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Quick Look: Solar Titans

Designers: Phillip Gee, Xian Wu
Artists: Gainne Arban, Gloria R., Riya Santra, Hong Sun
Publisher: Solsora Games
Year Published: 2023

No. of Players: 1-4

Ages: 14+

Playing Time: 30 – 60 minutes.

Find more info HERE.

From the Publisher:

Build your capital ship with cards and prepare for fast-paced, strategic capital ship combat. Upgrade your ship, plan tactical strikes, and disable the opposing ship’s command deck to win!

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the copy of Solar Titans. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Review:

Okay, so in a way, I should have never asked for the privilege of reviewing Solar Titans.

I mean, I am definitely overly fond of certain, specific, deck builders, but also keen to fiercely criticize them when they fail to offer anything unique. And this sadly applies to many or most of them that I have played.

And then there is the fact that (with rare exception) my regular gaming group doesn’t usually approve of competitive games. 

The third thing that Solar Titans either had against it (or perhaps, for it…) is the fact that it appeared to sport a drastically non conforming style of gameplay. More on this later. 

Now I do need to point out that in all fairness Solar Titans can be both  cooperative  and competitive. But in the context of multiplayer, it is almost impossible to think of it as anything other than competitive, as the game seems naturally geared towards this proclivity.

Because what sets Solar Titans aside from the rest of other games out there is that its combat makes it the most directly competitive deck builder I have ever seen (when not playing in cooperative mode). This will be no passive game of multi-player solitaire where each player tries to garnish the most Victory Points in relative isolation from the rest of their company. You will be directly attacking one another and inciting wrath all the way through the end of this interstellar conflict.

The Gameplay :

True to form, each player will have a starting deck of 10 cards, and gradually build upon these basic cards (using a central market) to amass what might initially seem like a typical engine-building scenario. However, what immediately stands out is that players will also need to construct a ship (using randomly drawn pre-determined ship configuration cards) and place their weapons, crew quarters, targeting systems and Command Deck behind an array of high-tech defensive plating before commencing gameplay. While each ship starts with a layout of 8 cards, you will eventually be able to build up to a 15 card space battleship utilizing up to a 5×5 card grid that is placed in front of you.

If you are playing against the games’ AI Automata, you will construct a flying behemoth of a battle station to go up against, and lay out its defenses and weapons in front of your ship. 

In all cases, the objective is to knock out and  destroy all enemy Command Decks to achieve victory.

Players will also notice another feature, along with the ability to construct a ship : They will each have a deck of Repair cards. Use these to fix damaged and disabled parts of your ship, but note that these do not ever replenish ; once you are out, you are out, so use these carefully!

The Game’s 6-card randomized market place consists of various arms and defenses you can use to add on to your ship, or other occasional utilitarian one-time abilities. In addition, two other types of cards are always available for purchase, mostly allowing you to hire mercenaries or recycle/move damaged ship parts. Using these special abilities when these cards are played immediately removes them from your deck, though, so deciding when to purchase and use these is also an important strategic consideration. 

Purchased cards go into your discard immediately rather than into your hand, as is typical for most types of this game.

Once you have a solid comprehension of these mechanics, it’s pretty much “let the carnage begin!”.

The review :

Ok, now the fun part : Dissecting the Innards of Solar Titans.

The major test of this game will be deciding whether or not the unconventional measures taken by designers Xian Wu and Phillip Gee translate to fun.

And in keeping with the spirit of parting with tradition, first let me get into what we found irksome with Solar Titans before delving into the positives first, as I normally do.

The biggest elephant in the room that can potentially inhibit the success of Solar Titans is the amount of table space it takes up. Normal deck builders only need to consider a relatively small central market place and a small pile for draw/discards for each player. In Solar Titans, the innovative changes it brings in allowing you to construct massive ships means an equally impressive amount of space that each card-wrought ship takes up on the game table. Even with two players, we were feeling the crunch on our already sizable table, and even a 4×6 table may exhibit some trouble with a full 4 player count.  It won’t be impossible, no, but you will probably be left scratching your head wondering how such a small box can manage to take up such a large space for gameplay…This particular aspect might end up being a strike against it if space is at a premium.

