Daniel (@dungeondive) is delighted: the 40th Anniversary Edition of Tales of the Arabian Nights — the classic storytelling game of gloriously random encounters — has a new dedicated solo mode, and against his usual wariness of bolted-on solo rules (he cites Deep Regrets falling flat), this one is, he says, knocked out of the park. Crucially, nothing is removed: you still play the whole game — every card, the full Book of Tales — with a brand-new layer on top, making this arguably the most complete way to experience Arabian Nights.
That layer is a second Book of (Solo) Tales: 15 bespoke choose-your-own-adventure quests, each unfolding across a series of milestones placed on the map, some with their own dedicated treasures and statuses. You can beeline the milestones or, Skyrim-style, wander off into the base game’s random-encounter chaos indefinitely. He walks through setup — characters, skills, the reaction matrices, day/night, wealth-as-movement — and plays the opening of “The Sword of the Infidel,” promptly drinking from a dark river and getting cursed into Beast Form (which blocks victory until cured).
His only gripe: the cards feel a little cheap (a deluxe edition existed). Otherwise, a model reissue.
Do you agree a great dedicated solo mode can make a game’s most complete version — or do you, like Daniel once did, prefer just playing the multiplayer game by yourself?