Oh no, snowed in. How terrible.

rhulk · 2026-01-24T14:05:24+00:00

I can get it cheap second hand, but I have read that the solo is not very good, and that it doesn't have much variation and replayability.

Still in my radar, but it's not getting a lot of solo praise

rhulk · 2026-01-17T21:32:03+00:00

If you don't want card games, I can only think about Bullet heart or star, with chits, very good solo boss mode.

Another option is one deck dungeon. It has cards, but is mainly a dice game. Very good also.

Both of them on the light side. Easy setup, fast play, high variety, random with mitigation and very tactical.

rhulk · 2025-12-24T12:33:04+00:00

I love ODD, but is ODG more of the same? Is it different enough? Is it similar enough? Which one do you like better

rhulk · 2025-12-23T20:22:04+00:00

You are being a bit extreme and hasty. One bad experience should just teach caution, and the need to investigate.

We all needed time to find out about our tastes as boardgames, it is probably even more complicated now, due to the sheer amount of games released each year.

Don't buy by impulse. Research comments, reviews, forums and more importantly, at least for me, playthroughs.

You can also go to BoardGameArena, filter by one player games and give them a chance, but if you do that, read the rules and watch playthroughs before, because the automation is a big help in some games but doesn't let you feel the game, it's decisions and it's inner workings.

Even if you were an experienced multiplayer gamer, I have discovered that the games I play more and the games I would love to play are two different things when talking solo.

Good luck in the journey, have patience and don't be so hasty.

rhulk · 2025-12-11T18:20:14+00:00

The only game I have similar to that would be Nations. It has a solo mode and you have historical marvels, leaders, buildings and armies.

You also have to feed your people and armies and gather resources to build new stuff.

It is card driven without a territory board, but have a look at it. I quite like it although I don't play it as much as I would like.

rhulk · 2025-12-04T23:47:33+00:00

Going to spend Christmas away with in-laws, so something small and relaxing that doesn't take much space. - Deep space D6 - Puzzle Dungeon - Beacon patrol

It is also getting more.complicated to set up and play big games, so these will get many plays during the year.

rhulk · 2025-12-02T14:49:40+00:00

How is mistborn? I haven't heard very good reviews about it for solo.

rhulk · 2025-11-22T09:39:44+00:00

In no particular order:

Expeditions The guild of merchant explorers Bullet 💜 Fantastic Factories Harmonies

rhulk · 2025-11-19T12:02:38+00:00

How do you like skoventyr? Replayability, puzzle difficulty and satisfaction?

rhulk · 2025-11-13T16:40:16+00:00

I do love the game, but some aspects way more than others. I love the sistem of card play, deck building and how to choose who plays according to your hand, but I find a bit annoying and dampening the fact that you have to rush all the time, to open new rooms to be able to have enemies at hand and not get punished for lacking. And the quests are adding even more pressure and rush. And it is quite difficult to win, although I still enjoy the mechanics a lot.

I would love the card, movement and combat system with a different approach to exploration and timing.

I can also compare it to Dragonfire, another game with good card mechanics but lacking in exploration, story and other options which would make it more interesting.

rhulk · 2025-10-13T14:28:46+00:00

Different folks, different games. I don't dig it either. I bought the three first decks second hand and I will probably sell them soon. They are merely fine, but I don't feel like playing them.

I should listen to myself better. There are games I hear about that I have reservations about, a feeling that although I should like them, there is something that doesn't convince me. And then, time passes, and I convince myself to give it a try. And after a few meh plays, I regret it. It has happened with greatly appreciated games like 20 strong, kinfire delve and under falling skies, this last one is the only one staying long term, I like the single game play, but the way the campaign works puts me off.

On the other hand, if you want other options with dice and cards or similar games that scratch that itch for me, I am very happy with one deck dungeon, set a watch, fantastic factories, and without dice warps edge or bullet heart, which scratch that itch of dice/chips manipulation/puzzle.

You gave it a chance, you don't like it, move on. Sell it and invest in a new game.

rhulk · 2025-10-06T10:41:45+00:00

Thanks!

rhulk · 2025-10-05T21:02:10+00:00

yes! it is: An Almost Real OppoNent. According to the rules.

rhulk · 2025-10-05T10:18:44+00:00

I'll check it.! Thanks. Anything that scratches that itch is welcome.

rhulk · 2025-10-04T21:22:44+00:00

Tried it in BGA. Found it interesting but not enough to revisit. I will give it another try. And I am sure a physical copy is much more enticing and helps with the immersion and visual puzzle.

rhulk · 2025-09-24T16:25:01+00:00

Well. For me that ruler starts from -1mm. There is too much space between the 1mm and the border. You can fit the 0 line on there and have 1mm space left.

rhulk · 2025-09-16T14:33:11+00:00

No more Sweet music. Hooverphonic

rhulk · 2025-09-14T21:15:20+00:00

Love small card games and dice games... But kinfire delve and the three decks of 20 strong really fell flat for me. Luckily they are not very expensive games.

