Review: One Deck Dungeon

I came across this game at Gen Con 2017. I loved the art and the simple mechanics.

This is a 1 to 2 player, dungeon-crawler style, card game. It usually only takes 30-45 minutes for a single player game, but plays a bit better if you have a fellow companion to help in your journey. Your character starts with basic attributes and skills. These will not carry you far. So you have to collect additional stats pretty quickly by defeating enemies. Enemies will grant you additional attributes, points, or skills that could help with future encounters.

The challenge comes in preparations for what could be behind the next door. The first few times I played this, I failed pretty quickly by simply not knowing what skills would help and taking others that I never used. Finding a “build” for you character may take a few attempts, but I would rather have that, over a game that is easily defeated, without a challenge.

My 5 year old has taken interest in this game. I have to assist her with choosing her skills and thinking about why, but with the dice rolling element it’s pretty easy for young ones to enjoy. On the downside, she thinks the Glooping Ooze is “cute” so I have to handle that one. If this were D&D she’d probably try to make it her companion.

Overall, I found this game very enjoyable. I have not played the Forest Of Shadows version yet but this adds more characters, enemies, and bosses. You can also combine the games to play more than 2 players with larger dungeons.