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Shadowhand, the solitaire RPG, finally has a release date

From the makers of Regency Solitaire!

How can you not be desperate to play this: a game which blends the casual satisfaction of clicking cards away in a game of solitaire with a tactical turn-based RPG and a story about an 18th-century highwaywoman. Oh, and it's by the developers of the wonderful Jane Austen-themed puzzle game, Regency Solitaire.

The game is Shadowhand, it finally has a release date, and it's blessedly soon: 7th December. It will launch on that date for Windows and Mac on Steam, GOG, the Humble Store and direct from the publisher Positech.

If you're wondering why I sound so excited: well, I'm a solitaire obsessive and collector of its weird video game variants, and this sounds like the spiciest solitaire mash-up since Pocket Card Jockey on 3DS blended the card game with a surprisingly high-energy take on horse-racing. As such, I've been following Shadowhand for a what feels like a long time. I saw a convincing demo early last year and at that point we were expecting it last summer. Earlier this week, I asked the designer and programmer Jake Birkett what had taken so long over email and he said, "I should have known that combining a turn-based RPG with solitaire would take ages!"

Anyway, before I further undermine my ability to claim impartiality when I review this game in a couple of weeks' time, here's the new trailer.

Watch on YouTube

I mean, look at that. Solitaire and loot in one game. Solitaire and loot.

(Solitaire fans should also check out Zach Gage's recently released Flipflop Solitaire on iOS. I'll have something on that for you soon, if I can tear myself away from it.)