Temple Gates Games
Temple Gates Games developed the official implementation of Dominion for Steam and mobile app stores. The game is in early access.
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Features
All released cards are implemented on the Temple Gates Games client.
Offline play against three difficulties of AI, or pass-and-play. The AI has been touted as a headlining feature of the client, claiming to be taught via neural networks, and receiving some press upon its announcement.
Cross platform online play on Windows via Steam, Android via the Play Store, and iOS (currently iOS slots are limited), with asynchronous timing available and the ability to play multiple games simultaneously.
Card gallery can be used to customize the kingdom. You can also ban cards there (5 bans). Cards banned state will be maintained for future games. In multiplayer, the creator determines the bans; in the future the intent is to respect all bans of players who join a multiplayer game.
Tutorial to help new players learn the base game or different expansion mechanics.
Cost
The base game is free to download and play. Each expansion can be purchased with a one-time payment.
Purchases can be shared across platforms while online. Expansions from other platforms are only maintained for 7 days when offline.
The developers are honoring purchases of expansions made through previous platforms (Goko and Making Fun) as cross-platform purchases, though those clients only ever implemented up to Adventures.
Gameplay
For unranked games the expansions used depend on what the table host owns and selects. People who join in do not need to own the expansions.
For ranked games the system is TBD.
Currently the client is only available in English and Japanese.
Praises and criticism
Praise
- AI Strength - far exceeds that found on Shuffle IT
- Offline and Asynchronous Play - both firsts for Dominion implementations
- Honoring of previous purchases - although Shuffle IT provided free expansions for a year after release for those who had purchased on Making Fun, Temple Gates is providing them as online products to those who had them.
Criticism
- Cost - There are objections to the model of one-time payments for a digital service. Additionally, it has been criticized for being large - when compared to Shuffle IT, the total cost of expansions is equivalent to 2 years and 9 months of an all-expansions subscription.
- Poor UI for engine decks - The default hand display does not support large hands, and so the hand rearranges over the course of a turn, and the play area does not support showing all played cards at once, so players often need to scroll to see what they have played. Additionally, there is no option to have a constantly visible log.
- AI Strength - Compared to the promise of an AI that could beat top players, it has so far underdelivered. Experienced players are able to beat the hardest level of AI over 80% of the time, and it is uncompetitive on engine boards.
- Lack of Online Features - Compared to Shuffle IT, the Temple Games client lacks many quality-of-life features for playing with other people, such as chat and the ability to spectate games.
Links
Temple Gates Games Discord server
