So, what have we got here?
Thats fine, actually.
Reduced score means I can squeeze in another card for more healing.
At one point, so did I.
That was a much simpler time.
Before the NFT ape.
Before the glitch cards.
Before the flippin Charizard.
It alters almost everything else beyond that point, mind.
I think I might appreciate Blackjack more now, honestly.
As with traditional Blackjack, the goal is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over.
You face off against a roster of opponents.
One might be a bouncer.
The other might be a talking rat.
Whoever gets closest to 21 wins the round.
D&DGs first twist is that losses dont hurt your chips - they hurt your health.
If you stick on 17, and the rat scores 19, you lose two health.
With this, D&DG stresses the importance of not just winning, but winningwell.
To help you out, each opponent displays the number theyll stand on, letting you plan around this.
Spades generate shield, which is lost before health when youre damaged, and diamonds generate chips.
All this goes for your opponent, too.
Topping it off is a system named advantage, which are basically cheeky cheeky cheat points.
Despite being relegated to a sort of ancillary score system, chips are still incredibly useful.
After each opponent, youll get a choice of four cards to pick one from.
Only three are visible, and youll need to pay 21 chips to view and snag the fourth.
You might spend them to stay a night in a fancy hotel room, healing some health.
And thems, in very broad terms, are the brakes.
Because you better believe theyll be breaking things too, and doing it in thematic ways, no less.
But it’s also where my issues start to crop up.
Take the second stage boss, for example.
Theres an easy counterplay here.
Ive beat him without this card, and there are other ways around it, too.
Heck, sometimes Id know after the first few matches.
You’ll need certain cards, or at least that’s how it felt.
And yet, Im still going to chip away at D&DG.
Ive also got many opponents left to face, and starting decks and modifiers to play with.
I wont say D&DG makes losing fun.
Playing those opening stages repeatedly quickly lose much appeal past a chance to happen upon a deadly combo early.
Consider the real promise of the game then, the underlying fantasy.
How thoroughly can you make this talking rat regret its life choices?
Thats still a fantastic sell.
