Hildegard is a stand-alone card game adventure set in the world of Spire’s End. Over the years, I've grown fond of Hildegard -- a main character from the first game. This is her story.
After the dark descent into the Spire, I felt like a change of pace was in order. With Hildegard, I can do that. I've left behind the cold and the dark for something warm and vibrant.
The game has almost no set-up, intuitive rules, and minimal components. No DM, bookkeeping, or character sheets. What you will have is a stack of over 400 beautifully designed and illustrated cards with some custom dice!
Like the previous game in the Spire's End series, the story unfolds one card at a time. You will be presented with numerous-narrative driven choices, enemies, and items that move the story along.
—description from the designer
- Love the look of the game
- Too lucky
- Choose your own adventure
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Choose Your Own Adventure — It's a big choose your own adventure game
- Dice Rolling — rolling dice up
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Secrets. This is a Bruno Faidutti Eric Lang game. It's kind of like a social deduction game where each It has some of these nice poker chips. You're on different things, taking things. It works well. It's not great, but I think it was a solid little game.
- Tapple's one of these games that I'm always I'm It's just It still sold very well. It's mass market, but it works incredibly well.
- I just really didn't like it at all. And I like Isle of Cats. I think it's fun. I didn't I this was a great follow up.
- Wow, I love the look of this game. So many neat things you're going through and as the the the character here and just rolling dice up, it's just very lucky. It's a big choose your own adventure game that's very lucky. I wish I liked it more.
- FunkoVerse Strategy Game. Eight out of 10 for me. I really like the FunkoVerse Strategy Game.
- This is basically just giant sandworms coming and you're jumping cars and shooting them. It has all the silliness of the series of movies and I think it's it's one of those movies that could have been an IP, but but isn't.
- Manhattan Project 2. No, I thought the newest one was okay. But this one I actively disliked.
- Curse Court's a great game. I've played Curse Court I think two or three times this year already, which is a lot considering I have to I play lots of new games.
- Well, it's kind of weird. I I mean, on one hand, my favorite is Curse Court, the one I just mentioned. But, also Kids Chronicles: Quest for the Moonstones is a pretty fantastic kids game. So, I have a lot of respect for that.
References (from this video)
- Engaging two-player cooperative design with built-in co-op synergy
- Branching narrative across four chapters with multiple starting paths
- Unique dice-based combat with bullseye mechanics and blocking opportunities
- Second character option in chapter four increases replayability
- High component quality: custom dice, markers, and modular decks add tactile appeal
- Clear potential for future playthroughs due to branching paths and varying starts
- Complexity may be intimidating for new players
- Story progression can be slower for casual players seeking quick plays
- Solo play is not the primary focus, despite two-player capability
- Component setup could be lengthy for first-time players
- Cooperative exploration with branching narrative
- A fantasy adventure world connected to Spire's End; standalone game in the same setting
- Choose-your-path style with card-driven chapters
- Spire's End
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bullseye/target mechanic — Bullseyes and tokens track damage or progress; certain symbol combos create clear successes.
- Chapter save/load dynamics — Deck configurations and progress can be saved to resume later, enabling branching outcomes across sessions.
- Combat: Dice — Unique dice are used for combat with bullseye patterns that indicate successes; dice can be locked in to influence outcomes.
- Cooperative Actions — Hildegard and a second character can combine their abilities to tackle a single target more effectively.
- Cooperative Game — Two players (with an optional second character) work together to overcome encounters; tag-team synergy is possible.
- cooperative gameplay — Two players (with an optional second character) work together to overcome encounters; tag-team synergy is possible.
- custom dice combat — Unique dice are used for combat with bullseye patterns that indicate successes; dice can be locked in to influence outcomes.
- Deck-driven progression across chapters — Multiple decks correspond to chapters; starting cards determine setup and path choices.
- Face-offs and targeted encounters — Encounter types that require multi-round resolution; success builds toward defeating a foe.
- Fishing/inventory mechanics — Fishing decks yield items and influence outcomes; symbols on these decks relate to dice results.
- Inventory drafting — Progression yields inventory cards that can be used in conversations or during encounters to influence outcomes.
- Resource/counter cubes — Cubes track health, resources, and modifiers used in encounters; selecting which to commit affects future checks.
- Two-player tag-team synergy — Hildegard and a second character can combine their abilities to tackle a single target more effectively.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a standalone game that I'm really excited to play
- it's kind of like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure game but with cards
- I'm really excited to dig into this game and see what it's all about
- this is gonna be a super fun game
- gonna be an absolutely fantastic game