Rush for the Ages

Great little game for a great price, though the UI could use some polishing. A few more game modes wouldn't go amiss as well. Suggestions for the devs: - no way to leave a game without closing the program. - needs a card list, and it needs to be accessible mid game. - when you're prompted for a choice(discard a card, etc) there's no way to examine the prestige tokens or anything except your own cards. - prestige tokens should have the icons of the tags they're associated visible somewhere. Having to hover over the icon a bunch of times is unoptimal. - Make card tags more distinctive, Seems like there's too much overlap there, which makes it hard to remember which card goes with which tag. E.g.: discovery/exploration, knowledge/philosophy/inspiration, etc. - Card tag balance. Some tags seem extremely weak. Art for example has no leader or other card synergies and is in only 1 prestige token? Is that right? - The difficulty of quick game needs to be re-jiggered. It really depends on too many factors for you to nail down accurately, and as it is it's just confusing. My impression is that beginner can be harder than Mastermind depending on which civilisation you're playing. IMO you should reclassify it as stages rather than difficulty. - Speaking of which, I recommend you take another look at some of the translations. E.g.: "Play a game versus [adjective] civilisations: [Civ 1], [Civ 2], or [Civ 3]" implies the civilisations listed are [adjective]. You just know someone out there is offended that their civ is classified as "Easy", or "Tricky"(especially that second one *cough*).

Changed my mind. The gameplay could use some more polish, but for a casual game it's entertaining enough and not quite like anything else I played.

I really like the game concept, but the execution is pretty weak. Wins are determined more so by RNG than any real strategy. There are some cards that are in the wrong era (Atomic Theory is Medieval), and modern cards are pointless waste of hand space because you will never be able to play them anyway. Because of the pure RNG the difficulty levels in this game are pretty pointless as well. I'm playing "Beginner" which is the first in 10ish or so levels and I've played around 50 games and have won less than 10... The UI is broken in many circumstances, and you can't even get to the main menu once you start a game. I've enjoyed other works by this dev team, but this one feels pretty rushed and not quite a complete thought.

This is a fast and strategic card game that requires you to think ahead and adapt to the changing situations. Games are only 3-6 minutes long which is refreshing for a strategy game!

[b]Last played on: March 2023[/b] Looking at the tags on this game, I had high hopes I would like it. This seemed to check every box: a civilization, deckbuilder, strategy game: wow. But I came out disappointed. The reason? RNG Many of the game's concepts and mechanics are fun and interesting. But the one thing that can make or break a game is the randomness. Starting with cards that you cannot play while your opponents add cards after cards to their timeline means that you just cannot win. On the other hand, getting the perfect flow of cards naturally means that you cannot lose. Pros: [list] [*] Original concepts and mechanics [*] Achievements unlocked naturally during gameplay [*] Very fast games [*] Well-balanced difficulty levels [*] Simple yet effective art [*] No messing around: no cutscenes, CG or anything to distract you from playing the game [/list] Cons: [list] [*] Too much randomness which leads to [*] Not enough strategy [*] Not much difference between civilizations [/list] Ultimately there was too much RNG and too little strategy for me. Your mileage may vary so you should give it a try!

Have played through all the 'difficulties' as of this review. This game is an attempt to make Through the Ages play in 5 minutes or so, but ends up just being about getting lucky. You cannot play cards before reaching a certain age, so if your starting hand is full of modern cards you've lost already, victory conditions are both determined randomly and hidden at the start so you're playing totally in the dark. There's no real strategy here, if you have a card and can play it there is no reason to not play it 99% of the time because the game ends whenever a single player has played 8 cards.

Fun little card game that you can play for five minutes or five hours. Great for when your wife just left you and you don't know what to do with yourself, or for when you get ready for work ten minutes before you have to leave.

