Published on: Sun Nov 30
I finally got a board game!! My research led me to a game called Unstoppable, and Iโve been having a blast! Iโve played around 15ish games by this point, mainly solo with one duo game in there, so I just wanna give out some quick thoughts about it.
Unstoppableโs main selling point is its unique deck building / card crafting structure. Designer John D Clair has previously used the card crafting in games such as Dead Reckoning and Mystic Vale, while having never played those games myself, I believe the system shines brightly here. Thereโs a relatively strict action economy in Unstoppable, with each card having an action cost that must be available before the card can be used. Where card crafting comes in is that it costs no actions at all. You can put up to two upgradeds on any card, with certain restrictions on the upgrades available based on type of card. Cards are split into action and ally cards. Action cards are cards you put down with a singular effect for that turn, while ally cards last until your deck is reshuffled after being put down, with the ally cards effects being recharged every turn for you to use as you wish.
Another unique aspect is that there is no card draw in the game. You do gain new cards at the start of a player turn through a draft system, in which a player picks the top 3 cards of their levels core card, sleeving the card chosed to the back of a threat card. Your deck is also the enemy deck, and how you gain cards is by defeating said threat cards. These threat cards are also augmented by the upgrades you buy for your cards, which creates an interesting dynamic in which the player weighs the benefits of the upgrade while understanding the threat that card could pose on its threat side. Threat cards also scale by turn, gaining extra attack and HP as the game goes on, naturally increasing the difficulty without the use of upgrades.
The above makes for this addictive loop, building a deck, upgrading said cards, then facing them, trying to defeat them as fast as possible to maintain โmomentumโ as the developers like to call it. Youโre forced to be very aggresive, with passive play punishing players through having less cards to use.
One thing I do want to see more of with this game is additional bosses. Having only 3 bosses at base, while all relatively varied, does cause a longing for more. Despite that I still believe Unstoppable was worth the price. Itโs been fantastic having a new activity to do without any technology involved :}