By Kaysee and Max

Disclosure: bought the game, used the 4E Rulebook, beat all the scenarios

On a recent trip to Belgium, we spontaneously decided to visit a local board game shop. While we thought that most games there would be in French and only one of us can read French, we hoped to find something that’s not language dependent. Imagine our surprise when we saw some copies of the French version of Eternal Decks. This game had been on our radar for a while, even though we thought it would be difficult to get our hands on it. When we returned home, we were very eager to start playing.

The setup and the Rulebook

Eternal Decks is a cooperative card placement game that has some communication limit and stunningly beautiful art. The initial setup for the game is not the most difficult. It doesn’t have plenty of components. It only has a cloth that serves as a player board, different sets of cards, and a few wooden tokens. But the setup isn’t the easiest eiether; we’re not sure if it has something to do with us trying to figure out which deck or set of cards is which or us looking back and forth between the English and the French rulebooks to make sure that we got the correct cards. Understanding the rules, at least for the beginner mode, was easier for us than doing all the setup as it doesn’t have complex mechanics related to the concepts in the game.

The theme and the scenarios

We both really like the theme and the campaign of eleven scenarios in Eternal Decks. It tells the story of a group of explorers travelling through the Eternal Realm to preserve the existence of life in their own world. The art style is very pretty and it has a very minimalist theme with some abstract concepts, which doesn’t mean that the game itself is abstract or not thematic. It just means that while the theme and the art are already there to help with the world building, it still requires the theater of the mind. The non-restrictiveness of the theme allowed us to craft the world based on our own subjective and shared experiences.

As for the scenarios, each of them could be played independently, but we think it’s very much worth it to play through them in order at least once. The story might be told in a minimalistic way, but it’s still a good story and the mechanics do a great job of evoking the appropriate feelings. We really felt like explorers in a strange new world, learning how it works step by step. We also noticed that each scenario teaches the skills required to overcome the challenges of the next.

It’s all about the energy, dude

No matter which scenario, each player gets Energy cards and can play them on the Field rows or the River row on the mat. The Field card on the Field row (imagine it as one of the player’s starting points in the game) provides the information as to which type of Energy card (i.e. the color and the number) is required. But all Field rows share two basic rules: it’s not permitted to play two cards of the same Energy color or the same number next to each other. To us, the Energy cards represent the energy of a specific life form that we need to provide in order to revive an Eternal of our choice. Reviving an Eternal in return provides a set of Energy cards which in turn helps us to revive other Eternals.

As if all of this were not tricky enough to navigate, the Field rows in each scenario have varying Field cards that provide additional restrictions on the cards that can be placed in the row that they affect. Early examples are the Mountain and the Cave. The Mountain requires players to placed Energy cards in ascending order, while the Cave, its mechanical opposite, demands descending order. On the higher difficulty levels some rows have a deck of Field cards so that conditions change every time an Eternal is revived.

The Eternals

Most of the Eternals in the game are based on mythical creatures found in different cultures. They’re complicated. Some may argue they are friends, but some may think of them as foes. In any case, they are essential to preserve the cycle of life in the game. While they provide Energy cards, they also afflict the players with a Curse. Mechanically, this provides additional restrictions in terms of the type of cards that can be played.

Players can choose which Eternal to revive. This choice is very often a deliciously difficult one. There are quite a few factors to take into consideration when choosing. First, it matters who does the reviving, as this is the main way to gain more cards and running out means game over. Second, every Eternal afflicts everyone with a different type of Curse, so choosing the least bad one is essential. For instance, reviving the Skeleton will forbid all twos and eights from being played to the field, which is bad if either or both of the players are very likely to have those cards. Third, especially in the later scenarios it also becomes crucial to take into account which exact cards you gain from the Eternal, as you often need very specific combinations of cards to fulfill your objectives.

But fear not the Curses! They can be lifted if you add some specific combinations of Energy cards to the River for a Jewel, which you provide to the revived Eternal of your choice.

While any Energy card can be played to the River at any time, the River is not infinite. By filling it with Energy, you can gain a River Rare card, which functions like a joker mechanically. However, these are limited and can run out. Throwing too much Energy, a non-physical object, into the River will result in a gameover. Please keep the rivers clean.

Winning and losing

The winning condition in the game is dependent on which scenario it is, even though it always involves unlocking either Stars or Keys by fulfilling various objectives. We never felt frustrated when we lost in any scenario of the game, which is something we’ve felt in other games with similar systems. We wanted to try again and again. The last time we’ve felt this way was when we were playing Slay the Spire (the video game). We experienced losing multiple times in Stage C+, one of the advanced scenarios of the game, where winning sometimes seemed impossible (it took us five times before we were able to beat this stage). What we liked about this stage is it allowed us to improve and assess our strategies, thinking that there must be a way for us to solve the impossible. It could have ended as an eternal cycle of repeated loss.

Communication

When it comes to the communication limit, we think it’s really well implemented. We think that it is almost at the same level of communication limit as Gloomhaven, where open hand and mentioning what cards you have are not allowed. If anything, there is more information that can be communicated in Eternal Decks, as there are some types of cards that can be disclosed to the other players and an ability card where players may show their cards to the others. On top of that, each player has two Communication discs in their color that they can place on spaces where they think they could play some cards. Especially by placing a token on a spot further along a row it can be possible to give significant information about the cards in your hand. This allowed us to coordinate our strategies and work together effectively.

