Siding with the Right Suit of a Custom Deck in Regicide
Face increasing challenges against enemies and master the art of maximizing the available resources with Regicide.
There are a bunch of excellent solo games out there that only require a simple deck of cards. Regicide fits the mold, but I was intrigued by its custom deck! The idea of working through a deck of enemies has often appealed to me, particularly in cases where some information is known. At last, it was time to get this highly lauded title to my solo table!
Game Overview
Game Name: Regicide
Publication Year: 2020
Designers: Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, & Andy Richdale
Artist: Sketchgoblin
Publisher: Badgers from Mars
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to defeat each of the face cards in order, but these ramp up in terms of attack and overall health. Each suit has a different ability, and it’s important to know how best to utilize the available cards. With each enemy immune to its suit, this can be quite the challenge!
First Play
June 5, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
June 7, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
8
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
14" x 14"
Low Score
N/A
A Lot in a Small Box
The custom deck looks awesome, but this is a solo game that can be enjoyed with any deck of cards. Always nice to have that affordable option available for small games!
It took me a little time to understand what was going on with all of the suits and how to use them. This is a light and quick game, but it still packs plenty of strategies.
Enemies must be defeated individually, yet the draw deck is very important to manage throughout play.
Little details on the cards made me excited to see every one… It’s not just the face cards that have characters!
Planning Plays
Higher value cards were inherently better, but the ability to create lower combinations was interesting. Those 2s, 3s, and 4s served some purpose, after all!
Hearts felt like the least useful suit, as I only needed to use a couple of valuable ones to add from the discard pile. Still, that made them easier to use for absorbing damage.
As repetitive as I thought gameplay would be, I found myself playing multiple times to get closer and closer.
This was tough! I used the ability to draw new cards many times, but still barely made it into the queen section.
Small Text-icide
My only real struggle with the rules was the sheer tininess of the booklet! It made sense to fit it inside the box, yet this felt like a missed opportunity for a full rulebook.
I almost switched over to learning it online. Nothing was overly complex: It was just a little tricky to read.
Pretty sure this is about the right size text for my Calico Critters. Ha ha! Still, after the initial hurdle of seeing it all clearly, I enjoyed learning more about the concepts.
There is just enough extra going on to make sure this doesn’t play like mindlessly flipping or placing cards.
Moving to the Queens
Not surprisingly, I couldn’t get far at first. I didn’t use the diamonds as I should have, sometimes discarding them to take damage. Nope! That’s the main way to draw cards.
The jacks were challenging enough, yet I managed to defeat a few with the exact health to draw them later on.
I wasn’t quite ready for the queens, though, and only barely scratched the surface of the new challenge. Time and time again, I was thwarted by the wrong cards!
Yet I kept at it, adjusting my strategy and seeing what I might be able to do differently to advance further.
The Flawed Beauty of a Repetitive Solo Goal
Once I found a way to win pretty consistently, it felt like the challenge sort of disappeared for me. I can definitely see myself still trying to achieve better victories over time, yet I don’t know how much variety there will be in the long run. However, this is still an excellent design because it isn’t something to be won simply through sheer luck.
There are definite strategies to try out and better choices that can help progress through the enemy deck. I have plenty of so-called repetitive solo games in my collection, and I still find many reasons to return to them! So although I may not see myself playing this one all that often, it still has a lot to offer… And who knows? Maybe I’ll play it 1,000 times!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-8
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 2 Wins & 6 Losses
It was a brutal showdown in many ways! I was close to handling all of the damage a few times, but just couldn’t pull it off. Still, I kept going and eventually found myself battling the kings. With some clever plays and even a few card sacrifices to stay alive, I celebrated with back-to-back victories! It was a lot of fun to puzzle through the available cards and see what I could actually do. There is a lot more to this one than I originally expected to find!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Gameplay is very quick and smooth once the rules are understood, with most turns taking a matter of seconds.
- Interesting decisions involve using cards to attack enemies or holding onto them to mitigate ongoing damage.
- The idea of moving through the deck may seem simple, yet it’s an easy concept and offers obvious progression.
- Low value cards can be useful in some instances, particularly with the combinations or animal companions.
- Unique and awesome artwork adds a lot to the custom deck, but the game can be enjoyed with any deck of cards.
- Each suit presents its own benefit and figuring out how to optimize the cards in hand is a very fun challenge.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Aside from using less card draws, there aren’t any goals to work towards after winning the first few times.
- Tiny print makes the included rulebook rather difficult to read without any kind of magnification or bright light.
- No single solution exists with the random order of the cards, but it feels like there is an overall strategy to win.
- Some luck is involved in the order of the cards, since not drawing any diamonds will result in an early loss.
Victory Conditions
Defeat Every Face Card
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Achieve a bronze victory in at least 1 game.
Achieve a silver victory in at least 1 game.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Regicide? Are there any other solo games you enjoy playing with a deck of cards? I had a great time trying to win over and over again. It didn’t happen right away! There might not be enough here for me to keep playing consistently, but I can see why this is a highly rated solo game. Such a neat way to use every card in the deck!
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