TL;DR it's an early-access RNG drink selling simulator about sending adventurers off to do quests, with a long progression and multiple avenues of play. It's challenging but very rewarding, and being regularly supported with updates. I think it's fun.

Epic Tavern - Early Access Review

I've played some RNG-based Warhammer-style board games, like Blood Bowl and Blood Bowl 2, and indie darling Gremlins. I'm not a glutton for punishment or a total masochist like some of these games demand, but I enjoy the notion of doing the best I can to prepare for a challenge, even if the outcome is NOT 100% in my control. With that preface and understanding, we can continue.

Epic Tavern is an RNG-based game about being the NPC in the D&D bar who sells the drinks and preps the party for their adventures. The characters talk about it like an old hole-in-the-wall that provides them a comfortable environment to relax and get wasted. Think the bartender from Warhammer End Times: Vermintide and Vermintide 2.

The game dialogue isn't voice acted (at the time of review) and has a lot of written text, so prepare for a read, but it's a fun and funny read that thoroughly entertains. Gameplay consists of two segments: a tavern phase and a questing phase. During the tavern phase you have a limited amount of action points to try to sell as many drinks to the heroes as possible, increasing their friendship with you and enabling them to reveal their personal stories a part at a time (at a cost of 1 AP). It plays like a dice puzzle on a board, trying to make each action a series of visits to tables around the tavern, adequately simulating a server _making the rounds._

A round of serving ends when you fail to jump to a different customer wanting something or if the drink/food you served was unpalatable. How palatable your food is seems based on a multitude of factors: what the last item was you served, who you served it to, the mood of the tavern, etc. A higher mood makes it more likely the next customers will enjoy their menu item, so the game becomes a chess-like set of risky moves that feed into each other in succession, much like a Blood Bowl play but taking place in an even more mead-stained environment.

The questing portion is not too dissimilar from your standard fare party-based RPG: you assemble the teams, you level them up, and you send them out to do jobs for you. The writing really shines here, as wonderful encounters and skill checks abound, so you are encouraged to send variety parties even if the main quest objective is based on one stat. Each character has unique skillsets that contribute to 4 overall skill types: combat, mind, social, and survival, and there are a LOT of different skills that fall under those 4 categories. Including the 4 skill types, there are a few other design contrivances worth noting:

-The heroes themselves are the ones who bring you the jobs during the tavern phase - This one takes a little getting used to, but it doesn't cost you any action points to claim them, so just grab them up when they appear.

-The heroes bring you junk, but they just give it to you and expect you to equip them rather than selling it to you- This is further compounded by the current lack of a store or blacksmith to spend gold on items to equip the heroes with, and may be remedied with further patches.

-Once you've assembled the team and sent them on the job, you have relatively little control. - Some might like this, some might hate it. This is just how it seems to work in this game, so pick your party well, or you'll return empty handed and lose that quest you really wanted to finish.

The game is being patched and updated with regularity and the developer is staying in touch with the community. The art style is charming. The music assets might get annoying, but it's tavern music, and you can always quiet it and supply your own. I enjoy the care and thoughtfulness being placed in this game; the developers CLEARLY want to reward preparation and careful thought over rag-tag dicerolling and random team assembly. This game is not easy, but it's rewarding, and in this game climate, a challenge with a reward is something that is indeed worth celebrating.

I wish this game great success, and hope that continual updates and additional content expansions bring it a long and bright future.