Review: Thunderstone:: A MOST SATISFYING FANTASY DECKBUILDER

by Markepocha

I bought Thunderstone the original game second hand lately, since I heard a lot of good about it and wanted to give it a try. They say its comparable to Dominion, a townish deckbuilder, but I havent played it yet - Im almost an exclusively solo player. And Thunderstone got a fine little solo mode!

After some tries and two real games I admit this is a most satisfying experience! It really feels like an oldschool PC fantasy RPG: You go to the village, assemble weapons, spells and so on, and go to the dungeon to fight monsters. There you need some light, from torches or/and magic, otherwise you get penalty and need higher attack values. There are even monsters who cant be attacked if there is a light penalty...

There is even a leveling element added, since each killed monster gives you XP. This way your heroes might grow and become stronger as the game progresses. But be aware! The monster you dont manage to kill in time go to a "village pile", that means they attacked the village. They victory point value will be added together at the end (after finding the thunderstone card) and compared to the VP of monsters defeated. If the defeated monster value is higher, you won! Otherwise...

You know what monsters usually do to villagers...

This is a really funny game in many ways, and altough its a veteran, it feels fresh and up to date. I have to admit I have better fun than playing for example Heroe Realms solo, but yes, both are mechanically different.

This is for me a must have and must keep, possible with expansions later.

9/10

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