Ancient Enemy

You're probably here from Forbidden Solitaire, let's be honest. This is more of that, except more focus on "meta" mechanics than board mechanics. Combat gives you multiple actions to choose from, rather than just attack with as big a combo as possible, and they're not always ready... There are three suits, and each charges a different move. Meanwhile, while I'm not done, I have yet to see exploding (maggot/crystal) cards or poison cards, and likely some other mechanics I can't remember. It's a different game in a lot of ways, but it's still built on 10-card Golf Solitaire, and there's only so much you can do to change that... If you like the core gameplay of "get as big a combo as possible," this has that, although on some turns it's not particularly beneficial to get a large combo past a certain point. A lot of mechanics there will make sense when you see they've been carried over from this - why reward the player with gold for stacks rather than just the whole puzzle level? why have something hidden below the cards if you have to finish the whole thing? because in this you can fail to clear the whole puzzle level and keep going.

If you enjoy the one-up, one-down solitaire mechanic, worth checking out. Graphics aren't quite as nice and the story isn't as good as Shadowhand, which is the other solitaire RPG made by Grey Alien. The computer opponents don't use the cards in this game, so you don't have to worry about leaving a combo in the tableau (and sometimes it's better to leave something there for your next turn). Doing well is usually a matter of getting or keeping your combos going, particularly in the nightmare difficulty. I thought Shadowhand was more fun to play overall, but Ancient Enemy was still good enough for me to complete several times.

[h1]Gameplay: 7/10[/h1] [h1]Graphics & Sound: 6/10[/h1] [h1]Narration: 3/10[/h1] ✔️ Fun solitaire mechanics exploited in interesting ways to interact with your opponent. ✔️ Nice music, okay visuals. ✔️ The game is long enough to exploit its implemented mechanics fully, and short enough to (almost) not feel repetitive. 💭 I wish the game tried to exploit its mechanics in more diverse ways - as it stands past the middle of the game you have already seen all the mechanics the game has to offer, which is a bit sad given the vast possibilities of solitaire mechanics and their implementation here. It does feel like they had to operate on a tight budget tho, so I guess better that than an unfinished game. 💭 The UX and feedbacks aren't great. Not awful, mind it, but in an era where we're used to games like Slay the Spire or Hearthstone that manage to instantly display all the information you need, feedbacks the action result previsions, and present a clean information hierarchy, this game feels lacking. ❌ The narration tries to be something intriguing, but just isn't good enough. It's not well written, the stakes are unclear, and the ending disappointing for something that is built up for the entire game. ❌ The useable items feel unnecessary, the game could have just had potion charges without all the other items clutter, and it would have been a cleaner solution. Not a huge recommendation, but the game can be worth playing. Despite its weaknesses it's still pretty original in what it offers, and can scratch a "short puzzle-adjacent solitaire game" itch. Don't play it for the story though, you'll be disappointed.

Great game, really fun. Played nonstop over 2 days. took about 12-13 hours total, and got all the achievements in one playthrough. Definitely worth buying, especially if you liked their other card battler, Shadowhand.

Wound up really enjoying this one, despite it being a little off-putting at first. The RNG seems better than earlier games but some of the later levels do require some thinking and planning (without coming off as frustrating). Very solid Solitaire + battle game.

I love solitaire games in general but this one is very special. Not only do you have the normal solitaire mechanic of having to try to think ahead for the best path that will give you the advantage of the match, you also have to think ahead on your actual map path to decide what risks are the best to take/avoid. As you play through the levels you are able to buy new skills and spells you can freely switch out before every battle to ensure you have the most effective hand for that opponent. The combo system in the game is very fun and items/cards have synergies to use with active combos, making landing a good combo hit with the item/card extra satisfying. The battling system is also kind of rts-ish mechanic. Refreshing your cards or using any item/card counts as a turn so you need to also think ahead of what the enemy is doing to help avoid losing unnecessary health or even losing the match entirely. If you do make a huge mistake though, the game allows you to just replay the hand. So very forgiving for mistakes making it a challenging game without it feeling impossible if you path yourself into a corner. Being able to replay the hand is also sort of a gamble. You took 2 damage again this opponent but won. Risk playing again for less damage at the cost of using one of your better/rarer items? I really like that. Very fun and chill little card game. If you enjoy puzzly card games with the solitaire mechanics element, this is a perfecft game to spend some time with and wind down from your day.

pretty fun ngl. glad it introduced me to these developers!