Doomlings First Impressions

My husband is a huge fan of war games. I’m not. However, clearly there is an exception – if it’s not people killing each other and dying on the board, I am more than happy to annihilate any genes, species, or whole ecosystems with a huge smile on my face. And if the creatures that are fighting for survival are as cute as Doomlings – I had no choice but to fall in love with this game.

About the game

The basic rule of the game says that if there is no perfect card to play, just play the cutest one. 

That helps at the beginning, when there are just too many options. And after a few games you start seeing some patterns and looking for more powerful combinations.

Of course, since it’s a card game – the number of card combinations you can have at hand is countless, so a lot depends on luck.

Mechanics are fairly simple: you just play one card from your hand and execute its action or effect. Some of them give you immediate results, for some you need to wait till the end of the game, counted until 3rd global catastrophe happens. 

There are also cards with negative interactions, impacting one or all of your opponents. 

And all of the cards have those cute Doomlings with their unique traits, as they evolve their bodies, minds and ecosystems, trying to adapt to always changing conditions of the planet and catastrophes. 

Number of players

The game is designed for 2 to 6 players. I would say 4 is an optimal number, as it gives you enough fun and twists of actions, without making it too unpredictable and without waiting too long for your turn.

Playing time

As usual, depending on the number of players and their familiarity with the cards – it is between 20 to 45 minutes. A solid plus here is that the set up is quick, rules are fairly simple, so you can explain the game in just 5 minutes and start playing right away. 

Complexity

Typically for many card games, complexity is not with the mechanics, but derived from cards descriptions. You can make some powerful scoring combinations by setting the perfect traits deck in front of you. 

One watchout that the game is language dependent. We had some doubts if our kids (10 and 11 years old) will handle the English actions and effects descriptions, but since they know the basics gaming words already,  we just had to teach them a few additional words and they quickly memorized either the words or the cards themselves, and Doomlings became one of our favourite family games. Still some traits have such fancy names as Flatulence or Fecundity that I admit, I had to check their meaning in the dictionary myself. 

One complex element is also final scoring – where you need to follow a strict order of multiple steps to play out the final catastrophe ending the world. 

All in all I would classify the game at easy/medium range.

What I like

Just look at these cute doomlings. You simply cannot avoid liking them. Graphics and overall the visual concept is for sure the strongest positive of the game.

Easy setup and rules are the next one. 

Since I don’t like those games that you play for hours, falling asleep in the middle and forgetting your tactics along the way, quick playing time is also a plus for me. 

And the fact that you can play with as many as 6 players, kids alongside the parents  – and all of them equally engaged to play, made me a huge fan of this game.

What I do not like or would like to see in the game

I think the only part that I guess could be designed slightly better is the complex game ending steps. First you go through the 3rd catastrophe, then you resolve its effects. 

Then the world is ending and you go through the World’s End steps – where still decisions of one player can change the scoring for others, so you need to execute all in a strict sequence. On one hand cool interactions and unpredictable twists may still happen, on the other hand, especially with more players (and younger, less patient ones), it’s easy to lose track of some steps. Especially the less experienced gamers may stop understanding what just happened to their ecosystem of traits. 

For whom

Making it short – for everybody. Kids love the Doomlings, with their funny traits. Adults like the simple basic rules, yet with powerful combos you can make to score extra points. 

And did I already mention that Doomlings are sooo cute creatures?