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most solitare games are basically the same, especially if they're made by the same people, so marie antoinette's solitaire by deyteris is exactly like maidens of the ocean solitaire by deyteris without mermaids, or flowers garden solitaire by deyteris without bleeding eyes because of all the clashing colors, so this review is also very similar to my other reviews.

it's typical +1/-1 solitaire with a historical theme this time. 120 levels unlocked one by one, sorted into 12 packs, unlocked with a certain amount of roses. there are 3 difficulty settings for a change, no explanation though and couldn't find any differences either. levels can be replayed separately and prices and goals are the same on each. instead of the usual interactive tutorial, a help screen can be brought up, explaining what's what on the screen.

completion is based on two goals: getting enough roses and clearing the special cards. roses are the local equivalent of stars and I couldn't figure out what's on the special cards. the level is failed if you can't manage, but whatever money got collected during the attempt is not lost. no need to clear every card, in fact, the level ends immediately when the last goal card is gone, so keep an eye on the progress bar on top if you don't want to finish prematurely with fewer roses. a minor complaint: the bar only changes after reaching a rose, not card by card, and it's not always easy to tell if the final goal card should be clicked yet or not, hoping it'd trigger the final star.

money is only visible in the shop and can be spent on power-ups. the usual +1 undo, show number of cards left, wildcard, etc. no story, and they broke the tradition, backgrounds can't be viewed separately here, which is a bummer, but you can play dress-up in your boudoir with the items awarded for completing level packs. separate volume settings, some card customization, windowed mode and a widescreen toggle, which very elegantly expands the background to fill the screen instead of stretching everything. nice.

the presentation is fine (the curly font is a bit much), the music is repetitive again and this time a bit ill-fitting, I think. it's already kind of a poor man's regency solitiare, they could've used similarly excellent piano music too. otherwise the usual affair, nothing special but not bad, took less than 3 hours to 3-star every level.

My Experience

I tend to enjoy playing these +1/-1 solitaire games while listening to music, and while I've tried one of the developers that works with HH-Games (Lazy Turtle), I hadn't played one before that was developed by Deyteris. I would encourage any potential player to ensure that the card face chosen in the settings is the one featuring the rank (2, 3, K, etc.) in the middle. I started playing the game having chosen one that has a graphic in the center, and it made it much more difficult to tell cards apart.

Marie Antionette's solitaire is a very stock standard +1/-1 solitaire game. The abilities that the player has access to are minimal, including the ability to remove a targeted card, drop a wild card on the deck, and shuffle the layout of the cards on the table. There are no noteworthy audio or visual effects that accompany card removal, and no on-board obstacles that must be removed to access any of the cards. Although the game description notes that the title includes "over 10 hours of play," I finished the game on the middle difficulty in under 3.

I can't really recommend this one, although I did find the "boudoir" hilarious. As you progress through the game, you unlock various accessories that you can then apply to Marie's giant beehive hairstyle. One of these is a blue model ship, which looks absolutely ludicrous jammed into the top of her towering hair.

EDIT AFTER COMPLETING GAME:
So ... I felt I owed it to the game and its developer to complete the game, especially after giving it a negative review originally. Honestly, by the time I got about half-way through (there are 120 levels total), I was bored beyond words and would have abandoned it long before finishing, had I not wanted to give it a fair shake in its entirety.

It's not a "bad" game per se. Simply put, it's your basic one-up, one-down card game with somewhat pretty art and no imagination whatsoever in the gameplay.

I am grudgingly changing my recommendation to a thumbs up, since I did manage to finish the game without further incident (such as was described in the original review). I played it on the "Easy" setting. But truthfully, if I were choosing a card game to play and KNEW that it was similarly uninspired, I would pass.

Almost forgot to add ... I'm playing on a gaming laptop - not top, TOP specs, but very good specs - and this simple game made my laptop run super hot. This makes no sense to me. Why would such a basic game cause my laptop to heat up, when larger, much-more-complicated games do not?

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EDITED: Immediately after writing this review, I went back into the game just to verify my own findings/opinion. After one more try on the first level, I completed it. Very strange, that I could suddenly pass said level.

Is it possible that the game must be restarted after choosing another difficulty - for instance from "medium" to "easy" as I did in my first attempt at playing?

As many others do, I really wish Steam had a neutral recommendation - rather than thumbs up or thumbs down. If forced to choose, I still do not recommend the game, but I am continuing to give it a fair shake. if I decide differently as I play the game, I will update my recommendation.

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Original review:

As much as I hate to leave a negative review ...

I have played the first level no fewer than half-a-dozen times and have YET to complete it. I even stopped after the first few attempts and changed the difficulty from "medium" to "easy" just to see if it made a difference. Then I played the same level unsuccessfully again several times. Since I play games simply for relaxation (and definitely don't need frustration), I'm adding this to the pile of not-worth-it games. Thankfully, I got it very inexpensively at a bundle site.

Would love to be able to positively review this game; and if someone can point out what I'm doing wrong/how I could do better, I'm open to criticism. But, in my opinion, the first level of any game should not be impassible, especially after numerous tries. It's not even as if I was failing because of bad choices. The cards that would allow me to complete the level simply weren't there. I understand there is justifiably an element of luck in solitaire games, but once again, if "bad luck" in a game causes it to become frustrating ... I'm out.

Meh.

This PISSED ME OFF! If you want solitaire go to http google.com and search "solitaire". idk what kind of mickey mouse scam they're running here but this -1/+1 mode of solitaire is NOT cutting the mustard. Not worth the price at all, once you've played one level you've played them all. The only motivation for progressing is that you can make the (already entirely luck based) puzzles easier. And also, I guess, to see a poorly drawn Marie Antoinette JPEG accumulating additional poorly drawn JPEG accessories. An orangutan with debilitating jaundice could've cobbled together a more interesting "solitaire" ""game"". This is a stain on Marie Antoinette's legacy. Shame on the developers, I hope I get my refund.