In Duel at Dawn Players pit their fighters on an island into a duel with rapiers, that soon becomes a duel of wits. The game starts with players configuring their fighters by buying points in attributes and assigning one or more skills. The configuration of a fighter reflects his strengths and weaknesses. Combat is played with the Damage Deck, so players have to outsmart their opponents in order to defeat them and to achieve the mission's goal. While the rules come in English, the game per se is completely language independant and relies on icons only.