewhat thinner sense of setting than I was led to believe there would be. But then nothing has ever really made Talisman feel like anything other than Talisman. Designer Samuel Bailey, who has designed every major Talisman expansion since The Firelands, has already done some of the most interesting and unique additions. The Cataclysm stands proudly next to the best expansions as a fresh way to experience the old joys of Talisman.