Solitairica is a hybrid RPG, this time using a version of the card game Patience or Solitaire as the combat mechanic. It’s very slickly made, and works rather like a “progressive roguelike”, in that you have to start from the beginning when you die, but can work up to be a bit stronger than before with the crystals you gain at death.
You start with the Warrior Deck, and you can upgrade it twice, and unlock other packs. There are also some IAP decks, but very reasonably priced (like a dollar for all four). Each Deck is themed after a typical RPG class, such as Rogue, Wizard or Bard. That said, RPG elements are very light. This is much more a tactical card game than a full RPG. It reminded me of the tavern mini-game in The Quest series, though it’s much more detailed than that. If you enjoy Patience, you’ll enjoy this.
You can’t really “grind” Solitairica with deaths to get super strong. There are only a few enhancements (two deck upgrades, and two extra item slots) that you can unlock per Deck. Once you’ve got these, at least for that deck, you can’t make yourself any tougher. The shop is also random, so you may not get the spells you need on a particular run-through: and you will likely need a big blocking spell for the final battles.
There is an “hourglass” you can buy to Revive instead of dying-back-to-the-start, but it’s expensive. You also don’t get the option to buy unlimited amounts per run-through.
Warrior playthrough tips:
- focus on Items that enhance HP and your Shield, and those that give starting Attack points (don’t bother with others)
- buy the destroy-three-in-a-column (cost 5 points) & destroy-full-column (cost 7 points) Attack spells (don’t bother with others)
- buy the cancel next attack (cost 6 points) Defense spell, and use this constantly in the final boss battles