Looking for a single-player card game that is unique, quick to play, and easy to pick up? Dead Man's Draw will undoubtedly be a great choice if you are such a player.

A simple and addictive electronic version of a tabletop game, which is quite simple to understand, and luck is often a very important factor in the game, in addition to careful thought and a strategy for steady progress. Players can often turn the tables in a single turn by chaining card combos.

Of course, Dead Man's Draw is not so perfect... Whether it's the single-player campaign design that gradually starts to get boring as it progresses, the neutering of the tabletop version for more than 2 players, or the failure to include multiplayer and only being able to play as a single-player game, it all makes this game perhaps not too much fun for players. At the same time, if the player is very unlucky, then perhaps even the best strategy is difficult to redeem the defeat.

As a single-player card game of such a small size, this game is certainly worth a try - especially for those who purchased it in Stardock's bundle - and as long as you're interested in the game's strengths, remember to give it a try at your leisure.

Warning! This game is incredibly luck based. If you can not take losing in a graceful way I would recommend skipping it.

That said, Dead Man's Draw is a very polished card game with a decent learning curve and simple gameplay you can easily get the hang of. You can make a lot of combos with a lot of cards and you will probably have a few good hours with it.
While it may seem the AI cheats, to this point I have not found it to do so. In fact, for a large part of the game the deck is stacked in your favour by giving you two traits at once while the AI has only one. The AI though is incredibly agressive, prefering to use cannons to blast your hand over potentially winning moves. This is quite annoying if you're just starting out, but often it leads to the AI impotently blasting away your 7 score card to reveal a 6 underneath, barely doing anything.

The AI does not seem to be able to really understand the game, it's functional, but feels very much like it follows a flowchart rather than that it plays the game. All opponents are the same as well, all following the same AI.
Luckily, where the AI does not change, the traits they use does, and the game has interesting ruleset changes after every 'tournament' (A string of a few matches) you play to keep things interesting.

As much as it looks like it may be enjoyable with a friend, it does not have multiplayer at this point. To continue on with its flaws, the game needs you to play a lot to unlock things. To the point where it begins to feel like grinding, and that the randomness begins to get annoying after yet another loss to an AI using a trait that you haven't even unlocked yet.

Is it polished, entertaining, and an interesting game?
Yes

Worth 10 euro?
I'd be sceptical. If you can find it on sale you're sure to get a few hours of amusement out of it, but otherwise it might be hard to get your money's worth.

A tactical card game with a mix of luck and thought. You might like it if:

+ You like cardgames that have a decent amount of luck,
+ You like making tactical combos with the situation at hand
+ You have a weakness for pirates
+ You like tactical/puzzle kind of game which provides many different challenges by having differenttakes on the rules
+ Choosing 2 bonusses/modifiers is enough strategy for you.
+ You like unlocking new possibilities
+ You want a quick game

You might not like it if:
- You're looking for Multiplayer
- you want deckbuilding
- you get frustrated about luck easily
- You're looking for visual spectacle.

I like to play it every now and then, and it's pretty relaxing and challenging at the same time.

Dead Man's Draw is a pleasant 1 vs 1 card game with fun mechanics that keep you on your toes with every card you draw. It would be awesome if they updated the game for multiplayer or at least put out a similarly priced sequel that includes it.

Matches with real people would be a total blast with how fast and furious the action can get in this game. With the right draw no lead is safe.

I debated for a while whether I should give this a recommendation or not - and ultimately I have to say no, it doesn't deserve it.

This IS a great little card game and I really like the way it plays. Mechanically it works well once all the different card abilities have been unlocked, and I like how it eases new players in to the game. There is some strategic decision making to be had, and there is also a 'push your luck' aspect which mixes things up nicely. The graphics are good, but the pirate theme is pasted on.

There's two things that stop me giving this a recommendation:

1. There is no multiplayer. If this game had online multiplayer for 2 players I would not hesitate to recommend it. As it stands this omission makes the game feel a bit pricey for what it is.

2. Unbalanced AI. Far too many times the AI will manage to put together a combo that is just amazing (it's not uncommon to see a significant lead wiped out in one hand), or will draw in such a way that it doesn't make sense (for example sometimes the AI will stop drawing after 2 useless low value cards and bank them; this could be a strategic decision, but every time it happens the next card turned over would have made the AI Bust).

