There are certain things a solo game can do if it wants to be something more than a niche form of Solitaire and Onirim does none of them. What’s weird about this is that it almost feels intentional, as if the central design goal of Onirim WAS to create a niche form of Solitaire. I suppose in that sense the game is somewhat ambitious. Without the reactive social force of other human minds to contend with much of the allure of tabletop gaming is lost, so to design within such disadvantageous boundaries is sure to bring up some difficult, yet interesting problems. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because interesting problems can yield very interesting solutions. For example, games like Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, The 7th Continent, and Mage Knight Board Game all work quite well solo. And though these games have almost no mechanical similarities, each is a mentally stimulating and thematically expressive experience in its own way. A good multiplayer game’s tension and intrigue typically manifest as natural results of its system handling goal-oriented inputs from several minds in opposition. So how could a solo game possibly hope to accomplish something along the same lines? By driving the player as deep into their own mind as possible so they start having similar conflicts take place inside their own brain. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective has nearly impossible mysteries to solve. The 7th Continent has a truly massive island to explore. Mage Knight Board Game‘s turn-by-turn hand-management is unbelievably rich with options. Each of these approaches ensures a constant state of tension inside…