There had been no communication with station 04 on the distant moon X483. A rescue mission was mounted, and you were on that ship as it lost use of its controls and crashed but meters from the station's entrance. After the smoke cleared, you realized you were the only survivor.
You made your way into the station in hopes of finding help, only to be shocked by the horrors within. You are alone. You must escape. You must survive...
What is Desolate?
Desolate is a solo-play card and dice game. You have many choices that will ultimately equate to your survival or your demise. Do you explore the first room you reveal, or press-your-luck and skip it to move on to another, and be forced to resolve the second? When you encounter an alien you must decide how much ammo you want to spend (Each ammo equals 1 die roll) in order to defeat it. Do you over-spend for a certain victory, or take a chance a spend less? When you defeat a foe and open a crate, do you take the larger more valuable resource, or the lesser valued resource that may be more useful now? Do you use a powerful one-use item early on in the game, or wait?
There are many choices per game, and when you die, and you will often, you will not be able to blame the roll of a die or the draw of card as much as you will have to blame yourself. You will be invested. You may yell at the dice before rolling. You may jump to your feet when you find that final power cell and fire up the escape shuttle for a sweet sweet victory.
Component | Quantity | Photo |
---|---|---|
Poker Deck | 1 deck of 12 cards | ![]() |
Poker Deck | 1 deck of 15 cards | ![]() |
Poker Deck | 1 deck of 7 cards | ![]() |
Poker Deck | 1 deck of 1 cards | ![]() |
Poker Deck | 1 deck of 1 cards | ![]() |
Document | 1 | ![]() |
Small Pro Box | 1 | ![]() |
D6, 16mm, Black | 2 | ![]() |
D6, 16mm, White | 4 | ![]() |
Future Cube, Orange | 5 | ![]() |
Average Rating | 71 reviews |
---|---|
Publish Date | March 25, 2018 |
Edition | First |
Department | Games |
Tags | Sci-Fi Survival Space Casual Gamer Resource Control |
Desolate is a solo gaming gem: quick, simple, engaging, and immersive.
Desolate is the first game that I purchased at The Game Crafter. It is one of my favorite games from Grey Gnome Games. Easy to setup, understand, and play. What more would you want from a game such...
Nice little solo game
I love the horror situation of the game. Always fun to play through & fun again when you pick it up again. I love the expansion. Really great to have.
Awesome game, quick to jump in and knock out a game or two and have a great time.
I’ve never even played this game, but I am leaving a review cause it’s totally amazing. I can just tell by looking at the box and you should totally buy it TODAY RIGHT NOW!!!!!! This game is totally R...
As a big fan of Tin & Iron Helm, I've been interested in Desolate for a while. Recently bundled it along with my Tin Realm purchase. I really enjoy the theme and play mechanics. Card art is great an...
Fairly simple and quick to play. It shares many similarities with Dust Runner, so if you like one of them, you most likely will like the other as well. This one here is a bit more light weight though....
I have enjoyed playing it, I purchased all expansion material.
Enjoyed the game, even more so with the expansions and game mat!
Very enjoyable. Small footprint and easy to squeeze in during lunch
This game is very simple and honestly doesn't have a lot to it, but that is its biggest strength! Once I learned how to play, I found myself jamming out games passively on the couch while watching a s...
love the theme and mechanism best push-your-luck based game I had
A fast dungeon crawler... in space! It's not a complex game, but it is fun and keeps me engaged throughout the tire play through.
Beautiful artwork from the Master
I came to Desolate via Iron Helm. I dig how fast I can setup and play, regardless of whether or not I find any power cells. This is a smallbox game with lots of thick horror atmosphere!
Nice, quick solo game. I took an 18-hour train ride last year and this game helped me pass the time.
Fun, quick playing game in a tiny box. The Dark Matters packs are a much needed update that takes it from really good to great. The art and gothic sci-fi horror theme is really wonderful. Always worth...
I love this fun little dice chucker! Very tense and fun gameplay, whether solo or with the expansions I also purchased. And the art is fantastic!
It's quick and fun. I don't buy solo board games usually, and bought this one for a road trip to try something different. It's fun and light and the rules are clearly written. The art is nice. It'...
Perhaps I was expecting too much from this game. As others say, it is a quick filler game that's easy to learn and pretty portable. I like the artwork and style, and the component quality is great. W...
Solid little quick solo filler game.The B&W art is perfect for the theme. The exploration deck feels thin and would benefit from a little more choices to allow tactics and/or strategy. That said it fi...