It all leads to too much frustration for what should be a fun time waster.

• Developers: Stardock Entertainment
  
• Publishers: Stardock Entertainment
  
• Initial release: Feb 2014
  
• Genre: Casual, Strategy
  
• #Worth/NotWorth: #Worth

ARRGH to the winner be the spoils, the loser, TA DAVY JONES LOCKER WITH YAR!

Dead Man's Draw is a deceptively simple game based on both skill and luck together. In all honesty its about 40% luck 60% skill.

The core game is based on 1v1 drawing from the same deck, once the deck is gone the player with the most points win. How do I earn points you ask? Well, let me tell you. There are 10 suits which have numbers on them 7 to 2. Each card in your hand adds to your point value. However only the highest card in each suit counts. Each suit has a specific ability once drawn which are slowly introduced and pretty easy to quickly grasp. But a few examples are the canon suit makes your opponent discard a card or the mystic suit allows you to see what card is next in the deck.

You can pull as many cards from the deck as you want each turn unless you pull 2 of the same suit, then you bust and all the cards drawn are discarded. However further into the game there are modifiers that may change this function.

There is no multi-player which is a little sad but its still very enjoyable against the AI. The game is also slightly RPGish in that you earn experience points even if you lose, though not as many. It'd be cool if it had some tech trees or something to tailor your own progression but you earn XP fast enough where that doesn't really matter. The games aren't very long either, probably 5-7 minutes if I had to guess. The XP earns you levels which at each level unlocks either a new character portrait or a character trait which is essentially an additional modifier to the core rules. Using the example from before, the mystic trait would change when the mystic card is active, it would reveal the next 3 cards in the deck rather than just 1. The other traits are similar in this fashion. Once multiple traits are unlocked you can choose from them before each match to attempt to thwart any rule changes that may make you play more defensively or cautious rather than an all out attack or risking a bust.

The game is split into tournaments, each having their own modifiers on the core game as well as each opponent within having modifiers of their own. Which leads to what is a very simple game into something that keeps you on your toes and keeps you switching tactics to progress.

THE GIST
Very fun, enjoyable casual filler game that is easy to grasp but hard to master with a side of luck thrown in. May the best pirate win.

More here — Station Argus

Fun card game. Suitible for 6 and up. Nice game mechanics and the AI doesn't cheat, always a plus.

Card game without multiplayer? It's like going on a date with yourself, you know it's not that bad but it feels empty.

I really do like this card game. Simple enough premise and early play before the booster make a difference. Full of RNG, not a bad thing it is what it is (your play can mitigate). Great for a couple of hands, and I can see myself getting more achievements with further play. If you don't like RNG with a number of ways to mitigate the effects don't bother, for everyone else; have fun and try again.

Dead Man's Draw is hard to explain. It's a card game with pirates, and it's a very casual one. Anyone can play it and anyone will understand it, unlike Magic The Gathering. Just believe me when I say that it's a very fun game and one that I'm still enjoying.

You'll be playing tournaments against other pirates, which start off rather easy, but increase in difficulty after just a few of them. And that's not because the game is becoming harder - it plays out the same way in every tournament you participate in - but the rules do change. Where initially your goal is to get the higest score, there'll be tournaments where you have to get a score of 60 or lower or certain drawn cards will be added to your opponent's score. This keeps things fresh and challenging.

You get XP for every opponent you beat and every tournament you complete. Leveling up allows you to unlock perks and portraits. Perks can be used to make your life a little easier. For example, there's a card that allows you to see the next card on the stack and 'activating' a certain perk might allow you to see 2 more after that. There are many more to be unlocked, but it will require quite a few battles. The limit seems to be level 34, by the way.

I'm not sure how many tournaments there are just yet, but there seems to be tens of them. I think I'm about 10-15% finished now so completing the entire game might take you more than 20 hours if I had to take a guess.

Plenty of content here as you can see. Unfortunately there's not much else to do but to battle opponents and level up. I have the feeling that it's missing something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I was hoping to see you get money for tournaments that could then be used to unlock things like portraits (instead of leveling up). It's not even worth mentioning if I look back now, but maybe I'm not the only one.

Dead Man's Draw is a fantastic little addictive game and truly is a game for everyone. Highly recommended !

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