Dark Table is a new collectible card game from Doonamai. Currently running a Kickstarter campaign, Dark Table is a four-player free-for-all card game with an emphasis on table politics and with a Cosmic Horror theme. As a free-to-play game, Dark Table won’t feature loot boxes. Instead, players can simply purchase single cards or full decks with in-game currency or real-world cash.
With four players, each competing against one another, Dark Table promotes creating temporary alliances using mutual interests to get ahead. Players can whisper to one another in order to create strategies and plan attacks against unknowing enemies.
Decks are built around leader cards which dictate you health. Leaders each have different amounts of health which is based on rarity, abilities and costs.
Dark Table
Leaders are the lynchpin for your deck and come with powerful ‘Enrage Abilities.” These Enrage Abilities can significantly alter the outcome of a game and can only be activated by achieving specific triggers. For example, The Collector needs to collect 42 Knowledge in order to unlock abilities.
Knowledge is obtained through play and a pool of Knowledge will accumulate throughout the game. Any Knowledge not used at the end of the Battle Phase will be added to the pool. There are also Berserk and Bloodshed Enrages. Berserk requires the leader to be damaged to a certain point and Bloodshed requires a certain number of combat deaths.
Units have both a Strength and Skill. Strength is both the amount of health a unit has and how much damage it deals. When a unit is damaged, its damage output is reduced. However, Skill is an important factor in combat. Only units of the same Skill level can damage each other. If a unit with a higher Skill level attacks a unit with a lower level, only the lower-level unit will take damage.
Units can also have different Traits and Abilities as follows;
- Walls are a trait that means it must be attacked first. They are a barrier or barricade between the enemies and your units/leader.
- Heroes are next after a wall in being attacked before other units or leaders can be attacked. Heroes are usually enticing or extravagant and draw the attention of attackers. Heroes usually have low skill and higher strength
- Airborne units can attack over walls but still just attack heroes first before other units.
- Assassins can sneak around walls and heroes to attack units or leaders directly. They usually have low strength and higher skill.
- Focus is a trait that gives a unit 1 skill when attacking.
- Rally Cry gives all your units +1 strength when attacking that battle phase.
- Frenzy means that a creature can keep attacking units that battle phase if it is not killed in battle. Hitting a wall or leader stops this effect.
- Confusion reduces the skill of a unit by 7 when battled.
Players can also cast Spells and Traps to the board which can have a wide range of consequences for players.
Dark Table is played in two phases, Release and Battle. During the Release Phase, players’ Knowledge Pool is replenished and they spend it to play cards. All four players ‘Release’ cards at the same time in order to force players to develop strategies without reacting to what others have played. Newly ‘Released’ cards are hidden from other players and cards played in the previous Release phase are revealed.
After the Release Phase, the Battle Phase begins. One player received the Battle Chip randomly and can use units and spells to attack others. Once finished the Battle Chip rotates around the board clockwise.
Doonamai has attempted to streamline and improve deckbuilding in Dark Table. Without card packs or loot boxes, Doonamai has simply allowed players to build a deck, whether or not they own all the required cards. Players simply need to purchase a $20 deck building token and can create a deck regardless the cost of the individual cards.
Kickstarter Backers who pledge at a certain level will gain access to the Skeleton Key which grants them two full play-sets of every card release for the entire life of the game. The Skelenton Key will also be purchasable once the game releases.
There is a tonne more info about Dark Table, how to play, its features, cards and more on the Kickstarter page and its official website. Currently, Dark Table has reached its funding goal and still has five days to go.
It will be available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