The degree of limitation, both of verbal communication and the use of (emblematic) gestures, is also determined by which scenario it is. Some scenarios do not allow some form of communication that is typically allowed in many scenarios. This also required us to come up with a different strategy and apply some more theory of mind, where we try to observe and understand what the other person is thinking when they perform an action.

Our final thoughts

We’ve never played anything like Eternal Decks. The intriguing world-building, the colorful art and the razor-sharp mechanics combine to create an immersive and stimulating experience for both of us. The later scenarios are very engaging and challenging even if one of them requires essentially perfect play in addition to a decent dose of luck. But what we like the most is how well it plays even if it’s just the two of us.

We also like that there’s a creative mode. We tried creating our own scenario only to realize that it was imbalanced. We’re still working on it and are very excited to try it again. It also made us realize how difficult it must be to design a game for the very first time which made us respect game designers even more.

One thing that we have to say though, is while we’re ok with the structure of the Rulebook, there’s a part in the Stage E setup in the Stage Description book where the placement of the text makes it difficult to interpret whether it is within the scope of a specific set up. We were only able to figure it out by reading the rules for that scenario.

But that one small bit didn’t affect the quality of our gameplay. And we can imagine playing this game multiple times and crafting our own story each time.

Kaysee’s rating: 4.5/5
Max’s rating: 5/5

Combined rating: 5/5

Title: Eternal Decks (2025)
Game Design: Hiroken
Artist: MUJUNSHA
Edition: French
Publishers: Tricktakers Games, Pixie Games

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By Kaysee and Max

August – the month when Obon and summer festivals usually happen in Japan, which means more fireworks, or hanabi as it’s called in Japanese, in Japan. We’re not in Japan this August, but it’s also summer here in Germany, which means it’s still very much the travel season now. This also means it’s the time for long train trips (at least for both of us) and so we’ve been looking for a small game to play during our travels. We already have some games that are travel friendly, but we wanted to test whether the cooperative card game Hanabi, which also happens to have won the 2013 Spiel des Jahres award, is the ultimate travel game for us.

It’s a very accessible game in terms of how easy to get a copy of it and in terms of the price. In terms of the rules, it is also very accessible. At its core, Hanabi is a set collection game. The rules for two players are the same for any number of players. Players have to assemble five stacks of five cards with five different colors in ascending order from one to five. There is, however, a big twist. The game doesn’t allow players to see their own hand, only the hand of the other player. They have to choose one of three options on each turn; they can give a hint to another player, discard a card, or play a card. Giving a hint requires turning over an unused clue token and allows the player to chose one color or one number and tell the other player which of their cards are of that color or number. We tried to use the clue tokens as efficiently as possible, as there’s only limited number of them and using them all removes the option of giving a hint for the next turn.

Discarding a card, conversely, requires turning over a used clue token and as such is the main way of gaining the ability to give more hints. The player then has to draw another card to replace the discarded one. Playing a card means selecting it and then turning it over to see whether it fits one of the existing stacks or start a new one, if it’s a one of a new color. If the card doesn’t fit, one of the three error tokens has to be turned over. If all three of them are turned over, the players lose the game. Whether the play was successful or not, the player has to draw a new card to replace the one they played.

The twist means that memory and deduction are crucial to succeed. Players need to remember the hints they were given. They can reorder their hand to help their memory, but this can backfire if the order of the cards changes frequently. Combining the limited knowledge of their own hand, that of their partners hand and the information provided by the cards that have already been played and discarded, hopefully allows the player to know which of their cards they can safely play or discard. In our experience there are plenty of times where we had to act based on incomplete information and hope that we made the right choice. In those instances, it is safer to discard than to play a card. Three mistakes while playing cards result in a gameover, mistakes while discarding just have a possibility of limiting the number of points you can achieve.

All of this means that even just selecting which action to take on your turn is an important and consequential choice. In the beginning, it’s a good idea to give some hints to the other player first, but the clue tokens run out quickly. After that, players have to choose whether to play or discard, even if they don’t have all the information they might want. We don’t think meta gaming, such as making a plan before starting, is necessary if playing with the same person. And since we are boring law abiding citizens, we do not think that house rules are necessary as long as you play with the same person and observe how frequently they use the same tactics.

Our Final Thoughts:
While we haven’t had a perfect run yet, we’ve been enjoying every game session. Hanabi really requires a lot of attention to remember all the hints you are given and to correctly make deductions. The rules might be straightforward and simple, but that doesn’t make the game easy to beat. While it doesn’t have the strongest theme much like many other filler games and it doesn’t have that much let’s-try-again-one-more-time aspect right after finishing the game session (at least for us), it is a really good co-op filler game for two players. Both of us can imagine playing this game when we get old (and hopefully not grumpy) to keep our cognitive skills intact. And given that it doesn’t require much space, we will be bringing it on future long travels.

Kaysee’s rating: 4/5
Max’s rating: 4/5

Combined rating: 4/5

Title: Hanabi German Edition
Game Design: Antoine Bauza
Illustration: Antoine Bauza, Gérald Guerlais, Laura Michaud
Publisher: Cocktail Games

Photos by Kaysee

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