Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs Fits in a Coat Pocket, Basically

Took this one on a work trip to see if the whole point held up, and it does, this box is smaller than a hardcover novel and I ran two full scenarios in a hotel room with a fold out table. Twenty mission solo campaign, hand management combat lifted straight from the big Gloomhaven system, and it genuinely feels like the real thing shrunk down rather than a cheap spinoff wearing the name for sales.

Box came out smelling like fresh print and cardboard, that new game smell that never quite makes it past the second or third play, and honestly it’s one of my favorite parts of opening anything new even when I know it won’t last. First thing I noticed after that was the health dials, little plastic wheels you spin to track damage instead of a pad and pencil, and mine are stiff enough that spinning one during a tense turn feels like fighting the component as much as the monster on the map. I’ve seen enough other people complain about the same loose fit or the muted blue and green colors being hard to tell apart at a glance that I know it’s not just my copy being unlucky.

Cards are also curved a little out of the box from how they’re packed, not enough to matter for shuffling but enough that laying them flat on the table takes a beat. None of this actually gets in the way of the game underneath, which is tight little dungeon puzzles that scale down cleanly if you want to run it two player unofficially, though it’s built and marketed as solo only. Setup to finish runs about thirty minutes once you know what you’re doing, which for a Gloomhaven game is basically instant.

Rulebook assumes you’ve played Gloomhaven or Frosthaven before and gets a little sparse if you haven’t, item cards especially get thin explanations. Worth it anyway for what it is, a genuinely portable version of a system that usually needs a dedicated table and three hours.