Book Review: ‘The Kingsport Metamorphosis’ by Jonathan Green (An Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook)
Spooky things are happening in the little town of Kingsport, just up the road from Arkham. You’ve received a mysterious invitation from Elijah Harcourt to come visit him on the Autumn Equinox. He’s been following your work and believes you’re perfect for his needs. The only problem, is that you’ve never heard of this Elijah Harcourt. Still, an intriguing puzzle in a quaint little town—there are worse ways to spend a fall day. Come find out what’s waiting in the mist at Kingsport in the newest Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook titled The Kingsport Metamorphosis by Jonathan Green.
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Aconyte for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of The Kingsport Metamorphosis contains some spoilers!]
There’s a deadly mystery afoot in the small town of Kingsport
When you get to Kingsport, you’re naturally curious about your host. It’s a little too early to head to his home, so you visit the little town instead to see what you can learn about the mysterious Elijah Harcourt. And it turns out that you can learn very little about him or his home, and what you did learn is disconcerting to say the least. Everyone you mention the name Harcourt too gives veiled warnings that aren’t quite enough to send you running, but do give you pause.
But not enough pause; you show up at the door to Harcourt House right at 7:00 pm, ready to find out just what’s going on. You’re shown in by the butler and introduced to the other guests. Oddly enough, the others all seem to be friends, family, or acquaintances of Harcourt, while you had never heard of the man until the invitation arrived. Finally, you’re all led in to see your host, but no! Elijah Harcourt is dead, apparently bitten by a spider.
Horrified but still curious, you begin to investigate the house for clues as to what Harcourt wanted and why you were invited. As you make different choices that draw you further into the sinister web surrounding Harcourt House, escape becomes less and less likely. Death, madness, or both lay waiting in the shadows and it’s only a matter of time before you are caught.
A new addition to the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook line
About two years ago, Aconyte Books decided to combine their Arkham Horror board games and novels into a new form of entertainment: the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook line. Basically, these are choose-your-own-adventure books with a twist. Instead of just picking an option at the end of each section, your decision is guided by dice rolls, character attributes, collected items, and other mini-games within the story. It takes the simple “you pick” premise of a choose-your-own-adventure and elevates it to a game that can be played over and over.
Before you start, make sure to gather some paper, a writing instrument, and a die (I just used the roll a die feature on Google). To start the book, you pick a character. There are three presented at the front of the book, but you can also use a character that you liked from any of your other adventures. You just carry over your stats from your last adventure and you’re good to go. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses, as well as special abilities that could help or hinder you on your adventure.
Once you’ve picked your character you start the adventure. As you go, you have to keep track of your health and sanity. Those are critical as they really affect what choices you can make as you get deeper into the adventure. Your doom is also important, if it gets too high you’ll have a very hard time getting out alive (who am I kidding, you’re going to have a hard time no matter what).
You also have to keep track of your willpower, intellect, and combat. Different characters start out at different places with these three abilities, but they can go up or down depending on your choices and chance. There are also strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and items to keep track of. These all impact your options moving forward.
And of course there’s the chance factor. Many choices require you to roll a die and add or subtract different attributes from that number. So that means that even if you do everything right and have awesome stats, you may still come to a bad end because of fate. But that rather fits with the whole Arkham mood anyway.
The Kingsport Metamorphosis is a slightly rosier tale
I have played a few of these Arkham Horror Investigators gamebooks now, and the main thing I noticed about them is how really, really hard it is to walk away alive. There are many endings, but almost all of them are bad. It makes sense; it’s a horror series after all. But still, I’d like to win at least some of the time, you know.
Green seems to have got that complaint in The Kingsport Metamorphosis. It’s still a horror book, and most of the endings are still gruesome. But it felt like there were more nice ones in this book. I didn’t walk away from every read-through feeling depressed and hopeless, and that was nice. I actually “won” a few times. And that kept me excited to read it again.
My rating for this book: 8/10
I would definitely say that I returned to this one more times than any of the other Investigators Gamebooks that I’ve read so far. The re-readability makes The Kingsport Metamorphosis the best installment of the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks to date and worth picking up.
Also check out: Book Review: The Tides of Innsmouth by Jonathan Green an Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook
