Union of Gnomes review

With standout titles like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, and Shogun Showdown, there’s no shortage of compelling roguelike deckbuilders on Steam. Fundamentally, each follows a familiar structure of drafting cards, making tough decisions, and adapting to the consequences. But the genre’s adherence to similarity is what makes the arrival of Union of Gnomes such a pleasing divergence. With it’s asymmetrical combat, quirky humor, and components that give players an abundance of strategic flexibility, this isn’t your usual deckbuilder.

Intriguingly, you’re not managing an entire adventuring party. Instead, you’ll begin each run by selecting one of three hero gnomes, who each have their own deck, traits, and abilities. This hero acts as the leader of your squad, gaining experience, leveling up, and having a health pool that you must protect from being depleted. Lose your hero and run ends.

Worrying About Wiener Scarcity

The caravan that follows your hero is essentially your deck. Every gnome that you liberate adds a new card with their own distinct ability, and managing this ever-growing faction is crucial for success. Specifically, each new gnome that joins your caravan increases your resource consumption, and it turns out that they really enjoy eating wieners. Run out of sausages and your gnomes start fainting, which is usually determinantal in battle. As such, there’s a constant tension between building a powerful cavalcade and maintaining a lean, mean party of gnomes who won’t starve before the next stage.

As you’ll learn from Union’s interactive tutorial, your single hero won’t be able to win against enemies who can do things like summon new subordinates. As such, you’ll reply on the abilities of your caravan. By drawing from your wiener reserve (!), you can assault entire enemy parties, play cards without worrying about associated mana costs, or even obtain an indispensable healing. But like almost every moment-to-moment decision it affects your supply of resources.

Balance and Options

Union of Gnomes’ combat employs a positional, squad-based system. Each card’s ability often depends on use order and arrangement, much like Darkest Dungeon. Melee gnomes can attack the front ranks, ranged ones can target the rear, while advantages like criticals and status effects require you to play your gnomes is a certain order. This layer of tactical depth makes every battle a puzzle, especially when a card might pummel a foe but also shave a few hit points from your hero. But there’s the thing: the sheer number of options means that you’ll rarely feel like a victim of a merciless RNG. Recurrently, there’s a solution to most dilemmas you find yourself in.

Progression in Union of Gnomes borrows just as much from traditional RPGs as it does with deckbuilders. Your hero gnome gains experience, levels up, and can be customized through stat points and talents. This offers substantial choices beyond just deck configuration, letting you tailor your leader to your preferred playstyle. So, whether you like the gradual damage of stacking poison, augmenting your vitality, or just maximizing mana use, there’s plenty of appealing approaches in Union.

It’s a Gnome-Brainer!

The game’s personality is another highlight. With its twisted fairy-tale setting, tongue-in-cheek humor, and vibrant, cartoonish art, Union of Gnomes doesn’t take itself too seriously. Randomized events bring playful ethical dilemmas while the game itself offers a fun subversion of fairy tales, as your caravan plots their escape from Gnometanamo Bay. Meanwhile, the user interface is straightforward and accessible, with card positioning assists. As such, playing on Steam Deck is viable even if you aren’t a fan of the diminutive trackpads.

Now out of Early Access, developer Hoolignomes has listened to their audiences, balancing its resource management and moderating many of the frustrating enemy encounters. The result is a distinctive and undoubtedly enjoyable deckbuilder that carves out a nice little niche in a rather saturated genre. Even if you’re weary of formulaic entries, Union of Gnomes delivers a fresh and funny experience.

Union of Gnomes was played on PC with review code provide by the publisher.