Frosthaven review: the board game epic leaves early access
The digital adaptation of the tactical board game has been complete since 15 October – with 17 heroes and the full campaign. The review praises its depth but criticises the onboarding.
Photo: Ashtabula Archive / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Trailer: YouTube · Frosthaven · youtube.com
Critics' rating
Scores: The Wand Report 7/10
- Platforms
- PC
- Studio
- Snapshot Games (Arc Games)
- Release
- 15.10.2026
+ Pros
- Six clearly distinct starting classes
- Card-based combat with meaningful choices
- Outpost building tied to progression
- Playable solo or online with up to four
– Cons
- Steep onboarding, no class tutorials
- Cumbersome UI, occasional bugs
- Uneven early pacing
- Online play cannot replace the board game at the table
Critics' verdict
A faithful, tactically deep adaptation of the board game that nonetheless demands a lot of patience with onboarding and controls.
Summary of published reviews – sources below.
After more than a year in early access, the digital version of Frosthaven has been available in version 1.0 on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store) since 15 October. It was developed by Snapshot Games and is published by Arc Games; it is based on the tactical board game by Isaac Childres (Cephalofair Games), the successor to Gloomhaven. According to Gematsu, the launch adds the last of the 17 playable heroes, the final chapter of the story campaign, an in-game codex, custom house rules, enhanced co-op and a digital introduction called Road to Frosthaven.
The Wand Report awards 7 out of 10. It praises the six starting classes, which differ clearly from one another, the card-driven combat with meaningful choices, outpost building, and battle goals and personal quests that add extra depth. It can be played solo or online with up to four characters. There is no Metacritic aggregate score yet.
According to the review, getting started is hard: the tutorial only covers the basics and there are no introductions for individual classes. The interface is said to be cumbersome, some inputs do not register, and at one point the tester could not progress and had to load an earlier save. Added to that are uneven early pacing and a multiplayer mode that does not fully replace playing together at the table.