As King, you strive to stay in power at all costs, and eliminating those who dare to get in your way is a must. As a peasant, all you seek is to dethrone the terrible monarch by aiding a skilled assassin. Which role are you best suited for? And will you succeed in your ultimate mission?

What Is It?

🥅The Goal of the game is to be the first player to win 2 eras. To win an era, The King must discard the assassin, or there must be no cards left in the deck. The Peasant wants the king to draw the assassin, wants the king to use the “condemn” action and not discard the assassin, or wants to flip the assassin in town while there are no guards.

⚙️Asymmetric – While players share the 18-card deck, they use different parts of the card, and have different actions they can take to reach their goals

Who Is It For?

👥2 Players – Strictly head-to-head
👥Ages 14 & Up – Quick to learn, but tricky strategy
👥Players Who have some experience with asymmetric games
👥Fans of 2-player card games

PROS

🟢Small and portable
🟢Rules are short and well-written
🟢Play quickly; turns are smooth
🟢Aesthetics – Good graphic design. Little art, but what there is is nice
🟢Roles feel pretty balanced
🟢Theme works well
🟢Interesting that the era winner becomes the king for the next era, so there’s the potential to switch roles once or twice

CONS

🔴I almost wish players were forced to switch roles instead so that you could see both sides in one game
🔴Some rounds can end a bit quickly

Final Thoughts

Overall, the game plays smoothly, and captures the theme pretty well. While it’s definitely on the lighter side, it still leaves room for decent strategy from both sides.

At first glance, I felt like it was harder to win as the king because you can’t be sure where the peasant is putting cards into the deck, or what card(s) they are. But after playing, it definitely feels like it has good balance because it can be tricky to be sneaky enough as the peasant to pull off some of the moves you need to do.

If you like asymmetric 2-player games, especially that are conveniently portable, then it’s worth checking out.

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6/10

Designer – Poon Jon
Artist – Chia Pek Fann
Publisher – nPips Games
MSRP – $0.00 on PNP Arcade
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

If you like what I do, consider supporting me.