Sanctuary Saga is a cooperative Deckbuilding Game themed after 16-bit '90s JRPG. One to four players take the role of Guild Leaders, who eke out an existence in a new, fertile, hostile world, and must work together so their city state may survive in the hostile land.
While most deckbuilding games have the players square off against each other for the most points, here players must work together to complete a Narrative, whose events are dictated by a Narrative deck. While players act in a turn-based fashion, cards with a "Harmony" ability allow players to help each other out when it isn't their turn.
This Game Provides Examples Of:
- Boring, but Practical: The Guard and Investor cards, which give the player 2 Combat and 2 Gold, respectively. This makes them effectively upgrades over the starter cards, but they will be the backbone of your deck.
- Breather Episode: Rarely, the narrative events are purely positive, such as investors providing financial aid to your settlement.
- Deck Clogger: The game has squabble and grudge cards obtained from some events. Squabbles are removed once encountered, while grudge cards remain in the deck. Squabble cards are also obtained if a player recruits from outside their own guild.
- Dem Bones: The Broken Skeletons are a low-tier mook faced in the early game. The Cursed Orchard plot event has them shambling out of the orchard to attack the city until their source is dealt with.
- From Bad to Worse: The events that befall the Sanctuary get worse and worse as the game goes on, from dealing with hungry wolves and the slight dangers of construction to undead forces and collapsing border walls.
- Mook: The Broken Skeletons and the Grunts, so insignificant that the player doesn't even get anything for defeating them.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The various guilds do not perfectly get along: if a player hires a citizen from the City Center, or a professional from a guild that is not their own, they will be slapped with a Squabble card, which will act as a one-time dead draw in their deck. Funnily enough, professionals hired from the Council Chamber do not cause Squabbles - effectively, the councilpersons are the only ones not bickering.
- Savage Wolves: Lean Wolves are a minor early-game threat.
- Starter Equipment: Players begin with six Gold cards, three Specialization cards, and one Footman card.
- Support Party Member: The Missionary guild's cards focus on preventing Squabbles between other guilds (and themselves). Their specialized resource is, in fact, literally called "Support". The Volunteer action uses 2 support to heal the City.
- Thieves' Guild: One of the playable factions are the Thieves.
- Timed Mission: Many narrative cards are on timers, with a negative effect if they aren't handled.
- You Require More Vespene Gas: In addition to being stylistically patterned after 16-bit JRPGs, the game is also patterned in concept after 4X strategy games. To that extent, there are 9 resources to manage in the game, with the player's starting guild specializing in one of six Skills.
