Dune Imperium: Uprising Solo Review

Dune Imperium: Uprising (the standalone sequel to Dune Imperium) has a solo mode! If you want to explore space politics but have no one to do that with, never fear, the solo variation is here. While solo modes are frequently used to teach the game, they can actually be really fun too.

A lone ranger

The core gameplay of Dune Imperium: Uprising stays the same and adds new decks of cards to allow you to play solo. The House Hagal deck is also used for 2 player games when you need another rival. There is also a rival deck where the characters are turned into automas. They also have a range of difficulties when you feel prepared to go down that route.

Each rival also gains the normal resources and places cubes on the faction tracks. Your rivals will be able to gain political influence with the factions, however, they don’t score the bonuses. The rivals also have signet ring and scheme abilities and a faction priority track at the bottom of the card.

Lady Amber works slightly differently than the other rivals as she doesn’t score points. However, that doesn’t make her easy. She has abilities that give her ridiculous military strength and I found myself losing most conflicts to her. All the rivals have their own special abilities and priorities and it’s really fun to explore their unique characteristics.

Like a multiplayer game, you win the game by having the most Victory Points with the game ending when someone gets 10 points or you’ve gone through the conflict deck. You play with the same conflict cards and are fighting for the top rewards. In the case of ties, victors both gain the next best reward (unless both people are third).

The game is made up of rounds composed of:

● Drawing a deck of five cards

● Agent/reveals

● Conflict

● Maker

● Resetting

You get your deck of ten basic cards and you set up the rivals beside you (normally two for a solo game). You continue to play as you would for a multiplayer game, using the cards to travel, gain conflict power and persuasion in agent or reveal turns. You give the rivals all their cubes and resources as they score points with these too (though in slightly different ways).

The first player marker moves around you and your rivals and you take turns as normal placing agents one at a time. Using the House Hagal deck, you reveal where your rivals will be placed. Once they’re there you can’t go there unless you have a spy in a connected location. There are House Hagal cards that tell you how to move the rivals’ spies too. There’s a system (or schemes) on the rival cards that give them bonuses when their third spy has been placed and moved. When you get to the later stages of the game and your rivals have built up resources and influence, they’ll be able to start going to the more ‘expensive’ spaces.

You and the rivals place agents until you can’t, and you have the option of stopping early to start taking your reveal turn. Based on the persuasion you have, you can start adding cards from the Imperium row and gaining some extra swords for conflict.

A key difference is that your rivals earn points in a slightly different way to you. They will first build up the resources they need for the sword master, then they’ll be able to buy victory points based on when they reach a certain amount of resources, for example when they have 7 spice, they’ll gain a VP.

When it comes to conflict, your rivals gain swords based on additional cards you flip from the House Hagal deck. They get swords depending on the amount on the card. When a rival goes to a combat space, they’ll always deploy up to two troops from the garrison to the conflict zone. Your rivals can also deploy sandworms if they have a maker hook.

From a combination of revealed swords, troops in the conflict and conflict intrigue cards, you determine your strength and see who wins the top prize. Your rivals can also gain control of areas and they get the control bonus as usual.

You do housekeeping after each round, adding spice (unless an agent is there) and getting your agents back. Be aware that you also have to keep track of your rival’s resources and things can get missed with so many things to keep on top of.

The core gameplay is the same as in a multiplayer game. You can see how much strength your rivals have and decide how much firepower you want to put into fighting them. The rivals aren’t pushovers either, even the easiest rivals are a challenge. You can desperately want a reward from a conflict but there were many times I tried and failed to get what I wanted. In the case of a tie, both players get the second place reward and the person in third gets nothing. At the end of the game you tot up everyone’s points and you hope that you beat the robots.

Alone in space

I’m impressed with the solo mode in Dune Imperium: Uprising. It provides a challenge aside from being a great way to learn the game. There’s good depth that allows you to learn the different rivals and cards in the Imperium deck in a more condensed way.

As always, there is nothing like beating your friends in a conflict but the rivals will do for now. The House Hagal deck is a really nice and simple way to determine their actions. The difficulty also increases as the game progresses, as they get more resources and are able to gain more influence. There’s also a lot of suggestions at the back of the solo rules to make it even more difficult (if you’re into that) so you can really become a pro at the game.

I think Dune Imperium Uprising has an excellent solo mode that has a lot of depth and is just a fun puzzle. Like the multiplayer game, this is not going to be for everyone and it will just be too complicated for some. However, if you like the theme, the different game mechanics and more complex puzzles, you’re probably going to have a really good time with this.

Editors note: This post was originally published on Feb 19th 2024. Updated on Feb 28th to improve the information available.