The game is simple and fun. I recommend it but it could be a bit more accessible. The font in all caps is a bit hard to read for me. I stumbled upon a few graphic glitches/bugs when playing Gauntlet mode and for Quick Game I wish there was a "quick" way to Play Again right after finishing a game, instead of being thrown back at the main menu. However, some of the suggestions by Viewless are very much needed and are still not in the game. Abandoning a game without having to kill the program, for example. It doesn't have to save the progress, just being able to go back to the main menu would be good. Also being able to trigger the Prestige Token tool-tips when being prompted by a decision. It gives crucial information that you'll need if you don't have the tokens memorized. Finally, I noticed the AI for the civilizations tends to finish the game even if it's not convenient for itself. Like, it plays the final card not caring if it's going to lose, sometimes giving me the win and sometimes giving the win to the other AI, so it feels like their heuristics don't care that much about their own individual victory, but for any of the two AIs to win which then feels either unfair or arbitrary. On the brighter side, it is fun. I don't care that much about the RNG, not every game has to be overly competitive and strategic. You play the hand you're dealt. Also it's very pretty, I like the simple aesthetic, the style of the pixel art, how quick the games are, and that you can play it with just the mouse. It has a somewhat addictive game loop, and it deserves some more awareness, especially to motivate the dev to update it.

Worth it. Don't wait for a sale. Get this game. It's an indie "labor of love". Fine attention to detail, balancing, even the music is finely tuned / feels right! Reviewing after playing for 48 minutes, which is about 10 games! Quick and fun and stimulating/engaging, but won't take up your evening. Plus learn a thing or two about history; not mindless "shoot & loot". Just a great experience in a "small package"!

Fun, easy to learn card game, like a lite Dominion with elements of Innovation (the physical card game). I've had a great time learning how to beat the various AI challenge levels. I only wish the games lasted a little bit longer, so the cards from the final age could be played more! But all in all, a fun challenge to conquer!

Neat digital board game with cool premise. Would like to see local hotseat, customizable battles with more than 2 opponents and cards library/codex

Simple and fast civilization focused on card synergies.

Very fun, quick and addictive little strategy card game, very nice for popping up when you just want a little something. Scratches a similar itch to a nice solitaire game (even though it seems like it'd be best with other players). There are a lot of aspects where a lack of polish is rather evident (for instance, when you are prompted to discard or some other action that highlights your hand, you can no longer view the other card/tokens descriptions). These are a bit annoying, but rather minor on the whole, but it would be nice if they were patched up.

Definitely a really fun card game! I recommend it to people who like games dealing with age progression like age of empires. It doesn't play similarly, but it feels similar, and I like that.

Extremely simple game that's far from easy. The number of cards means that after a few play throughs you've seen them all and they keep re-appearing. Although there are 20 civilisations with (marginally) varying starting conditions, they all play the same way and that with the number card designs available means variety and longevity are unlikely to be as great as may be hoped. This is however a tremendously innovative card game with emergent complexity and if further cards are made available in a DLC I shall be buying.

Very interesting, intricate and fun 3 player card game. Some neat and crunchy mechanics which feel neat and innovative. another PUNKCAKE classic, easy to reccomend. Note only playable against 2 AI opponents at the moment, local PVP potentially being added in future. You can fire a cannon at a school : )

This game fricken RULES. At first you might be a bit overwhelmed by the lack of tutorial or super precise instructions. But actually, I think this is a key part of its design. By throwing you in at the deep-end on the beginner difficulty chances are you will sort of accidentally win. And then slowly you'll start to realise how and why you accidentally won. And then once you figure out the rules for real a whole new layer of complexity opens up to you. But even if this clever difficulty/barrier to entry thing wasn't intentional, the game is just high-speed fun. The cards are interesting, the three phases of history are fun too. What we really need, is for enough people to adore this game that we get a multiplayer mode and DLC cards. GET IT WHILE IT'S ON SALE !!! IT'S A STEAL.

A bit confusing at first. But at least I win some of the time.

simple, too random, and very short

I love to suck at this game