7 Wonders Duel

***Don’t fall for the dev review reply saying it’s coming and assume it did*** I read a review that said 2 years ago “we have the async option coming in our roadmap for 1.2 V1.1 which is coming in mid-December”. I don’t understand what that numbering is, but 1.1.4 was released so I just assumed that meant it was included since 2 years ago they said it was coming. It wasn’t. And after 2 years, I think it’s safe to assume it’s never coming. If you even briefly switch out of the app you then forfeit and your spouse wins… super frustrating, but I guess I’m just out $5. With the iTunes family plan at least we didn’t both have to buy it.

So this is one of my favorite games of all time but the app needs a LOT of work. It’s very frustrating to play. First - if you’re playing an online game with a friend, if either of you accidentally closes your phone you automatically lose the game as it disconnects. That’s crazy bad design. Asynchronous play is not a feature - it should be a requirement or its almost unplayable. Second - the actual play of the game results in a ton of mistakes which is VERY frustrating. You can’t undo anything. I’ve had the game seem like it is auto selling cards - and every time I’ve played it’s very finicky in how precisely you have to drag cards or you get an unintended result. It would be much better if you just clicked on a card and then had 3 options - buy, sell, or build wonder. Right now it just feels bad.

I’ve really enjoyed the cardboard version of this game the few times I’ve played it, but I don’t get to play it often. So it’s great to have an app version now. After playing against the AI on an iPad a dozen times: this version works pretty well. They’ve had to distill the cards and symbols a bit to make it all fit in the screen, which can make it a bit harder to follow at first, but you can always press and hold on a card to see the full thing. The tutorial was a good refresher for me, since I had not played in a while. I would think it’s good enough to teach a new player as well. As far as I can tell, there is only one AI level. It’s decent, with me, an early-intermediate player, winning about half my games. I’m definitely glad I bought it and will enjoy getting to play this great game even when I don’t have a real-life local opponent handy.