A review of the competitive card game 'DarkOne' in which you discard unnecessary cards while cutting down on your life and energy, and fight with powerful relics and demons
Domina Games, known for card games such as '
DarkOne - Domina Games
https://www.dominagames.com/darkone/
The DarkOne package looks like this.
The game is intended for 1-2 players, 10-20 minutes of play time, and is intended for ages 12 and up.
The contents include a DarkOne rules manual and two parameter boards.
2 life markers, 2 spirit markers, 1 ammo marker, 1 mana marker, 2 poison markers.
The cards include 4 character cards, 60 tactical cards, 10 foreign object cards, and 12 cards for solo play.
To set up the game, each player must choose one of four character cards.
Next, deal one parameter board to each player. Then, place a blue energy marker on the '3' on the left side and a red life marker on the '20' on the life meter on the right side.
Of the four characters, Filvia and Luke have their own parameter boards. For Filvia, place a mana marker on the '2' on the mana meter above the life meter.
Additionally, one poison marker is distributed to each player.
There are 15 tactical cards for each of the four characters, so you divide them into four groups by the color on the back.
Each player is given 15 tactical cards that correspond to their character. These 15 cards make up the player's deck.
Each player shuffles 15 tactical cards into a deck and then draws three. These three cards are the player's initial hand.
Next, shuffle the 10 relic cards and each player draws 3. These 3 relic cards are placed face down on the table, but you can always check the front of your relic cards to see what's inside.
Now the game is ready. Here's what the game looks like from the player's perspective at the start of the game.
The game begins after deciding who will go first and who will go second. The game ends when either player's life points reach 0. When it is a player's turn, they proceed through the 'Start Phase', 'Action Phase', and 'End Phase' in that order. In the 'Start Phase', first place your energy marker on the '3' position and make your energy 3.
Next, draw two tactical cards from the deck. However, the player who goes first will only be able to draw one card on their first turn.
During the 'Action Phase', you can 'execute the special effect written on the character card', 'use cards from your hand', and 'reveal relic cards' in any order you like. For example, the special effect of Sylvain, 'A Monk Knight Who Will Never Forgive Heretics', allows you to choose one card from your hand and discard it by paying 1 willpower.
The discarded cards are placed face down and vertically in front of you, as shown below.
This time I tried using a card called 'Sacred Savage' from my hand. This card can launch a physical attack with a power of 4 on the opponent. In addition, the effect of 'Full Power' written underneath it can be activated by declaring it just before using the card. However, 'Full Power' can only be activated once per turn. When you activate 'Full Power' with 'Sacred Savage', the power of the physical attack will be increased by +2 if you pay a cost of 1 willpower, or +1 if you don't. This time I chose to not pay and increase the power by +1.
The power of physical attacks with 'Sacred Severance' is now 5. The damage from a physical attack is the power minus the opponent's willpower. In this case, the opponent's willpower was 3, so we succeeded in reducing their life by 5-3=2 points.
Once you have finished what you need to do in the 'Action Phase', you move on to the 'End Phase'. In the 'End Phase', if you have four or more cards in your hand, you discard cards so that you have three, then pass your turn to your opponent.
Next is the turn of Philvia, a girl of angel and demon blood who has been reincarnated as a human. Philvia has a special effect of gaining 1 mana at the start of each turn.
Filvia has increased the mana meter on her stat board by 1.
Filvia has the ability to summon demons, and can use this mana to summon demons as his subordinates. For example, this 'Demon Knight' is a demon that can be summoned for 2 mana, and by paying the cost of 1 willpower, it can launch a physical attack with a power of 3. Furthermore, with 'Full Power', it has the powerful effect of reducing your own life by 1, but being able to launch another physical attack with a power of 3. Once a demon is subordinated, it remains on the field, making it a very encouraging attacker.
On the other hand, Sylvaine wants to destroy evil beings like demons, so although he cannot command demons, he can launch powerful physical attacks. For example, the following 'White Blade of Dust Return' is also a card that can launch physical attacks, and has an icon indicating a physical attack in the upper left.
However, Philvia revealed a card called 'Severance Protection' and declared a 'Response'. 'Severance Protection' has the effect of 'Response' that can be activated when the opponent's actions meet certain conditions, and when a physical attack card is used, it can reduce damage of 5 or less to 0. This completely negated the damage from 'Dust Return Blade'.
Sylvaine was surprised that her attack was nullified, but she used a card effect to successfully increase the number of discarded cards to three.
In this game, when you discard a card, it is removed from both your hand and deck, so you can never use it again. However, if you turn the discarded card from portrait to landscape, you can pay the cost and reveal a relic card. For example, the 'Vivian's Staff' below is a card that can be revealed by paying the cost of three discarded cards. Relic cards have powerful effects that are activated immediately when revealed. Therefore, it is recommended to actively discard cards and activate relic cards as early as possible in the game.
However, the 'Demon Knight' summoned by Filvia will attack every turn.
Furthermore, Filvia also paid the cost of discarding a card to reveal a relic card. It was a 'Forest Seal' that would inflict poison damage when the opponent played a specific card. This greatly limited Sylvaine's actions.
Unable to do anything against Filvia's attacks, Sylvain was reduced to just one life point remaining.
In order to finish off Sylvain completely, Philvia expends 3 willpower and activates a special effect, ordering the demons he summons to attack. Philvia's willpower drops to 0, but he launches 3 physical attacks with a power of 3 each, and also activates 'All Power' to deplete Sylvain's life points in one go.
However, at this point, Sylvaine activates the response effect of a card called 'Moonlight Protection.' In response to the opponent's physical attack, it increases their morale by +2 for one turn. Due to this effect, all of Filvia's physical attacks were blocked, and damage was reduced to 0.
On the next turn, Sylvaine returned the favor by activating two 'Sacred Slayer' cards and then using 'Full Power,' unleashing a physical attack with a power of 4 and a physical attack with a power of 6.
Because Philvia used up all of his energy to deliver the finishing blow, he took a lot of damage and his life points went down to 0 in an instant. At this point, Philvia lost and Sylvaine's victory was confirmed.
When I actually played DarkOne, it took about an hour for the first two-player game because we had to check the rules. It is similar to a deck-building game in that you play by discarding or discarding cards, but you can use the discarded cards as a cost to reveal relic cards or activate the effects of tactical cards, so instead of simply discarding and compressing your deck, you have to think about what happens after you discard them, and the strategy is quite high. Also, the way you play the game varies greatly depending on the character you choose at the beginning, so you need to choose a character that suits your play style and understand the effects of your cards to carefully consider how you should act, including your opponent's actions.
It is difficult for people who have never played board games or competitive card games because you need to get used to the terminology, order of processing, and damage calculation, but the rules themselves are simple and you can understand the flow of the game and the detailed rules after playing it once. Therefore, it is recommended that you play the first time just to learn the rules. DarkOne also supports solo play, so you can play without any problems even if you don't have an opponent to play against.
DarkOne is also available on Amazon.co.jp and can be purchased for 3,520 yen (tax included) at the time of writing.
Amazon | Domina Games DarkOne (1-2 players, 10-20 minutes, ages 12 and up) Board Game | Board Games | Toys
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