Pact - A Solo Review
Image: Irongames
INTRODUCTION
“The delvers discovered all too rapidly that trying to fight while a busy goblin was in your underwear was very bad for the concentration.”
– Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam
The life of a goblin is not an easy one, especially when you are forced to play nice with the blithering halfwits that make up the rivalling clans. In order to overcome the hardships that lies ahead alliances needs to be established. However, nobody said anything about not fudging the rules ever so slightly… Such is the premise of Pact, a 1 – 5 player card game designed by author Bernd Eisenstein where you take on the role of goblin clan leaders trying to avoid dangers and fulfil tasks needed in order for your tribe to become the most powerful and prosperous of them all!
Full disclosure: A review copy of Pact was kindly provided by publisher Irongames.
COMPONENTS
When it comes to component quality Pact is definitely something of a mixed bag. The cards included in the game are on the thinner side and feel rather flimsy, to the point that sleeving them served not only as protection from wear and tear but also provided a bit more rigidity when shuffling. The review copy of Pact that I was sent by the publisher had a rulebook which was cut in such a way that several pages of the English section were missing paragraphs of text, making the process of learning the game marred with no small amount of frustration on my behalf. Fortunately, through the wonders of the internet I was able to download the English rules in their entirety. But for all of these nuisances there is a silver lining to be had in the delightful and whimsical artwork that adorns the cards, I am absolutely in love with the way Javier González Cava depicts the goblins that inhabit the Hiddenlands. They remind me of the iconic works by artist Josh Kirby, particularly his illustrations of the beloved Discworld novels by author Terry Pratchett. Pact may be small in stature, nevertheless in terms of art the game definitely punches well above its weight.
The artwork by Javier González Cava is just wonderful, bursting with colour and details. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
THE SOLO MODE
At its core Pact is a game about set collection, where you are recruiting goblins for their unique skills which are needed to fulfil the prerequisites of task cards thus earning you end of game victory points. These subterranean delvers range from magic wielding shamans to shrewd merchants and fierce warriors where each card is represented by an icon which corresponds to the ones depicted on the task cards which symbolises events like fighting decease, fending of a werewolf attack, or building erecting a grand monument at the town square. What makes the game interesting, which the title alludes to, is the fact that these tasks can be accomplished using goblins belonging to any player. Rather than laboriously spending turn after turn adding new goblin cards to your tableau you could instead take a gander at your neighbour and decide to “borrow” a goblin card or two thus forming a pact. This mechanism is an integral part of the game, you cannot refuse another player using your precious goblin for their own dirty deeds. Make no mistake, at times Pact could be perceived as exceptionally cutthroat where players are essentially stealing cards from one another left and right.
Fortunately for all of us care bears, this notion of hurt feelings becomes a non-issue when considering the solitaire aspects of the game. When solo playing Pact you will be competing against two rivalling chieftains: Helix and Ferdix. Similar to the multiplayer experience you have the option of forming treaties with either of the two neutral players, thus preserving the core mechanism that makes Pact such an interesting little game in the first place. As for Helix and Ferdix’s modus operandi there are some slight variations to be had. Whenever you decide to take the recruit action or add only a single goblin to your tableau, the leftmost task card in the market is removed and added to form a pact between the two neutral players. This design choice lends a sense of tension to the solo mode, as you are essentially handing both of your adversaries free points should you fail to adequately maximise your own turns of the game. After finishing all of your actions Helix and Ferdix each receives a new goblin card which is added to their tableau. You then check to see if either of them can complete a task on their own, obeying the same rules as the multiplayer experience. This influx of goblin cards ensures that not only does the neutral players stay competitive over the course of the game, but it also opens up opportunities for yourself to form pacts.
The skill icons on the task cards correspond to the different types of goblins needed to meet the prerequisites. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
But for all of its wonderful art and novel approach to semi-cooperative game design, as a solo experience Pact left me somewhat unconvinced to the game’s actual merits. At first the upkeep of keeping track of the tableau for each neutral player is perfectly manageable. However, it does not take long for the game to become rather tedious, as you are constantly cross-referencing the central card market to Helix’s and Ferdix’s collection of goblins whilst simultaneously trying to decide how to formulate your own strategy. Now, it is worth emphasising that we are not talking complexity on the level of your average medium heavy Euro. After all Pact is a rather casual affair of set collection with a healthy amount of randomness thrown into the mix. But compared to other solo games of similar weight I found that in this particular case the juice is not worth the figurative squeeze.
FINAL THOUGHTS
At the end of the day, one has to ask themselves if Pact is a game worth acquiring purely for solitaire play. For me, the short answer to that question is no. I do enjoy the core aspects of the game’s design and I am absolutely, madly in love with the artwork. But as a solo experience Pact feels more like busywork, tasking the player with the role of a card accountant. I will say this, Pact is the sort of game that I feel would make an excellent palate cleanser to round off a game evening or as a way to introduce people to this wonderful hobby of ours.
