How Droll

Regency Solitaire isn't what I expected, in a few different ways.

For one thing, it isn't quite the solitaire ruleset that I'm familiar with (which is Klondike, I guess). Rather than playing cards from piles or from the deck onto multiple "foundations," cards from the piles are played onto the deck; effectively replacing four persistent foundations with one, volatile one. This simplification makes the game easy to jump into, but also reduces the number of possible plays at any given time, making it pretty easy to get stuck.

(Of note is that you cannot recycle the deck; once you've run through it, the round is over.)

Also, you play as a noble daughter attempting to court with a rich lord. Not only is this Jane Eyre-esque plot ... bizarre, for a video game, it has nothing to do with the game itself. The protagonist isn't some ace card player on a quest to prove herself a solitaire champion; the game sessions and storytelling simply take detached turns, one after the other. Imagine if Kratos played checkers inbetween cutscenes of Greek gods being disemboweled.

Regency Solitaire also has power-ups, unlocked by upgrades that you purchase with gold from clearing piles of cards. These power-ups reveal hidden cards on the board, clear arbitrary cards, allow you to play wildcards... Oh, and there are also lock cards, and key cards, and some special lock cards that unlock when you play a certain number of face cards. Yeah, there's plenty of wacky shit in here.

But while said wacky shit can occasionally get you out of a jam, by and large the game is still heavily reliant on luck. Which pile should you play from to reveal a crucial card, and which one will leave you stuck? Will using a power-up now help you, or remove a card you should have played? Will you find another play before the deck runs out and the round ends? Well, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Regency Solitaire is weird in a bunch of ways, and to a degree I admire its mechanical creativity. But even aside from my total lack of interest in its Victorian romance story -- I really don't enjoy my success or failure being decided by random chance.