Don Duality Review

Developer Königsborgs describes their debut title, Don Duality, as a “chaos manager” on its Steam store page, and that phrase fits it perfectly. But not always for the right reasons. A roguelike card game that gives players very little time to breathe before it throws a new event or issue at them, is Don Duality a true capo of the genre? Or should it be left sleeping with the fishes?

After a brief introduction to the character of Don Duality — who has taken over his father’s “legitimate” restaurant — and a whirlwind tour of how the game mechanics work, you’re off to see how long you can survive before the Don is arrested. There is no story here, aside from a few short cutscenes that often provide a humorous break to the constant card management mayhem. They do nothing to advance the plot, but a short scene involving the Don’s family members from the Mushroom Kingdom (who could these Italian plumbers be, I wonder?) being treated to free spaghetti is just one example of the humour and light-hearted nature of the game.

Aesthetically, Don Duality’s charming pixel art goes hand-in-hand with the amusing tone, with tiny pixelated gangsters and the Don himself plotting nefarious deeds on the lower portion of the screen, whilst the legitimate restaurant and staff appear above. It’s a shame that the wide variety of character portraits seen when recruiting new mobsters or workers don’t translate to the animated characters seen going about their tasks. The photos of potential recruits are all sorts of crazy-haired, wild-eyed individuals, so it was disappointing to see generic-looking sprites appear in their place. The game does look good, though, the simple 2D cross-section of your business is pleasing to look at, and the clean user interface helps keep the menu clutter to a minimum when watching your minions scamper about.

The music is enjoyable enough, although some tracks feel a bit “doctor’s waiting room” kind of generic. The little chirps and unintelligible babble that come from the characters are very endearing, though, reminding me surprisingly of the Worms franchise, or even The Sims.

Don Duality is, for the most part, a game of chance. Cards are dealt into your hand for a maximum of five at a time. These are randomised and can range from positive things such as sending your goons out on a hit to collect cash, upgrading your kitchen to be able to add more expensive items to the menu, or hiring a new member of staff. You have the option to use a card — providing you have the coin for it — or send it to the discard pile to be reshuffled into the deck later on.

Income is split into two: regular coins — earned from serving customers upstairs in the restaurant — and gray cash — money collected by sending your mobsters out on illegal ventures. Whilst I found it easy enough to earn money illegally, being able to turn a profit for the restaurant felt nigh on impossible. One particular negative card (the IOU) absolutely crippled me each time it was played, as the increased cost of the regular, golden coins meant I could never afford to upgrade my legitimate business, often ending in disaster for that particular run.

It’s completely manic for such a simple gameplay loop, and it’s very easy to get caught off guard by a random police inspection or a staff member quitting out of the blue. This often left me in an unwinnable situation, where I wasn’t earning money at a fast enough rate to be able to use any of the cards, and when a negative card was stuck in my inventory, ramping up the police raid meter at an alarming rate, I knew it was basically game over. You do have a potential second chance should Don Duality end up in front of a judge, spinning a slot machine to alter the odds of getting off scot-free. Get lucky, and you carry on (although there were times when I immediately ended up back in court, as the police raid bar doesn’t decrease if you’re found innocent), but if you’re convicted, then that run is over. It was often frustrating to have a run that was going well end due to a bad spin of the slots. Don’t gamble kids, you never win.

Several parts of the game are not explained very well — if at all — and whilst things like opening up the city map to select a new area to control by ousting which of the three enemy gangs controls it, other areas left me dumbstruck. One illegal mission card's reward simply states “20%”. 20% of what? Each mission also has penalties, but these are never explained. Are they downsides to completing the mission? Or are they only if the mission is failed? There is no indication or pop-up to display if a mission was successful or not, leading to a lot of unnecessary confusion. Thankfully, territories you control are carried across to each new run, so despite me not knowing what was going on half the time, as well as having a playthrough cut drastically short due to not being able to earn any money, at least there was a slight sense of progression each time.

In closing, Don Duality is just as frustratingly confusing as it is charming and easy to jump into. Its simple gameplay loop is, admittedly, addictive; however, the lack of explanation for so much of what is happening, and the odds that are consistently and unfairly stacked against you, means that many players may give up on the game before they’re able to successfully manage a business whilst keeping the law at bay. I know I was unable to do it in the hours I’ve put in so far, but there was always that oh-so-addictive sense of “Oh, I’ll get it next time!” before I jumped into another playthrough.