Dominion Digital Review

I’m not sure any game in the modern era has aged as well as Dominion has. Despite coming out in 2008, Dominion is still very popular and one of the best deck building games out there. It was the one that started it all and hasn’t really been surpassed for its gameplay (in this reviewer’s opinion).

This year saw the launch of a new Dominion digital app. However, it’s not the first iteration for this game. Over the past decade, we’ve seen versions of Dominion from now-defunct publishers like Goku or Making Fun. While those apps have long since moved to abandonedware, a new challenger has entered the arena. In what feels like it’s been years in the making, publisher Temple Gates Games has tried to bring this beloved card game to our tablets and computers once again. Did they succeed? Let’s find out!

Gameplay Overview:

As Dominion is old enough to be driving a car if it were a person, I’m just going to give you a high-level overview of the game for any new players here. If you want the full details, check out our review of the card game here.

The basics is you start with a deck of 10 cards— 3 estates (one victory point card) and 7 copper coins (worth 1 coin each). Each turn you play every card in your hand and buy cards from the market. The goal is to buy better cards that give you actions, victory points, and high-worth coins. Anything bought goes in your discard pile and is available to you after you draw it into your hand after a reshuffle of your discard pile.

At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points wins.

Digital Game Experience:

I’m going to start this off with a bang. This version of Dominion is the new gold standard of what a board game app should be. It’s flat-out amazing from its smooth gameplay with nary a loading screen, to its powerful AI, to its wealth of content. If you are a fan of Dominion, you can sink tons of hours into this app without batting an eye.

The game has both online play, local pass and play, and solo vs an AI. I am mostly an offline player, so I’ll only touch on the multiplayer briefly for those who like other people. You can start private games with your friends or join a queue for online play against other random strangers. This offers both real-time and asynchronous play. I tried out a game against a random internet person and it matched me pretty quickly. The app also offers up daily challenges for you to take on.

So let’s talk about the AI, because that can make or break a game. I’ve played some board game apps where the AI just really stinks and I can crush it without breaking a sweat. And that’s where I thought the Dominion AI was going when I played my first match. I had it set to Very Easy (as I hadn’t played Dominion in a long time) and that AI should be renamed dumb as a box of rocks. It was terrible and I was worried I’d have to crack it up to the max to even get the faintest of challenges.

Well fear not, because once I got up to Medium (Hard is the max), I started losing…pretty consistently. This AI is good… really good. It has strategies and uses them. When I win (probably 15-20%) of the time, it’s usually after a hard-fought game where I really had to max out my efficiency. This AI knows what it’s doing and I’m guessing Hard level will even give seasoned Dominion players a run for their money.

The actual game interface is well designed, being able to tap anything for an expanded view, a full log in case you missed something, buttons to play all your treasure or actions, and even the most required of all: an undo button. I’m a firm believer that every digital board game needs an undo button because my sausage fingers can miss tap at the worst possible moments and not being able to take that back is very frustrating. Now the game does block you out from using the Undo once new information is revealed, but that feels fair.

The other thing to know about this app is that it has EVERYTHING for Dominion. The core game, all 15 expansions, and even the promo cards. If you want to try out something from Dominion, it’s here. Now as noted above, if you owned a previous version of the app, you may be a bit miffed at having to rebuy something you have already bought. Word is that Temple Gates Games will honor your previous purchases, so kudos to them for doing the right thing.

So far I’ve been pretty generous with my praise for the app. The only area where I feel it’s a bit lacking is helping ease players into the expansions. Temple Gates Games unlocked all the content for me to write this review so a few times I’ve just turned all the expansions on and started a game. It didn’t go well as I was pretty lost with all the new mechanics. I stopped buying physical Dominion expansions back around when Cornucopia was released, so I’m definitely behind the times with what it’s doing.

Yet there isn’t really any teaching mode for getting into the expansions. You have to dig down into the main menus 5 layers deep to find out the new rules for an expansion. I really wish once you started a game with an expansion the first time, the app would walk you through the new rules for it. Or at least alert you that there are new keywords and concepts you need to know about. Because many times I need to hunt around to figure out what these new cards are doing.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I’m really impressed with the new Dominion app. It’s leaps and bounds over the old ones and sets a new benchmark for what a board game app should be. The app is fast, has a wealth of content, play modes for every preference, and just looks great. Props to Temple Gates Games for taking their time and doing this one right. Other than some minor quibbles about learning the game, this is one really well-made app.

If you want to check it out, the core game is free to play, with the expansions costing you to buy (bundles are available).

Final Score: 5 Stars – Setting the new gold standard of what a digital board game app should be.

Hits:
• Smooth interface
• Everything Dominion is here
• A mode of play for every taste
• Really strong AI

Misses:
• Easy to get overwhelmed when adding in expansions