I just acquired the core set a couple of days ago, although I haven't had much time to dabble with it. I did try the first scenario with the recommended Roland Banks setup, but that didn't go swimmingly for me. (Probably because the Auto-Fail token rather liked me for investigation, and shroud 4 with intellect 3 and no intellect commitables is no fun...) As a result, I remembered a variant of solo Arkham Horror 2e where the player controls four investigators at a time. Cue me wondering if I should control two investigators at once.

That said, assuming I like the experience enough, I'm trying to work out which scenario cycle I should pursue afterwards. I'm honestly not sure whether I should pursue a desired investigator first (and even then, there's competition between Onyele and Downs), or particular cards first (Guardian Enchanted Blade looks tasty, that much is certain).

Well, first of all we should take into account that this game is designed to play with any amount of investigators from 1 to 4. And even though most people who play solo tend to use 2 investigators, i'm now having a great time going through Carcosa and Forgotten Age totally solo. That being said, also keep in mind that not all investigators are good enough for solo (and also as you keep buying more campaigns you'll have a bigger cardpool to create better decks).

Another big part of this game is also the Deckbuilding. The recommended decks from Fantasy Flight are created with the objective that you learn to identify what cards are useless and find some others in your collection that would fit your investigator better. Here you can find plenty of useful decks that people have made for all investigators: https://arkhamdb.com/decklists you'll see that Roland is actually a good solo for Night of the Zealot.

If you are now thinking of buying another campaign I would recommend to go in order (although some parts of Dunwich are out of stock now awaiting for a reprint). Also keep in mind that The Forgotten Age is a bit difficult. And don't buy any "Return to..." boxes just now, wait till you have everything else.

Although I sometimes play true solo. I've found two investigators to be a good sweet spot.

There are multiple threads on Board Game Geek about where to go next. There is a fairly good "Introduction for New Players" ( https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1984153/faq-new-playerspeople-curious-about-game-please-re ) that tries to present a fairly balanced perspective on where to go next.

I've actually figured out which deluxe cycle to target next--Forgotten Age. Highest concentration of cards that I feel like I'd especially enjoy playing. Next would be, in some order, Dunwich Legacy and Circle Undone, and finally, Path to Carcosa.

(Now to figure out a good complement for Ursula using only NotZ and TFA. Preferably using only one copy of NotZ.)

Quick heads up about jumping into TFA next....It is generally regarded as the most difficult campaign so far. It is my favorite in theme though so I'd still say go for it. I am doing an Ursula/Leo campaign right now through TFA that has performed pretty well so far...though I am just about to start Boundary Beyond.... so that could definitely change!!

As he said. People who had played all of the cycles, had all of the cards from the previous cycles, who really enjoyed the game, found TFA difficult and often really frustrating. I wouldn't start there.

I actually started with Carcosa and it was a lot of fun!

Admittedly, I changed course to aim for investigators that have particular appeal to me. New target is Carcosa, on account of Sefina, Yorick, and Akachi. Particularly Sefina--something about the rogue/mystic conjunction sings to me.

Now I have to figure out who makes a good complement for Sefina. Roland and Phan are the obvious suspects, but Yorick also looks good, although that leaves one without Seeker-role cards for snaring clues...

There are plenty of clue options available in Rogue and Mystic. With just one Core and PtC, you've got Lockpicks and Drawn to the Flame. If you're willing to branch out and buy an extra Mythos pack or two, you could get Heart of the Elders for Lola Santiago (which also comes with the amazing Ornate Bow) or Wages of Sin for Sixth Sense. Yorick can also pull his weight with Scene of the Crime and the upgraded Newspaper (both of which are in the Carcosa cycle).