A simply superb take on John Harper's Blades in the Dark. Unlike many hacks of the system, Wicked Ones isn't merely a fun reskin. It really does make itself its own game with its own unique mechanics, it simply takes the overarching feel of Blades and carries it into the idea of playing monsters doing monster things. It successfully does something no other game I've played is designed to do - put you on the other end of a classic dungeon romp - and does it with a rules light, narrative first system that's pretty easy for just about anyone to pick up. Another key difference from Blades is instead of choosing from a few predetermined gains as your band of wicked ones grows, you get a bit more freedom by way of actively drawing out a dungeon as you build onto it. The dungeon theme does define specific rooms, and these are your big defining rooms, but outside that there are all sorts of options for smaller rooms that don't respect a playbook. Building onto this dungeon feels like a fun way to keep everyone invested in the group's progress.

The short of it is, it takes what I really loved about Blades in the Dark, puts a brand new spin on the whole thing, and applies it to high fantasy dungeon crawling by making you the overlords of your very own adventurer magnet. If you liked Blades in the Dark and you like fantasy, I'd definitely recommend giving this a good look. If you're not sure what Blades in the Dark is, I'd still recommend it, as the system is very easy to get a handle on whether or not you're aware of the game that inspired its overarching mechanics.