It’s undeniable that the character art on the Doomlings card game is incredibly cute. I’ve seen this card game show up in my social media feed for a couple years now and was largely dismissive of the game. When a member of the Doomlings team reached out to share the game, I figured this would be something my teenage kids would dig. In this review, I’m going to tell you how I was wrong and share why Doomlings is an accessible card game that you need to check out.
It’s the End of the World…
On a doomed and distant planet, players fight for supremacy as the world comes to an end. Players manage their hand of trait cards, playing and activating card affects. You’ll find synergies as you add these color-coded traits to your collection.
Each round of the game is marked by an Age card that adds a minor wrinkle in the normal gameplay. Seeded into this Age deck are three Catastrophe cards which will throw a wrench into your game plan. On the third Catastrophe card, the end of the world triggers, adding an additional scoring rule before everyone calculates their points.
And I Feel Fine
Players are building a tableau of points using trait cards in the game. Each card is either red, green, purple, blue, or colorless. These creatures are cute little spheres that have a point value, positive or negative, and can even trigger special effects. Some of these effects will do something mean to an opponent or steal a card that you might need. The level of “take that” in the game never seems overbearing.
Some cards are marked with a star in the corner, noting that they are a “dominant trait”. Players can only ever have two of these traits in their collection and they cannot be stolen, discarded or removed from play. Since dominant traits usually have the most power, this rule makes it so that other players cannot wreck some of the best cards in the game.
When the third Catastrophe card is revealed, players often need to have a gameplan for the “World’s End” rule on the bottom of the card. This usually adjusts some scoring or could force a player to throw away a valuable card. This is probably the only part of the game that can feel unfair. This random adjustment at the end of the game can put a dent in a players score and it’s rare to have insight into what this text will say.
At the worlds end, players calculate their score and the player with the highest score wins.
Jump in the Gene Pool
Doomlings isn’t doing anything magical and the flow of the game is pretty standard when you’re looking mainstream card games. I think what makes this game stand out is the wild and charming creatures that make up this game. I love how each of these spheres are unique and the effects help you gain the upper hand against your opponents.
As you start collecting these different creatures, you get attached and don’t want other players to steal your favorite traits. You’ll start to recognize some of the synergies in the game and may even gravitate to collecting specific colors. Cards like Kidney (red) and Swarm (green) will give you a variable number of points based on other copies of these same cards.
Players who manage to raise the value of their gene pool will get more options when they “stabilize” and draw cards at the end of their turn. Many times, the traits that raise your gene pool do very little for your overall score.
While Doomlings may not bring anything wild and new to this space, it is a very complete package. This review is for the Doomlings retail box which has 167 unique cards. Each box has a holofoil inside which is a nice little surprise. Everything you need to play the game for 6 players is in this one box.
With that being said, players who are looking for a fast and snappy card game may want to stick to the 3 and 4 player count. Even though it plays up to 6 players, I find that there’s enough downtime between turns that players can easily get distracted. In a 3 or 4 player game, you’re looking at around 30 minutes to finish a game.
Final Thoughts
I initially judged Doomlings based on a flood of social media content. I made assumptions that this would only appeal to a casual audience and that there may not be enough “game” here to keep me interested. I was wrong and I’m actually really impressed with this card game.
Doomlings is built for casual audience, but there’s enough strategy to keep gamers engaged. The cute artwork and charming traits make this an easy game to suggest for families who game with kids. Doomlings is a card game that has received a lot of play at our house as a way to start a game night or to wind down on a weeknight after work. If I’ve learned anything here, it’s that I should have given Doomlings a try earlier than I did.
Doomlings is available at your local game store, the Doomlings webstore, Target stores, or online through Amazon today.
This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.
Highs
- Charming character art that stands out
- Effects on trait cards allow player interaction
- Finding synergies between cards can be fun
- Very accessible gameplay that is easy to teach
Lows
- End of the world effect can ruin a players high score
- Gameplay at 6 players can feel sluggish
Complexity
Time Commitment
Replayability