The other contention that is noticeable, though not necessarily major, is that constructing each player’s starting deck / hand is a bit more involved than in other deck builders. Not only do you have to get “regular” starting cards sorted, but also the Repair Cards, Ship Cards of various types, ship layout cards, etc , ready to go prior to playing. The fact that Solar Titans features a very distinct art style that doesn’t resemble anything else you may have encountered might just make the prospect of sorting through these cards a tad more daunting when learning to play the game. Eventually, it does get better, and you may find a way to make this easier for subsequent games, but going between competitive and solo / coop modes might highlight this complication more precisely, as it will require you borrowing from various starting decks in constructing the AI ship, and mean more sorting out later. It is what it is.

Competitive mode may be a little too brutal for some people to handle…(more on this later…)

Now aside from these issues, what we have remaining are the positives…

The biggest red flag for a game like Solar Titans that attempts to buck tradition is that different does not necessarily equal better. If I were one of the minds behind the game, I would certainly approach the subject of soliciting reviews with trepidation, as sometimes it is possible to overdo it and attempt to change too much with a tried-and-true formula.

But at the end of the day, I would say that Solar Titans is a resounding success. Not only does it buck tradition, it kicks old and stale approaches to gameplay right out of the airlock in favor of the most innovative deck builder I have seen in ages. But more than that, it emerges with not just one but multiple variations in gameplay for Competitive / Solo / Cooperative modes , that each can stand independently — they are ALL good.

Let’s look into things a bit more thoroughly.

Regardless of what mode you choose to play, strategy is involved. Yes, some degree of your wins will be decided by what random cards enter the central market, but there are many creative work arounds for what can happen during the game. 

Did your alpha laser get wiped out? Replace it. Is your targeting system a sitting duck for enemy fire? Build an impenetrable array of shield plates in front of it. Having problems hitting an enemy target in a direct, head-on approach? Try getting a weapon that lets you flank them from the sides…

Perhaps the best part of Solar Titans is that I walk away feeling like I just got done playing a Space Shoot-em-up video game, similar to R-type, Gradius, Axelay, etc. It is so fulfilling getting a certain weapon type that feels exactly like firing a Charge Shot and penetrating the enemies’ hull, which tactilely evokes the exact same sensations you might get while holding your controller.

Competitive mode is indeed a direct affront to any other deck builder out there — it will not feel nearly as peaceful as other games in this regard, and I do think this has the potential to turn quite a few people off. But thankfully , this is not the only mode offered by Solar Titans. But it just happens to stand out the most, precisely because there is nothing out there like it. For those who like trash talk and battles for supremacy, this is your perfect ticket for the deck building mechanic. Just be prepared for all kinds of viciousness, as you can really gang up on each other! 

Solo and Cooperative modes do not suffer any design flaws , and nor do they feel deficient in any way when compared to Competitive mode ; they are not just tacked on, but a full embodiment of a very solid game engine.

I would emphatically highlight that solo gamers should have a field day with this one, as it offers both a great challenge and sense of thematic immersion. 

The size of the box is dramatically minuscule in direct comparison to the amount of space the game takes when set up. So in its favor, it is very portable (the most portable of any deck builder in my collection), but in seemingly contradictory fashion , I would be unlikely to take this on a trip with me, as no ordinary coffee shop table could hope to contain this game, and many relatives would lack the space for me to set this up, either. 

But on the plus side again, take a look at the box! It is magnificently designed as if through a ship itself, with various “ship compartments” to hold the cards. A bold and flashy design choice was to include the use of ribbons fastened to the bottom of each card tray, meaning you virtually NEVER have to be fumbling around trying to lift out decks of cards from their allotted spaces ; just lift the ribbon, and no fuss , no muss. Every multi-deck card game should have this as a bare essential, and other companies should really make a note that Solar Titans does this fantastically right.

Final Thoughts : 

I would like to say that I have nothing bad to say about Solar Titans, and this is almost true. I know that the sheer innovation of its design would ordinarily be enough for me to carry on without bringing up its negatives too often (namely the amount of space it takes up while set up), but it does bear mentioning because it can impact one’s ability to get it to the table. But once you get over that hurdle…

The game certainly merits some sort of award for excellence. I do not believe in simply praising a game for being different ; I have plenty that have tried to do just that and failed in the key components of being fun. Solar Titans is both divergent from past trends and incredibly immersive. I would recommend it for anyone seeking to breathe new life into a sometimes placid genre. At just $30 dollars, it is a steal of a deal for what it does to shake things up. Just make sure your table can accommodate it! 

8.5 / 10

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