Shuffled, not stirred.
I joined Jordan from Game4All for a video review of the game. Enjoy!
When you think of a spy movie, you think of infiltrating criminal-hosted parties, hacking into data centers to secure some top-secret information, or stopping a mad man from controlling the world’s economy. Often, there are shootouts, last-second escapes, clever gadgets, and some smart-mouthed agent who will sleep with anything that moves. While Solitaire Conspiracy avoids a few of those examples, at least in the head cannon of my own personal agent, it flourishes towards the actions of stopping a mad man from taking over the world, all played out in a high stakes game of well… Solitaire.
While some of Solitaire Conspiracy is told through small little narratives about the mission at hand, much of its story is rolled out in FMV cutscenes. The core game features Inel Tomlinson and Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller as they detail the world around YOU; a new agent for Protego, the world’s leading spy agency. Miller plays Jim Ratio, a man on the inside who is coaching you through your training as you level up, earning more crews to help you with your mission, and explains that you alone hold the key to taking down a shadowy man named Solitaire.
It seems that this Solitaire has shut down Protego’s spy network and as you level up, specifically to level 15, you’ll take over the network and hand it back over to Protego, effectively putting an end to Solitaire’s reign upon them. But, of course, this story isn’t so cut and dry, with a twist that you’ll likely see coming, and yet an ending that I found pretty interesting regardless. The release on Switch also sees additional stories come into the mix with the addition of “Return of the Merry” and “Atlantis Project” that features new cards, new crews, new music, and new FMV cutscenes featuring Samantha Béart from the 2020 version of The Sandman, and Alanah Pearce, video game industry content creator, and writer at Santa Monica Game Studios.
All in all, Solitaire Conspiracy features a story mode that should keep you busy for at least 4-5 hours, with missions that see you on the hunt for Solitaire. You won’t be alone as Jim will guide you as you work alongside a variety of different crews; agents for the Protego Agency that each have their own set of skills. From identity camouflage to expert hacking skills, these crews also have different abilities, as you’ll see them bounce cards around, shuffle a stack, or pull cards off your pile. These abilities are key to succeeding, especially in the turn-limit mode, as using them when you need to can often see you skipping several turns as you magically pull out a card out from the bottom of the stack in one swift move. Each mission will come loaded with a set pairing of crews, as they not only mesh on the playing field, but in the narrative given to that mission at the start of the round.
Solitaire Conspiracy does follow the more traditional set of rules for Solitaire with a few overall tweaks. You have a lane down the center that all starts with laying down an Ace, then building it up via that suit in order as you move and shuffle cards around. Each crew acts as a suit, complete with their own symbol and sleek presentation. The powers are where the rules are tweaked, and you also can’t pull an ordered stack off, as you need to move each card individually. Crew powers are linked to your face cards; Jack, Queen, and King, and setting down an ace will imbue these cards with their power. These then work on a single-use system per card, unless you use a certain crew’s ability to recharge them, so knowing when to move and use them is crucial.
Each mission can be completed one of two ways; Classic, or Plus. Classic is where you are free to take as many turns as you want, whereas Plus has a turn limit, which is where the use of abilities really comes into play as using the wrong one can set you back several turns. You also can’t rewind time or take back a move, so be careful where you plunk down a particular card. Thankfully, controls and moving from card to card is super quick and doesn’t have that sticky feel you can usually find in other card games. The transition from using a mouse on the Steam version to a controller on the Switch is perfect and feels as intuitive as it needed to. You also have a few modes to flesh out the game’s offerings with Skirmish, which allows you to just play the mode without any sort of story attached to it, and Countdown, where each move and completion adds time onto a clock that is always ticking down; it’s a blast.
It also helps that Solitaire Conspiracy is absolutely gorgeous. There is a neon color framework to the game, with customizable themes you’ll earn as you gain more crews and complete missions. These themes affect every aspect of the game, from the menus, the background, to the color of the FMV videos. The crews each have their own look for their cards, with beautifully drawn artwork, to symbols and designs that just pop off of the screen. There is a motion movement to playing the game on Switch, especially with the Pro Controller that I did have to turn off as it actually made me motion sick, so be warned if that’s also your thing.
The newly added expansions, Return of the Merry, and Atlantis Project are self-contained stories that allow you to take those crews into the other modes; however, for some reason, I cannot select Atlantis Project in skirmish other than using the random teams feature, likely due to a bug. Some of these missions require that you be a certain level or have a certain crew, as again, missions have a set grouping of crews, so you’ll need to have them on your side in order to tackle that mission. Return of the Merry is interestingly enough, tied to events of 2015’s Volume, with more than enough references to entertain fans. These two addons are very light on content with only a few FMV scenes that set the groundwork for their stories, but it is the new crews and abilities that you’ll take into Skirmish that have these addons justify their worth.
Priced at under $10, as it’s currently on sale at the time of this writing, Solitaire Conspiracy is a very entertaining and well-produced take on Solitaire with a story that is just engaging enough, with performances that are fun without being overly too serious that it certainly kept my attention. One more mission turned into three or four and before I knew it, I wrapped credits. The countdown mode is hectic enough that I’ve found my addiction spreading, and while I don’t see myself staying with it for too much longer, the ride offered by the game was certainly worth my time. It’s a spy thriller told through the lens of Solitaire, and that itself is a unique idea that pays off in spades.
Developer - Bithell Games. Publisher - Ant Workshop. Released - June 11th, 2021 (Switch), October 6th, 2020 (PC). Available On - Nintendo Switch, Windows. Rated - (E 10+) Alcohol Reference, Mild Language, Mild Violence. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.