Queen by Midnight review: "Saddled by excess that would make a real princess shudder"

The Queen is dead, and the Rule by Midnight has been invoked by her dying breath. The land of Twelvefold is now thrown into chaos as various princesses from around the realm wage war against one another in an effort to win the throne. This is the premise behind Darrington Press' Queen by Midnight deck-building game, a title that radiates beauty but is also saddled by excess that would make a real princess shudder. Sadly, it's unlikely to go on anyone's list of the best board games as a result - but there's still promise under all that gaudy pomp.

Queen by Midnight features & design

• Play as a princess fighting for the throne
• Each princess has unique abilities...
• ...but everyone starts with the same deck

Queen by Midnight puts 3 - 6 players (or 2 - 6, if you're using the expansion 'Quarter Past') in the heels of princesses vying for control of the court, with each princess having access to their own suites of powerful spells and abilities, in addition to a basic stash available from the communal bazaar.

At its core, Queen is a deck-building game (a format favored by many of the best card games) where each princess starts with a nearly identical starter deck and will have to improve it over the course of the game by purchasing new cards, with the end goal being to dish out enough damage to take out the other players and keep themselves alive. The deck-building fundamentals that the game uses as its foundations are solid, and Queen brings some really interesting and fun twists to the classic formula.

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In a bit of asymmetric flair, each of the princess characters not only can purchase cards from the shared bazaar pool, but also a special reserve of their own known as their Vault.

Another one of the unique mechanics to Queen, and where the game gets the "by Midnight" in its title from, is the ever-present clock face that ticks closer to Midnight with each passing round. This constant reminder of the endgame will adjust and tweak the game as it gets closer to that fated hour, changing the game in some impactful ways, like increasing everyone's hand sizes, unlocking that princess' most powerful cards from their War Chest, and even creating a secondary win condition, allowing each player to secretly declare their loyalty for another player. This allows them to serve as an advisor to that player if they're eliminated.

Sound like a lot? It is. This all extends not just to the gameplay but to the production itself and can be felt the moment you open the base game's box for the first time. You are greeted by a bag containing the components to a dice tower, which also serves as the clock face that tracks the game time, and a working lazy Susan to play on in addition. I will admit, these large set pieces in board games have never done much for me, particularly when they exist more for the "wow factor" or as a talking piece. (An example being Everdell's tree.)

Luckily, the Quarter Past expansion includes a perfectly usable flat tabletop clock of sturdy quality, and I opted to use that and leave the fancy clock tower in its packaging and unmade.

Gameplay

• Features neat twists, like Inner Circle
• Characters all play differently
• Just too much going on

Although every character starts with the same deck, getting access to each princess' special cards jazzes things up. These decks really do a great job to further define and separate one character from another, creating an almost fighting game meta situation which I really dug. This ranges from Boss No’s focus on subtlety and sabotage (having your opponents choose to hurt themselves and help you, or choosing their preferred pain as you force them to choose whether they pay you, heal you, or get rid of one of their cards) in contrast to Hephesta, whose deck specializes in healing and reducing oncoming damage while she bides her time until she can challenge you to a duel and potentially deal a big hit of damage.

With six princesses to pick from in the base game and another four in the Quarter Past standalone expansion, it adds to the complexity of the game, requiring players to keep track of and remember what threats the other decks can bring, but also offers up a greater amount of flexibility and possible matchups from one game to the next, compared to other games in the genre.

The fun doesn't end if you're bested by these special abilities, though. Should a princess be reduced to zero health before Midnight, they can reveal their secret loyalty to another player and become a member of that princess' Inner Circle as an Advisor, allowing you to help them in ways that only your fallen princess can, such as allowing you to heal them or look through their deck and give them a card. Then, if the princess you are declared for wins, you also win.

I really found this system to be an imaginative and fun way to keep players who are eliminated still in the game and contributing. It's never fun to be the first person out of a game and be forced to simply watch until a new game starts, and this Inner Circle system is a smart way to avoid that issue.

If that was where the game left things, Queen by Midnight would be an easy recommendation for fans of deck-building games, but unfortunately, the game piles on so much other stuff that it leaves the game feeling bloated and overproduced. As I touched on earlier with the individual Vault decks that each princess brings with them, there are a variety of different classes of cards and princesses, with each princess being composed of two classes. Two classes that each have a Major and Minor value, with each impacting different cards, sometimes determining the number of dice you roll in a check, or just straight-up damage. Oh yeah, and there is some dice rolling mixed in, and some princesses have special tokens or counters they use. Attacks can deal different types of damage, which can be blocked or negated by some effects, or some cards can only negate specific damage, and then there are cards that aren't attack cards. Still, part of their effects can be negated by cards that negate attack cards but not the whole card, and then… well, simply listing out some of the situations is making me dizzy. All of this is not to mention that the bazaar shop being composed of three different decks that get swapped out depending on the time on the clock.

It all just makes the game feel like it was the victim of scope-creep and adding another mechanic or idea because it would be "cool" and not necessarily because it adds to the experience of the game overall, leading to that feeling of being overproduced.

Should you buy Queen by Midnight?

Despite my qualms with the game, Queen by Midnight and Quarter Past are fun enough that if one of my friends wanted to play, I would say sure, but those same issues are what keep it from being a game I would actively reach for on my shelf. When I am in the mood for a complex and heavy game, I would reach for other titles that manage their complexity a bit better, and when I am in the mood for a deck-building game, I tend to reach for quicker and tighter experiences like Star Realms or Lost Ruins of Arnak. I hope that Queen by Midnight finds its fans, as it is a gorgeous game to look at, with stellar production values, but for me, this is going to be one game I may go to bed early for.

Ratings

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Queen by Midnight

Our reviewer played Queen by Midnight multiple times with other players whilst using different characters, all to get a feel for the game as a whole. They also used the expansion, Quarter To, to compare and contrast with the original title.

If you want to learn more about our process, be sure to drop in on our guide to how we test board games. You can also visit the complete GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

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