4/5 ★ – unresponsiveAI's review of The Solitaire Conspiracy.

To start off, I'm a huge fan of Mike Bithell and his games; from Thomas Was Alone to Volume to Quarantine Circular. John Wick: Hex wasn't my cup of tea but I still respected what it did. I'm also a big fan of Solitaire; it's long been my favorite way to pass the time when I'm bored at work or waiting at the doctor's office etc. When I first heard that this was being made I thought it was a little strange but I was intrigued. Then, when I heard that Greg Miller from Kinda Funny was going to have a starring role, I knew I had to play it right on release day. The biggest compliment I can give to this game is that it introduces enough new and interesting mechanics to the age-old game of Solitaire that it makes things fresh. At first, I simply thought it would be a slick presentation pasted on to the same game, a la Tetris Effect, but the inclusion of the "crews" and their abilities made it more engaging than the basic mobile Solitaire I play on my phone. I played the entire game in one sitting like I usually do with the "Bithell Shorts", and I felt compelled to keep playing the entire time. One of the first things I noticed about the game from the initial reveal trailer was how stylistic everything looked. I don't know of many other Solitaire games but this one, I imagine, would have to take the prize for prettiest of the bunch. It's never too flashy or overbearing, and the visuals never get in the way of the game itself. It's all quite neat and nice-looking while still feeling "cool." The story isn't anything remarkable or groundbreaking, but the way it's presented is fun and engaging. The campy dialogue fits very well alongside the oftentimes tongue-in-cheek humor of the mission descriptions. I especially appreciated the nods to the Teks from Subsurface Circular as well as a bar inspired by Thomas Was Alone. The only goal here seems to be to give the player just enough to keep them invested in getting to the end, and it accomplishes this easily. The main gripe that I have is with the story, however, and while I don't think it was trying to attempt anything crazy, I would have appreciated maybe a couple more twists and turns along the way. The ending is interesting but other than that I never got a sense of the character I was playing as. It's strange to critique this in a Solitaire game, but seeing as how enjoyable the narratives were in Bithell's other games, it ended up feeling like it was lacking in this regard. I want to dedicate some time here to comment on the surprisingly decent performance of Greg Miller as Jim Ratio. I'm an avid listener of Kinda Funny content, so it was tough to get the idea of podcaster Greg out of my head, but once I did, I appreciated how played up the performance felt. It matched the tone and feel of the game and never felt out of place. The Solitaire Conspiracy is an engaging and fresh Solitaire game that's rounded out by neat mechanics, good FMV's, and a gorgeous stylized presentation. If you're a fan of the card game, or of Mike Bithell in general, it's definitely worth checking out.