One Deck Galaxy

I love One Deck Dungeon. I _want_ to love this game. I love the new and different mechanics, I love the new style of being able to interact with all four "doors" at once. I love having each adversary have a very different mechanic. In theory, I should love this game. But I don't, because it's an unbalanced mess. You'll get cards you absolutely cannot defeat. Many games are over before you've even taken your first turn, since the combination of Encounters / Enemies and Scenario renders your abilities useless. You will find yourself losing by turn 4, wondering wtf happened and what you could have done differently. The answer is nothing. You could have done absolutely everything the absolute best way, and there was simply no actual way for you to not lose. Some Homeworld - Society combinations are basically untenable, and this is made even worse against certain Adversaries. Timtillawinks / Mathmeticians vs Dark Star Syndicate comes to mind as near unwinnable, especially once you've drawn a single Encounter. I want to love the game. I'm not going to refund because it's still fun if you carefully manicure your Homeworld, Society and Adversary. Or if you're willing to Main Menu -> New Game a lot once you're on turn 3.

I have a hard time saying "don't buy this" because it had a good idea. The problem resolves around the difficulty just being too high. So far I've only played as a single player (one species, one empire type) and have played against every adversary type. I've only won a single game, but came close to a second other than misreading how my empire leveled up in its last way (there's a lot of problems parsing game text and mapping that to UI actions; they aren't BAD just... confusing to figure out) which slowed me down enough that I couldn't finish off the adversary before it decked out and ended the game that way. There's a lot of things in this game that exist primarily just to screw you and depending on how the deck shuffled, it could be anywhere from "dang if I don't deal with this, it's going to make the adversary stronger, but if I do, I can't confront the adversary this turn" to "this card exists to take up valuable space that could be used by cards you can actually use because it's early game and you can't deal with it at all and its going to stick around for 3 turns until it pops and buffs the adversary." The adversary is always going to get to its 2nd-whatever that compares to your empire level before you have the resources to confront it for the first time (giving you your first "cancel that overwhelm" token), so you best figure out how to get your empire to level 2 as soon as possible. Why? Because the deck in the epitomes "one deck" is only 40 cards. Four of them start out on the table as the action space, one always starts out as your initial research points, one starts out as your number of fleet ships, and the adversary gets an influence as part of setup, then "time passes" which immediately throws one in the discard, then the adversary gets to take their turn. That's already 20% of the way through the deck (and in double checking this, one game started with only 28 cards remaining in the deck, not 32). And then on your turn, if you build fleet ships or do science, that's cards off the deck. If you colonize a planet or deal with a threat, that opens up space on the table for another card. Oh and all the influence you put onto locations in order to colonize them? Each 2 points is a card off the deck. Threats though... they aren't balanced. You have to deal with the WHOLE card all at once. Lets look at one. Soldarians: pink 5, blue 5, blue 6, 6 research, 3 fleet. The dice aren't actually that restrictive. The part that's ridiculous isn't even the fact that you need 6 research (its impossible to have this much on turn 1, but you can by turn 2 pretty easily). No. Its the fact that you need Science AND Fleet at the same time, which you can't do, because your starbase only has one fleet-science token you can spend per turn. How do you get a second? Why by upgrading your starbase with 8 science. So in order to beat this threat from turn 0 you have to: acquire 14 science (starting with 3ish), acquire 3 fleet (starting with 2, 3, or 4), and end your turn. Then you still need to roll two 5s and a 6. Two of them blue (of which you have 3 dice) and one pink (of which you have 4 dice). How easy is it to gain 10 science? Well, each point costs 1 die, so... about 10 dice (spending 3 for a blind draw can get you 4 points, but it could also net you only 2). Ditto fleets. You start with... ten dice. So if you focus all of your attention on it you might be able to deal with it on turn 2. Maybe turn 3. Oh what's that? The adversary's thingamajig requires you place dice on it too or else the deck gets milled? Aww, too bad, so sad. The game I pulled up to check things had the Dark Star Syndicate draw its Time Dilators event which requires a minimum of 3 dice to avoid discarding 6 cards off the deck as soon as I end my turn (wide box: any dice totaling 4, wide box: any dice totaling 9--two fours and a five, or a 3-4-6 is the fewest number of dice that can satisfy this condition). One of the other experiments requires spending dice with total value at least equal to "the number of dice on the starbase" in order for the starbase to resolve at all. Or maybe it has an effect that forces you to expend fleet (that one came up in the first game I loaded where by the time I started my first turn, the deck was already down 12 cards). The empire powers you start with and the requirements to level up your empire aren't very balanced either. Guardians? Banish claimed planets (you know, your dice income) to level up. Or maybe just... discard dice totaling EXACTLY 66. Or I dunno, maybe just have 12 fleet, or 4 techs, or exhaust 7 activate-tech tokens at once. I'm its fiiiine. (I'm sorry, did you say that one of the empires has to hobble itself to advance and the game is already too tight as it is? YES, YES I DID).

