I cannot recommend this game. There are some serious shenanigans that the PC pulls out of thin air to win a match on turn 9. I've been playing through the challenges, and it's just the 2 NPCs vs. Player. They'll have the option to return a deployed troop between NPC (to win a conflict), or destroy your single troop and they will take destroying your troop every time. Count on them to get the exact Intrigue cards to increase their influence for alliances to edge you out of the competition, or get spice, or gain 4 victory points at the end of the last turn. It's just a lot of last minute mystery meat. Not rewarding to win and extremely frustrating to lose 11 Victory points to 13 when the game "ended" with them at 9 points and suddenly they had every last second Intrigue card to gain 4 VPs. It's beyond improbable.

This is a game worth reviewing in two parts. Firstly, the game-play itself as a card game that released in 2020, and secondly as a digital adaptation of said board game.

The game-play

To address the game-play itself; I have yet to really dig my nails into the nitty-gritty, but as an ardent consumer of all things deck-building, this is really tickling my fancy. The rules are similar to chess in that they're fairly simple to learn, but keep revealing more depth and strategy the further you dig yourself in.

At first, maximising the usage of your leader ability and picking your fights will be your priority - then you start to incorporate trade row costs into your decision making; once the basics are hammered in you start paying attention to the aims of your opponents; start bluffing with hidden information, feinting and judging whether your opponents are paying attention to your strategy - or simply pretending not to. I get the impression that this game will continue to get better the more I play it in ways I haven't foreseen yet.

The card iconography is clear and informative, and I can see complex games playing out quickly once everybody at the table becomes familiar with the game, similar to Race for the Galaxy. To facilitate the necessity for complex interactions on a single card, this does however result a fairly steep initial learning curve, which brings us to part 2.

The Digital Adaptation

It's phenomenal.

This is hands down the single best digital adaptation of any board game I have ever played. Full stop.

I would like to bring attention to aspects of video games that rarely get the credit they deserve. The UI is perfect - all necessary information is provided front and centre, with zero wasted screen space, and further information available at a single click in the exact space you'd expect. No high resolution display issues, no wasted screen space, no menus behind menus, it's all there.

The sound design is a thing of beauty. It's crisp, clear, informative, unambiguous and felicitous. You only notice it's there if you pay attention, and when you do you realise how well designed it is.

This game is a lesson in unobtrusive design - you never even notice the UI or sound or screen layout or menus, they fade into the background precisely because they do their job so well.

The art is passable, but consistent. It's not Ascension at its best, but it's certainly nowhere near Dominion at its worst.

The only major criticism I have is with the lack of online machmaking; we are at the present restricted to the rather archaic method of manually creating and starting async or realtime games in a lobby - an ELO system with realtime matchmaking would go a long way to smoothing out the online experience.

I am very much looking forward to digging my brain cells into this game (and likely getting my ass kicked online for a good while yet).

Very nice adaptation of the board game. All mechanics are clear, perhaps even easier to follow in this version that the actual board game.
The extra challenges also make it fun to have some variety while playing offline, giving extra challenges and new ways to play the game.