The primary drawback of the resurgence of board and card games is that it can be tough to get a full group together. Everybody has their own schedules and needs that it can be exceedingly difficult to get a game on. Fortunately, this renaissance also brings about digital adaptations of the very best. Paizo's Pathfinder Adventures happens to be one of them. This card based title has managed to gain such a following that even those that don't follow the genre have heard of it. It was only a matter of time before this one made the jump to ones and zeros. What really brings attention to the title is the fact that RPG powerhouse, Obsidian, is at the helm.

Having never played the actual card version, and being quite the moron when it comes to cards in general, I was a bit nervous when I started up the beta. Fortunately, I was able to take part in a scripted tutorial that did a good job at showing me the ropes. After taking part in this, I at least have a basic understanding of the rules and could probably do alright at the table.

Basically, the player is given control of one or more characters. Each character has a deck, which acts as their health. The deck is, of coarse, diminished as the player draws up their hand, so careful attention to the deck and use of healing spells and items is vital. This is noted because I almost failed the tutorial mission for being too dense to realize this at first, despite the fact that it was clearly explained.

Each scenario sets up a villain to hunt down. This primary antagonist can be found in one of many places, represented by small location decks. The player's goal is to explore these spots, battling trash mobs, evading traps, and finding treasure using a variety of dice rolls that represent skill checks. As the decks are cleared, the player may encounter the foe, whose defeat allows the player to "close" the location, or they may end up closing it by other means. Once all but one of the quest locations are closed, the adversary is cornered. Finding and defeating the last enemy at this last location wins the quest. All of this would be easy enough, as one could just spam healing abilities wear down the opposition, but there is also a turn limit for each quest.

This basic overview of the rules barely scratches the surface of the depth that can be found in the game. There are so many stats to handle, items to balance and use, and strategies to learn. During my time with the beta, I found myself improving and getting a better grasp of the ins and outs of the title. Still, the helpful flashes that screamed "Hey! Hey, dingus! This is the next step of this turn" made picking everything up much easier. The interface is really well designed. The color coded and text hints here subtle but still obvious for the person looking for a hand.

Still, even with these perks, the game is hard. Were I teamed up with players with a better understanding of what options can be taken and how to use them, the day might have been won. Outside of the tutorial, however, I managed to march my duo of adventurers into numerous pit traps, throw them on the swords of goblins, and fail to pick up much needed armor. The cool thing is that even though I was bumbling through, I was still really enjoying myself. After every failure, I always found myself learning and ready to try again.

Though it was only the beta, Pathfinder Adventures is already shaping up to be an extremely detailed and deep card based adventure. When it launches at an undetermined point in the future, the title will include the initial 500 card starter for free, with expansions to be sold later. Frankly, even the starter is a heck of a lot of game and the space on my device is already reserved for the final release.