Ah, there you are. At last, you have escaped the dungeon, defeated the great evil, and seen daylight again. You thought that after your previous descent into Mini Rogue, you had a pretty good idea of how miserable a dungeon could be. You had seen monsters, survived traps, found treasure, and probably died at least once in a deeply undignified way to an enemy that did not look all that impressive on paper, but still managed to win thanks to some unfortunate dice rolls. But good news: this time you do not have to go back into the dungeon. Bad news: you get to enter the city instead, and it is just as bad as the dungeon, if not worse.
Mini Rogue: The Council is a standalone expansion, or rather a standalone sequel, to Mini Rogue. You can therefore play The Council without owning the base game, but if you already have Mini Rogue, you can combine both boxes for more variety, more game modes, and more ways to meet a spectacular end. In my review of the previous game, I already wrote about the compact charm of Mini Rogue: a small box filled with big dungeon misery. The Council builds on that foundation, but moves the action from the familiar dungeon to a dark city that seems rather doomed. There, a corrupt regent rules with the help of his mysterious council, while you, as an adventurer, try to make your way through the randomly constructed alleys and ultimately defeat the King’s Remains.
Just like in Mini Rogue, The Council is all about exploring, surviving, rolling dice, and constantly hoping that the game punches you in the face just a little less hard than it did last round. Players choose a character, track their health, experience, resources, and equipment on their player board, and move card by card through an ever-changing play area.
Each card brings a new encounter, enemy, reward, obstacle, or choice. The core of the previous game remains clearly recognizable: you try to manage your scarce resources wisely, make your character stronger, weigh risks, and decide whether you can handle just one more dangerous card. The answer to that last question is usually “no”, but that does not stop anyone from pressing on anyway. That is, after all, the charm of a roguelike or roguelite: you can see your downfall coming, but still decide to greet it in person, hoping you might overcome the challenge after all.
Combat is still resolved with dice, attributes, and the sometimes heartbreaking reality that statistics and luck are not the same thing. You can calculate all you want, but if the dice turn against you, you may still end up empty-handed.
By surviving encounters, you collect experience and resources that allow you to improve your character. You become stronger, gain more options, and slowly start to feel that maybe, just maybe, you stand a chance against the final boss. That feeling is important, because the game feeds on it before puncturing your hope with a rusty dagger. Ultimately, you try to reach the King’s Remains well prepared enough to survive the final confrontation.
The Council can be played entirely on its own. You do not need Mini Rogue to get started, although the base game does add extra variety and game modes when combined with it. So what if you already own Mini Rogue? With The Council, you get a different setting, different challenges, new final bosses, and new characters. One of the most notable additions is the option for one player to take on the role of the Overlord and use the city against the adventurer. This gives the game a more direct competitive layer: not only is the game trying to kill you, but now someone at the table is too. Delightful. The cards and content of The Council are designed to be combined with Mini Rogue. Owners of the original therefore get more variety in cards, characters, confrontations, and routes.
Without Mini Rogue, you can play The Council solo or with two players in a competitive variant using the Overlord module. With the base game added, cooperative games for two or three players become possible, as do competitive games with more players.
For players who enjoyed Mini Rogue, The Council seems especially interesting because it keeps the familiar core intact while placing it in a different environment and expanding it with new possibilities. The tension of revealing card after card, managing resources, and dragging yourself just a little too optimistically toward the final boss remains firmly in place. At the same time, the city, the council, and the Overlord module give the game a different flavour. Less damp dungeon air, more political backrooms. Although chances are still high that you will end up on the floor by the end.
New players can use The Council as an entry point, because it is fully playable on its own. Those who already own Mini Rogue will get even more out of this box: more combinations, more cards, more game modes, and more ways to die and start all over again.