英語もムズいがルールもムズい。 前作One Deck Dungeonを複雑にして味付けを宇宙に変えたもの。 結構ルールが複雑なので、シンプルなOne Deck Dungeonの方を先にプレイすることをお勧めする。 ダイスを振って適切な場所に配置するソリティアライクなプレイフィールは前作同様。 4つの環境（前作の敵モンスターに相当）が同時にオープンされている上、数ターンかけてリサーチを完了する（倒す）ようになっているため、自由度が大幅アップしている。 また、前作にはなかったターンを跨いで保持できるリソースが存在し、それらを獲得するためにダイスを使うという悩ましくも嬉しいメカニズムが追加されている。 ハッキリ言ってかなりオタク向けである。自分もまだチュートリアル後に１勝利しかしていないので深い所は理解できていない。これを書いてる時点では日本語レビューが１つもなかったので少しでも参考になればと思って投稿してみた。 One Deck Dungeonが好だった人は気になっているゲームだろう。 内容も英語もタフなので、気合を入れて購入してほしい。

I have played One Deck Dungeon quite a bit on my phone and liked the concept, but always felt there was a lack of strategy. This game ups the ante and, while more difficult to initially grasp, has made me actually have to think about how to overcome an adversary. I have been impressed enough by it that I have actually considered buying the actual board game. If you like heavier board games, with depth to them, and don't mind the occasional bad dice roll - this game is good.

One Deck Galaxy might be smaller in scope than One Deck Dungeon, but in terms of strategic depth I feel it goes much deeper. It was a little hard for me to understand how each of the adversaries worked, but I found just hopping into a game with them is a very effective teacher, and by the end I've got a good grasp on how to approach them in future games. I really like how each adversary has multiple paths to victory, and how the luck aspect is successfully mitigated by there being a multitude of actions you can take that have different requirements. Sometimes you don't want to roll all sixes, because you need one of each number, of two sets of 3 to accomplish what you want. For the digital version specifically, I really like how they implemented campaign mode, all the fun and interesting achievements they added, and the soundtrack, which is amazing (Preservation Authority is my fav)

Did not enjoy this game at all. I loved one deck dungeon. One deck dungeon was easy to understand and fun to play. This game felt like a stressful mess. This should not be considered a spiritual successor to the game.

I bought this game because I love One Deck Dungeon. This game is much more complex, but once you get an understanding of how everything works, it is very enjoyable. There are many more viable options for you to do than in One Deck Dungeon, but the game is also much more difficult. It will most likely take losing a few times before you get a grasp on some of the more complex adversaries. I have not played the physical version, but I imagine this digital copy is much easier and faster to setup and play since you do not have to track things like influence, science, and boosters. The only negative is sometimes it feels difficult to track when the deck will run out and get reshuffled which in some games timing that properly can be the difference between losing the game or not.

This game is poorly tuned for timing. Everything you do feels rushed. On top of that, the encounters are much too powerful while and too difficult to reliably deal with. An early encounter or two is enough to end a game.

While One Deck Dungeon is elegant, this one is a mess. Campaign mode is clunky, and after tutorial you just can't get into it - you need to read manual. Tutorial is basically animated video where you have no agency and learn just to follow commands. And game itself is complicated w/o reason - in nutshell, it is same 4 cards -> fill spaces with cubes, repeat. But now you have more stuff to worry about like resources and boss being annoying. ODD managed bosses by increasing complexity of cards you play gradual ramping it as you go lower, which balanced your progression. Here you have rough early game and boring stroll afterwards. I'm not going to refund just to support developer, but I don't recommend buying it until it gets rework.

"One Deck Galaxy," is a digital adaptation of the tabletop card and dice game by Asmadi Games. As a successor to "One Deck Dungeon," it challenges players to build a civilization from a humble homeworld into a sprawling federation, all while contending with various adversaries. Pros: - Strategic Depth: The game offers a rich blend of dice placement and resource management, requiring thoughtful planning to progress effectively. - Diverse Combinations: With multiple homeworlds, societies, and adversaries, players can experience varied gameplay scenarios, enhancing replayability. - Solo and Co-op Modes: The inclusion of both solo and local co-op play caters to different player preferences, allowing for collaborative or individual experiences. Cons: - Steep Learning Curve: New players may find the array of mechanics and rules overwhelming, potentially leading to a challenging onboarding experience. - Minimal Visual Appeal: The game's utilitarian UI and lack of dynamic animations may not captivate players seeking a more visually engaging experience. - Limited Online Features: The absence of online multiplayer restricts opportunities for broader community engagement and competitive play. In conclusion, "One Deck Galaxy" provides a complex and strategic experience for fans of digital tabletop adaptations. However, its steep learning curve and modest visual presentation may not appeal to all players. Score: 3 out of 5—A galaxy of potential, dimmed by a few black holes.