Card Kingdoms

Calling Dominion a deckbuilding game almost feels like I’m underselling it. Dominion is the deckbuilding game, having invented the genre when it released in 2008. While games like Slay the Spire and Inscryption helped popularize deck-building gameplay, Dominion only recently got a video game adaptation.

Similar to Magic The Gathering: Arena, the Dominion Android app is a direct recreation of the physical card game. The digital version adds sound effects but is otherwise pretty light on embellishment. The base game is free to play, with the expansions available as DLC. The app comes courtesy of Temple Gates Games, which specializes in board game adaptations.

And it’s worth reiterating that this is still a board game adaptation. If you were introduced to the genre through Inscryption or Slay the Spire, don’t expect any story or progression systems. However, if you’re here for the deck building, you’re in the right place.

Playing to Win

The goal of Dominion is to gather the most Victory Points. The primary way Players gain victory Points is from Victory Cards. These come in values of 1 (Estate), 3 (Duchy), and 6 (Province). Players lose a victory point for each Curse card in their deck. Other types of cards include Action Cards, Attack Cards, and Reaction Cards.

A typical turn begins with each player drawing five cards. The app supports 2-4 human or AI players or up to 6 with DLC. The next phase is the Action phase, where players play an Action or attack card. If the player’s opponent played an attack card against them, and they have a Reaction card in their hand, they can play it to block the attack. Players are limited to one Action/Attack/Reaction per turn by default. However, many cards add additional actions to the player’s turn. Clever Dominion players can string together a chain of various effects.

After the Action Phase comes the Buy Phase, where players can choose which cards to add to their deck. Each card has a different Gold Value. While some actions give the players Gold, they mainly get it from Treasure Cards. Treasures come in Copper, Silver, or Gold, granting players 1, 2, or 3 Gold Each. Gold does not carry over, and all unused cards go into the Discard pile after the end of a turn. Usually, players can only Buy one new card per turn, though some Cards allow for additional Buys.

Mobile Kingdom-Building

And that’s the gist of the core game. Temple Gate gives players some options in setting up their games, such as the Level of Strictness. They determine things like whether a player allows players to undo a move or look through their discard pile. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t properly explain what rule changes the settings, Standard, Learning, Friendly and Strict correspond to.

On a technical level, the game works well, and I didn’t encounter any noticeable bugs. Sometimes, the clicking and dragging on cards can be a little finicky, but it’s so minor it barely warrants mentioning.

I do have mixed feelings about the sound effects, however. They get the job done, but I found some to be slightly over the top. The sound effect for the Witch card, in particular, sticks out, though I suppose it’s at least memorable. Again, though, we’re wandering into nitpicking territory.

At the end of the day, the Dominion app is an excellent recreation of the original card game. If you liked the card game and don’t mind repurchasing the expansions, it’s definitely worth your time. If you haven’t played any version of Dominion but like deck-building gameplay, it’s also worth your time. And if you’ve never played a deck-building game before, it makes for a pretty fantastic introduction to the genre.