A recent entry in the excellent Solo Hero series by Renegade Game Studios, Unstoppable is a unique combat-focused card-crafting game set in a dystopian future. It is a combat deck-builder where the focus of the game is to damage enemies or purchase upgraded cards to defeat more enemies in the future. The “hook” here lies in how the cards are used. Cards are “created” in sleeves – each sleeve is filled with a player-side card and an enemy side-side card. When a new player card is bought, it is placed in a sleeve with an enemy back, creating a unique double-sided card. During the game, up to two upgrade cards can also be added between the two sides to make the card more powerful to use (and to fight.) Few cards are drawn. Instead, players must defeat the back side of a card to draw its front side into their hand. With four heroes (with slightly different starting hands) and three unique bosses to fight, there is a considerable amount of boardgame space to explore in a relatively small box. If this particular dystopian future isn’t your jam, there is a crowdfunding effort to bring about a sequel featuring Dungeon Crawler Carl, the protagonist (along with his cat) of a series of books set in a planet-wide survival dungeon televised for galactic viewers. There’s obviously a following for it as the campaign for the new card game, along with a new RPG in the setting, is currently pushing $10 million raised.

Unstoppable
Designer: John D. Clair
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Players: 1-2
Ages: 14+
Time: 30-90 min (depending on boss)
(review copy provided by publisher)

From the card-crafting genius of John D. Clair (Mystic Vale, Dead Reckoning), Unstoppable provides a very challenging tactical card game for one or two players. It is a somewhat unique deckbuilder – a game where you use cards from a deck to slowly improve the contents of said deck. Players typically use resources on played cards to obtain better cards, which then beget even better cards, etc… until some moment in the game where you change from buying cards to help you improve your deck and focus on buying cards to help you actually win the game.

Unstoppable turns this common deckbuilding mechanism on its head in three ways. First, the cards a player obtains are two-sided, but the two sides are actually separate. A new card is selected, and then slid into a sleeve already containing an enemy card. Thus, every card a player has will have a beneficial player-side, and a nasty enemy side which a player must eventually fight. This leads me to the second spin, there is no “draw card” phase. Players gain one new card from the stock each turn to add to their hand, but to gain other cards from their deck they must first “defeat” the back side of that card. This can be tricky.

The third spin comes when players spend money (a resource) to purchase card upgrades. Every card (front & back) has a cutout on the side. There is always a subset of upgrade cards available for purchase that will fit between the front and back cards to improve the card’s ability. The way the improvements are set up, every card has room for two improvements. Don’t forget about the back of the card, though. Most improvements to the front of a card will also make the back of the card tougher to fight, and thus “harder” to draw.

The basic round structure has a player drafting one new card (chosen from a specific pile, paired with an enemy back, and drawn to hand.) They then use their cards to buy upgrades and fight monsters on the field, and/or deal with the overarching boss in the game. Each round, player(s) will typically have three enemy cards they need to defeat or they will take damage. Take enough personal damage and the game is lost. In addition to fighting the three enemies “on the field” the top card of the draw deck (enemy side always face-up) is also eligible to fight. Every round, a boss marker progresses. Not only does one need to defeat the boss before time runs out, but as the boss marker progresses, most enemies also get a boost in power.

When a player has “fought through” their deck, they “level up.” Players lose any ongoing (ally) cards on the field (they are shuffled back into the player deck) but the main benefit is that they can now “draft” their card each round from a more powerful pile, progressing from pile one all the way up to 6. There are also card abilities that will let players draft from piles higher than their current level. Drafting these higher level cards is key. The higher level cards are paired with the same enemy backs. Higher level cards have stronger abilities, but the enemies on their back side are no more powerful than any other enemies. Manage to upgrade your deck (through improvements and levels) quicker than the monsters get stronger and you just might win.

There is a good breadth of variety in the game. Players choose one of four characters to start, which determines 3 unique cards that are added to their starting deck of 7 cards. The game also comes with three different bosses to fight, along with three different enemy factions to play the enemies on the card backs. The first boss is a basic slog where you just have to damage them enough to win. The second fight introduces a set of three locations that must first be fought. Defeating a location grants a new ability and once at least two locations are defeated the player can focus on killing off the boss. The final boss is even more unique. It comes with a stack of cards with a sort of choose-your-own adventure vibe that must be journeyed through to find out if the game is won or lost.

Although it’s in the solo series, Unstoppable can also be a 2 player co-op. Each player has their own deck of cards and thus their own sets of enemies to defeat. The piles of cards to draft and improvement card pool are held in common. Players can fight enemies from either side, but defeated cards always go to their owner. While enemy cards aren’t buffed, the overall game boss is typically twice as hard to defeat.

If you find the game is your jam, there is an expansion available, Tyrant’s End. It includes new player characters along with all the other “stuff” one would expect in an expansion – new cards and new upgrades (but not another boss.) A lot of the expansion cards are actually stretch goals earned during the initial crowdfunding campaign for the game.

Verdict:

I like deckbuilders in general and this is no different, but this game is brutal. I think I mentioned that. However, its difficulty has also pulled me into the game. I’ve dug through the interwebs for advice and threw myself at the game a number of times. This is notable as I typically play a few times and then set a game aside for a while. Because the tempo is so important – you need cards to defeat enemies to get more cards – it is a very tactical game. You are often forced to decide how you can survive now, trumping strategies you might prefer for a long term benefit. To this end, upgrading the level of your drafted cards is very useful – improving your hand without improving the difficulty of the enemies you fight.

I have not given the two player game a go, but I expect it might be fun to play a time or two. However, running up against the difficulty may be a harder sell for what would be a slightly longer game.

Overall, I like the game. It isn’t too expensive for what you get, and it comes in a nice smallish box so it doesn’t take up too much shelf space. I’ve played other games in the Solo Hero line from Renegade (Warp’s Edge is a great bag-builder) but this one has hooked me more than the others.

I have mixed feelings about the big Dungeon Crawler Carl crowdfunding effort to produce an RPG alongside a new themed Unstoppable game. I’m very interested in what the new version of Unstoppable will bring to the table (it looks like considerable effort has been put into differentiating player characters right from the start) but I also would love to get some more expansions for the original game – there’s plenty of room still in the box for more cards.

Thoughts from other OpinionatedGamers

Mark Jackson (5 plays): Matt is correct – this game is brutal. I’m five plays in with only a single win! My first game went smoothly – and I eked out a win. The next four games showed how vicious the system can be: one was “close but no cigar” while the other three were “hasta la vista, baby”. I do like how you can find clever ways to play your way out of trouble – but as Matt noted, that short-term tactical play can be your undoing long-term.

Love it Matt C.
Like it. Mark Jackson
Neutral
Not for me