I don’t know what I could say about “Desolate” that hasn’t already been said in its many YouTube play-throughs and video reviews, except to add one more voice to the choir of adulation that seems to h...
Beautiful, thematic artwork. Clever, simple design that makes great use of multipurpose cards and a small deck. Well worth the $15 price. This is not a $40-60, game, and it isn't fair to compare it to...
Something I love in games is how the gameplay adds to the theme. That claustrophobic feeling of only traveling through narrow corridors, knowing you are alone and the dreadful fear of the unknown that...
I played the brilliant Iron Helm by the same designer first and was interested to find out how much I would enjoy this earlier game with similar but less complicated mechanics. I absolutely love this...
I love solitaire games, especially with a sci-fi theme. This card game is of high quality and replay ability. It has enough of just the right amount of decision making and unpredictability to keep me ...
Great solo game, portable and easy to pack. I always bring this game on vacation to play it on the plane or train. It’s easy to learn and easy to play. There is quite a bit of luck, but it works well....
Wonderful, quick solo game. Easy to learn. Card artwork sets the mood for the theme. Love it!!
Great little game. The expansions add a lot to the replay ability of the game. Easy to learn, quick set up and tear down, small footprint. Just a tad repetitive with the encounter execution. Highly re...
I absolutely love this game. The play is very thematic, adding jut the right amount of tension. Definitely a must have!
Great game. elegantly simple rules yet tough to beat, and lots of replayabilty. Expensive to get to UK but well worth it in my book.
I have played this a few times after buying it and look forward to what else Jason has coming out.
In my top 3 solo games! Fantastic!
Rea
A quick and satisfying solo game.
I often find myself working long overnight hours alone so I have gown to enjoy portable solo games. This one has fun sci-fi theme, is well written for ease of play, and portable. I own the expansions ...
A nice little filler game with clever mechanisms . it’s the style of game where you always want to play an extra game .
I have been playing this since I bought it last year. Highly recommend for anyone that enjoys solo games and sci-fi themes.
I travel a lot and this game fits easily in my carry bag. It's always a challenge!
I'm not a big solo gamer, but I heard a lot of great reviews about Desolate and wanted to give it a shot. I have played 3 times and have enjoyed it each play. I have lost once and won twice. However, ...
Nice little simple solo player if you need your quick gaming fix. Love the art style, its simplistic black and white theme and hand drawn stlye is really appealing. I enjoy playing this with my little...
love this one! recently purchased after extensive reading of reviews and after a few plays it rose to my top five. super tense and thematic in such a small package. very well done!
What a fun and entertaining game! Its compact size and set up make it a great game for travel. Play is simple, but challenging.
This is a very small game that is very basic. Even with the 2 booster packs, you will see the same Exploration cards over and over each game. The different characters that you can play simply tell you...
I love it.
This is an excellent game! I'm not normally big on solitaire games, but this one caught my eye as I was browsing the site. The artwork is captivating and the mechanics sounded fun, so I ordered it. I ...
I love this game!! Fast setup and simple gameplay. Excellent work!
This fits really well into my solo games because it is quick and fun. There is quite a bit of RNG in the dice rolls but if you lose you can just try again with different items. I'll probably end up ge...
It was love at fist site for me! The game play is smooth and the rules easy to learn. It has become my go to solo game. I just ordered the two expansions and I can’t wait to try them out!
Brilliant easy to learn easy to play small game.
Rolling dice and shuffling cards means you never really know what will happen. Small enough to be played quickly yet sufficiently complex to make you want to push your luck and try it once more. It's...
Love this game. Simple, quick and can’t wait for the expansion.
I've made a full review available here: https://www.theindiegamereport.com/desolate-review/ --- Conclusion --- Desolate is a solo gaming gem: quick, simple, engaging, and immersive. The art direction...
Pretty fun little game; not too heavy and offers decent challenge and tactics. Try to conserve ammo and the Aliens can knock you down pretty quickly, but overdo it and waste ammo... you're done befor...
Great solo small game.
Great art, look like a great fun. Hope to get a copy too. Also great for color blind folks~
Great solo game that pulls the player into the setting with great artwork and tension. The random draw of equipment at the start improves replay because different items lead to different strategies. I...
I have to admit I'm a lover of solo micro games. I do a lot of solo camping/backpacking trips and when I buy a game the portability of it plays a big factor. I want something that is challenging, take...
Quick game and fun game.