Eldritch Horror is a game where 1 to 8 investigators globetrot around the world fighting the Mythos. In mechanics and goals and theme and art (lots of reused art) Eldritch Horror is very similar to Arkham Horror. The initial rules are better than the Arkham Horror rules and many mechanics have been simplified so that helps, but the game still comes with a secondary booklet that elaborates on many things and the online FAQ is fairly long (though it does cover the expansions too).

You start out with an Ancient One, each of which has special rules associated. The Ancient One card also has Cultist stats so you don't have a basic cultist that is often modified by the specific Ancient One.

During the Mythos phase the card tells you if gates are opened, clues are placed, or other things happen. Exact numbers are on a player card. For example we played a 6-player game so if gates opened it was two and if clues were placed it was three and if there was a monster surge it was three also. It's not for certain that gates will appear or the Omen track advances (and there are no gate bounces -- you can't seal gates and each gate has a set location so no gates overlap).

When players go there is an Action phase and an Encounter phase. During Action each player gets two actions:

1. *Travel to an adjacent area
   

2. *Buy a train or ship ticket (which is used to extend the Travel action)
   

3. *Heal 1 strength and 1 mind
   

4. *Trade items with people in same space
   

5. *Use a special ability if you have one on your character or on a possession
   

6. *Try to buy stuff
   

Each character has five skills with scores of 1 to 5, can be improved by up to +2, and can be augmented with items and spells. For a skill check you roll number of d6 equal to your effective skill; 5 and 6 are success and for the most part you only need one success. There are no opposite skills and skill focuses to manage.

1. *Lore - used to cast spells
   

2. *Influence - used to buy stuff
   

3. *Spot -
   

4. *Strength - used to battle monsters
   

5. *Mind - used to resist sanity drain
   

There are four items on the board. Buying stuff is rolling Influence and number of successes is how much money you have to buy stuff (items cost 1 to 4). Pretty simple and eliminates money tokens. You can even borrow 2 units of currency and get a Debt card.

During the Encounter phase you have to fight monsters in your space. All battle are one round and monsters retain damage so battles are more survivable than in AH. If there are no monsters (either there were none or you killed/drove them off this phase) then you can (1) do a research action if there is a clue token, (2) do a big city action if you are in a big city space, (3) do an expedition action if you are on an expedition space, (4) do a generic action, (5) do a Mythos card action if in the right space, (6) go through a gate.

Big city actions are good ways to improve your skills. In AH it always seemed like there was a low chance to get the item  type hinted at on the board. In EH you usually just get that improvement or item and then roll to avoid consequences.

Gates are one encounter card and if you succeed you usually get to close the gate. No Other Worlds area to keep track of. Research means you might not get a clue, or sometimes you get two clues or something else. Clues are still used for rerolls and some cards ask for Clue spends but since you don't seal gates with 5 Clues you don't need as many Clue tokens as in AH (and they're not easy to get -- a combination of having to do a Research action and often Clues are too far away to get to in one or two turns).

There's an Expedition deck. The top card is where the Expedition is. I'm not sure what the consistent reward is for doing an Expedition, though probably it's usually an Artifact.

To win you have to solve three Mysteries. Each is a card with what you have to do to solve it. Ours was close three gates that match the Omen and use a Clue. It was very hard and after five hours we finally did it.

Forgot about Omen track. This is a four space circle track showing three different symbols (one symbol is repeated twice). Each Gate has an Omen written on it. There's also a marker to mark which Omen is active. Mythos cards can advance the Omen track and when you move it Doom track goes down by number of open Gates that match the Omen. There can also be Eldritch tokens on the Omen track and when the marker moves on them that is extra Doom track movement.

Some cards and monsters have a Reckoning symbol. When a Mythos card shows a Reckoning you resolve them. For monsters they do something special, like Nightgaunts snatching someone or a Wizard cursing someone. For Mythos Ongoing cards this is progressing their condition or activating something bad. For Condition cards (like Debt or a Madness or an Injury) this is to check if it comes due, though most Condition cards also have an ongoing penalty.

If you solve all three Mysteries you win the game. If the Ancient One appears and you solve it's Final Mystery (often it's just fighting it) you win the game. If you run out of Mythos cards you lose the game. If all characters die during Final Mystery phase you lose the game. Some Mythos Rumors cards, if they active all the way, are automatic lose game.

Eldritch Horror is a streamlined version of Arkham Horror, rethought to cut down on fiddly mechanics. And yet it's not really a faster game. The one Mystery we did took forever because the Omen track had to be right for the Gate you wanted to close. And there are events that can throw out solved Mysteries which would make the game drag even longer.

For all its criticisms Arkham Horror is quite fun with experienced players. Maybe Eldritch Horror will be too though we haven't gotten to it yet.