#pixel glory

Review – Pixel Glory

Courtesy Zafty Games It was a night of monster killing and spell slinging as we settled in and played Pixel Glory for the first time. Instead of playing at The Forge Herald gaming center, we ventured out to a new pub in town, Luminous Brewing. It was great beer and an awesome atmosphere to play in. More about that another time – let’s talk about the game. Pixel Glory was published in 2015 by…

Pixel Glory 

This was a surprise. A while back, I got this on Kickstarter when they were doing a pay-what-you-want expansion. I had pretty low expectations, but figured it was worth the fairly small cost to support an indie company.

The players are wizards trying to defeat all the monsters in a dungeon. Every turn, you’ll have a hand of spell cards and have to use all of them. The person who defeats a monster gets points, nobody else gets anything. 

The game begins with a nine round spell draft to build your deck. This moves pretty quickly, with each player choosing a card from one to nine to get first selection in the draft that round. You take a spell and get a number of basic element cards based on that spell. These basic elements do one damage each and generally are junk cards compared to the spells; so, more powerful spells tend to come with more junk. During this phase, depending on your number of players, you reveal which monsters you will have to fight over the nine turns, helping you prepare for the dungeon.

Once you have a deck built, you shuffle up the monsters and set up the dungeon. You reveal three monsters and begin fighting your way to the Dungeon Lord. Each round, you have to play your full hand of cards. If you kill a monster, you take it for points and have the option to reshuffle your discard into your deck.

The expansions are Achievements, which add another way to gain points by completing various minor tasks, and Pets, which gives you a Familiar that you can discard cards to activate their unique action. I think both improve the game and would suggest using them. They just offer you some additional options during a game that could otherwise feel a bit limited.

This weekend was PAX South! It was pretty fun. I drove down with Jeff Szcinski, and we stayed at a friend of his’ apartment. I bought 2 games, The Contender and Pixel Glory. I think next year if I go to PAX I might go on my own, with the plan to meetup with people while there. I kind of hate having to depend on other people, and I hate to/from the lace. I would much rather walk the whole time if I can help it. 

"Pixel Glory, an auction-building game, is now on Kickstarter. Stylized in 16-bit artwork, you play a fame-driven Wizard. You and other wizards train up in town by using an auction based drafting mechanic to build your deck, then travel into the dungeon. You’re working with the other wizards to weaken the monsters in the dungeon; however, only the wizard that last hits the monster gets the fame - since he or she can walks out with its head!"

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/660196782/pixel-glory-an-auction-building-card-game

Plays 3-4 players, 30 minutes. $29 pledge level.