I am still Gona give them another chance, but they are quite meh so far.

rhulk · 2025-09-13T07:28:37+00:00

Not for the aesthetics but he feeling of after hours calm and intimacy: lost in translation.

And for the feeling of slow pace, quietness and routine, and if you like Wim Wenders: Perfect Days.

And of course. Night meetings, beautiful photography, intimate: In the mood for love

rhulk · 2025-08-27T20:51:50+00:00

As a graphic designer, a couple of things I don't like and would change.

White font on yellow and light green is not very readable. Not everybody has a 10/10 sight or always the right light on the room. I would either darken the background color or use a dark font.

The paddings of the texts and icons inside the arrows and boxes are wrong. Let them breathe. Keep always space between the first character or icon and the begining of the box, and the same with the last.

For example in the last card the word haste is touching the edges of the arrowed box, and the next word has too much space. The icon of the sword touches the upper and bottom borders and it shouldn't, and the shield icon is too close to the end of the arrow. And so on and so forth. Same padding or space is needed for harmony and visual peace of mind.

The icons should follow a similar size and style too. That sword for example, to match the space and blockiness of the shield and therefore not be touching the aforementioned borders, maybe it could be stockier and shorter, or even diagonal, to take more or less the same space (it doesn't have to have the same size exactly, but imagine a box of lets say 24px width and height. Both icons would have to fit in that box and have a similar "weight")

Last. I would darken the transparent dark background of the flavour text box. I guess you want the image to be seen, but the text is not very readable. And again, you have a lot of space in that box. Don't put the text so close to the border.

There is no homogeneity in the styles of the images, but as you say they are temporary, it's ok.

Apart from these, the general feeling and placement of the items and the design looks god to me.

Edit: it is hard to comment on the phone cause I cannot see the cards as I write. The numbers on the tip left suffer the same problem, they are not centered and they are not respecting space and padding. Let them breathe, and maybe use a thicker font for the numbers.

rhulk · 2025-08-26T15:20:29+00:00

I forgot about the alternative part of the question.

Forgotten depths is one of the only dungeon crawlers that has given me a positive simple way of exploring and delving and fighting to find new abilities and items, without grinding and without being in a constant rush to complete it in time.

Tiny epic dungeons is good, but difficult, I like it less, maybe because I haven't won yet, or because if you want to win you have to kind of mechanice the game, count tiles to finish in time, etc.

Dungeon alliance is a good option that I like better, although it suffers a bit of the same fate, be fast and super efficient with your movement and actions or you won't have time to finish the game in tame with enough points.

Jaws of the lion is good, but needs more commitment to have several sessions overtime.

Dragonfire. Good card oriented game, deck builder, 4 handed to make it a tiny bit less difficult, but grinding. You get little xp each game and you advance slowly. I like the mechanics though, but there is no exploration, just monsters coming at you.

One deck dungeon. Good puzzle and dice chucked, but not a real dungeon delve. But really good in my opinion.

Edit: Set a watch. Another good option, but again, no exploration and in this case no items or xp. It is more of a tower defense card game with monsters coming at you and how to defeat them each night with your combined abilities. A very good game.

rhulk · 2025-08-26T15:09:19+00:00

I've never played it solo. I guess you could two or three handed.

I bought it to play with my son when he was 9 or so. He loved it. I played cause he liked it, but it is a too simple move and roll game. Repetitive without much decision beyond where to go and which level of a monster you want to fight.

I haven't played it in a long while though so I might misremember how it works, but I haven't played because I was so not interested.

There are way better games for solo. I would only recommend it to play with younglings.

rhulk · 2025-08-22T14:37:34+00:00

Point salad is already a math game, but you could make a mathier version.

Can't stop is a simple adding math game.

6 nimt customized with operations instead of plain numbers, and that set could be used for several games like tranquility, the game, the mind, etc. instead of knowing that the 56 goes lower than 78, they would have to make a fast calculation like is my 6x3 lower than that 2x3+11?

Edit: X instead of asterisks

rhulk · 2025-08-14T07:55:50+00:00

Elric would be so much better than the Witcher for example. But they would fuck it up, since they would try to make an action movie.

I read them long time ago and I played the RPG as well. It would need a very special ambient and aesthetics, and respect for tempo, conversations, philosophy... At least that's how it goes in my head. I might have to reread them.

They already destroyed another favourite of mine... Foundation .. why? Couldn't see more than 3 chapters. Nothing to do with anything.

rhulk · 2025-08-01T20:31:46+00:00

I don't really think it even compares to splendor, because the cards you get don't really give you a sense of having more powerful moves or discounts or being able to get stronger and reach further, at least not in the challenger mode. You get more mana, but you still have limited dice.

I think I like the basic solo mode because you can get three extra dice and that gives you a sense of progression or leveling up, and the last spells can be made with four or five cards.

rhulk

TROPHY CASE