Regency Solitaire II

Ever since releasing Regency Solitaire back in 2015, Grey Alien Games has been one of the most consistent developers working today. Even though it didn’t look like my kind of game, I was instantly charmed by the Jane Austen-inspired story and its unique take on the solitaire card game, ultimately giving the game a B+ score. Two years later, when Grey Alien introduced me to Shadowhand, a game that mixed solitaire with one-on-one combat, I was hooked and also gave it a B+. That is the exact same score I gave Ancient Enemy, the 2020 follow-up that refined the combat and added a lot to the already clever gameplay. Even when the developer went wildly off script and created a SimCity-style management simulator called T-Minus 30, I found myself once again giving a Grey Alien game a score of B+. Now, almost a full decade later, we’re headed back to Edgerton for more upstairs/downstairs shenanigans with Regency Solitaire II. Dust off your fanciest clothing, because you’ve been invited to a high society soiree when I review Grey Alien’s newest card game.

After navigating her way through love and back-stabbing in the hoity-toity world of Regency Solitaire, Bella is ready for the next chapter of her charmed life. She is now married to Henry and wanting to take over some of the responsibility of running Edgerton, including throwing parties and designing the perfect garden. But everything gets flipped upside-down when Bella’s brother-in-law returns from his journeys abroad and secretly gets married to ... a maid. That may not seem so bad today, but it’s a massive scandal that everybody is talking about across the entire country. Now it’s up to Bella to go on an epic journey to learn more about Marietta the maid and, if all goes well, uncover who her parents are.

Of course, that scandalous setup is just an excuse to play a series of solitaire-inspired card puzzles. Much like the first game, this sequel does not play by the normal solitaire rules. You won’t need to worry about matching suits or moving cards around, because the only thing that matters is counting up and down. It’s shockingly easy; if you draw an eight, then you’re looking for either a seven or a nine. This creates a fun scenario where you’re quickly creating a lengthy combo where you go from eight to nine to ten down to nine and then right back up to ten. The trick is to keep going until there are no more moves for you to make, forcing you to draw the next card and start the combo all over again.

One of the best things about this series is how different the card layout is for each stage. Forget the boring old columns you get from a standard solitaire game, because here we get everything from rows to scattered piles of cards. Many stages will have a maze component, forcing players to find keys to unlock doors. Sometimes there will be a vase in the way or a hedge you’ll need to cut down, forcing you to locate a bouquet of flowers or a pair of shears. The goal is to fully clear the table before running out of cards to draw. If you can do that, you’ll earn three stars and money to spend on upgrades to the garden.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, the game is quick to introduce a number of special abilities that will help keep your combo going. There are six powers to unlock and upgrade, all of which have a cool-down timer tied to clearing cards. For example, one of the first powers you’ll earn will randomly remove cards from the table. Another one will completely shuffle the cards on the table, while another will show you what’s hidden under the face-down cards. My favorite is the one where you’ll change any card to a wild card, allowing you to not only remove it from the table, but then later use it to extend your combo. I really like how this sequel expands on these powers and actually makes them more useful the further in you go.

One thing I really like about this series is how much content you get in each game. The story is spread across eighteen different stages that take you from Edgerton to Scotland to London and then back again. There are nearly two-hundred puzzles to complete in the game, which will take you eight to ten hours to complete. And that’s before you unlock the Collector’s Edition stages. There’s really a lot to do in this sequel, which is great news, because the grind of clearing the table of cards is both really satisfying and relaxing. After playing games like this, it’s hard to go back to regular old vanilla solitaire.

When I reviewed the original game back in 2015, one of my complaints involved the level-specific missions. I noted that there aren’t enough of them and that they repeat a lot of the same objectives over and over. Sadly, that continues to be the case in Regency Solitaire II. You’ll get a lot of objectives that involve earning a certain amount of stars or money, with the occasional task of uncovering a gossip letter or some story-driven item. I wish these optional side-quests were more original and diverse. It’s one of the only things about the game that feels half-baked.

The truth is, I had a really good time with Regency Solitaire II and have no problem recommending it. I especially liked the story with Horatio and Marietta and all of the chaos that brings to the uptight community. That said, this game feels more like an expansion to the first game than a proper sequel. Aside from the story and some tweaks to the power-ups, there isn’t much here that feels like an evolution to the formula, and that’s a little disappointing.

It's also coming after two combat-heavy card games, both of which I ended up liking more than Regency Solitaire II. The first installment had the luxury of coming out before Shadowhand and Ancient Enemy, whereas this sequel is forcing me to take a side between the two different types of solitaire. While I enjoy the slower pace of Regency Solitaire, I find myself yearning for more combat. I liked how Grey Alien’s previous two card games had both the solitaire puzzles, as well as the solitaire battles.

Even with that preference, I still loved exploring the United Kingdom in this new adventure. The different locations are fun to visit and the hand-drawn graphics continue to impress. This is a game that definitely looks the part, and that’s half the charm for a game like Regency Solitaire II. Couple the stylish visuals with genuinely fun card puzzles and you have yet another great game from one of the most consistent developers working in the games industry.