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Ever seen yourself as a treasure hunter, seeking the adventure of chasing after rare gold and fighting off the orcs that will try to steal your treasure? Ever thought about doing it alone? Never that would be foolish, well in Siege of Runedar you can take that very challenge on and see how well you can do.
Let The Quest Begin…
Siege of Runedar is one of the great games that has mechanics and gameplay that works intentionally well for both multiple players and also solo, many games in the market that offer a solo mode along with playing with friends will have two modes, one designed for solo play, one for standard play. Doing this can be alienating for many players as they may not want to learn the different game modes and instead prefer taking the same rules for multiple players for a solo game, here Siege of Runedar can step in for seamless transition between both solo and standard play.
In the game you are a warrior dwarf who has just gone to a long abandoned mine to try and recover some gold left behind, but your presence has brought unwelcome visitors who also want to take the gold for themselves. Your goal is simple stop your gold from being stolen as you also rush to make a quick escape through a blocked tunnel. This premise makes space for a fun deck builder game with some fun mechanics that work really well in solo play and from my experience was easier than working in a group.
All the elements you find in the original game you find here, over a round you take your deck of twelve cards, remove two and play the rest in two sets of five. In the standard game the two sets of five cards is clearly used to manage how much time each player gets but it also helps to manage the flow of orc cards and their movement on the board that is built into the box. I found managing orcs to be easier playing this way as it meant I could more easily predict and prepare for their eventual appearance and know that as I am the only one who could stop them I could manage my player more easily.
Upgrading Your Hand…
Using the upgrade card system also allowed me to feel an easier playthrough as I could focus on one card at a time instead of working with others to share the rewards. On the other hand I was able to notice that being a solo heist artist I had to put more work in to get the victory that I desperately seeked, but this could mean that reaping the rewards would feel even more rewarding knowing I had pulled the work off all by myself. I only wish that the cards could have even more variety as the current variety can become easy to remember on many games.
A Dynamic Challenge
So far I am making this seem like a walk in the park and in many ways it turned out so for when I played but do not fear if this idea deters you. Siege of Runedar allows you to adapt and change the difficulty of the game based on the rubble you place at the exit and the more you put in the harder the game. This system also means you can adapt the challenge of the game constantly after every block you remove from your path, this is because the rubble will reset and here you could decide to spice up the game or make it easier if you feel overwhelmed.
As I said earlier what works really well about this game is that the rules you learn for solo mode or as a group are exactly the same minus the difference in players. This creates a game that is both easy to learn then teach to your friends as well as a fun challenge to take on by yourself to see how could you are at beating the game.
Final Thoughts
Overall playing Siege of Runedar is a great experience, it allows you to have a great feeling of being an adventurer desperately trying to save all the gold. The variety of difficulty means that you can take on the challenge at whatever level feels best for you and change the level depending on how you feel and the fact the game plays the same both solo and in a team means you can have easy adaptability to play either way from whichever you are most familiar. All it needs is some room for more variety to bring you back sooner and more frequently.
