Card Game Review: Dungeon Mayhem

With the release of Battle for Baldur’s Gate, I figured I should review Dungeon Mayhem prior to reviewing the expansion.

Dungeon Mayhem is a fast-paced card game where a barbarian, wizard, rogue and paladin are all duking it out to be the last one standing. Each player has a deck representing their character, along with a hit point tracker and reference card for each of the symbols on the cards. Players can defend themselves with cards showing Shields, which basically block damage coming in until enough damage has been done to remove the cards protecting the hero.

The four decks play very differently, with each iconically representing the classic classes.

Sutha the Skullcrusher is a powerful half-orc barbarian who deals a lot of damage, on top of getting to play extra cards. With the right hand, you can end up dumping a ton of damage on their enemies.

Oriax the Clever is a Tiefling Rogue who is able to sneak past defenses to deal damage, avoid taking damage, and stealing cards from other players decks.

Lia the Radiant is an elven paladin who has a lot of opportunities to heal, and acts hugely defensively before breaking through others’ shields, and building up shields themselves.

Azzan the Mystic is the human wizard who deals all kinds of damage, including damage to all players at once, lay down a series of cards all at once, and many other wizardly spells.

Dungeon Mayhem is a busy frenzy of play, as players backstab and fireball their way to victory. Each game takes only a few minutes, and each time I’ve played, we’ve played multiple games in a row, switching decks each time. Each deck plays so differently that you have to play it a few times to get a handle on it.

Everyone around the table asked to play again and again, and when others gathered around the table to watch us playing, they jumped right in. This is a fantastic game to kick off D&D night before everyone shows up. It feels like a simpler version of Red Dragon Inn, but in a smaller container.

Definitely check out Dungeon Mayhem. We’ll be sharing a review of the expansion next week!