I love “Warp’s Edge”, one of the many games you can find in the Renegade Games Solo Hero Series. While some might consider solo games a lonely venture, it’s easy to gather a friend or loved one and work on the game together. These aren’t your grandparents’ jigsaw puzzles though! “Unstoppable” will task either one or two players against one of three bosses, each with their own style and difficulty. Before we begin I want to thank Renegade Games for providing me a copy for review purposes.
1-2 Players, Ages 14+, Average Play Time = 45-75 Minutes
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Important Concepts
“Unstoppable”, on its surface, seems like a deck-building game (and it is). That said, I think it’s important to go over a couple of things before proceeding with the overview.
In this game, cards are sleeved. In fact, when you open the box for the first time, you’ll have some assembling to do. The instructions will have you putting some of the cards back to back and inserted into sleeves…it’s important that this be done correctly for balance reasons. Similar to “Mystic Vale” you’ll be able to slide upgrades into these sleeved cards to make them more powerful as you play.
These cards, being back to back, have two sides: core and threat. Core is good. Threat is bad. Interestingly, the enemies you face every round (threats) will come from your personal deck, and the cards you use to defeat them (core) will ALSO come from the same deck. It may take some getting used to, so be patient with yourself as you learn the game!
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Overview
One or two players will choose one of four hero / portrait cards and put their starting 10-card deck together. The hero they pick will influence some of the starting cards. Players also choose one of three bosses, as well as setup the purchase / upgrade row, the core row, and everything else. You can find specifics in the digital rulebook…there’s no need to aggravate my tendonitis unnecessarily.
Every round, the player(s) will perform upkeep, draft, do stuff in the main phase, take damage in the threat phase, and cleanup…in that order.
This being a deck builder, you will be getting stronger over time…that’s where drafting comes in. Within the draft area exists the core row which is made up 6 piles of cards. These piles are sorted into levels…the Level 1 pile goes on the far right, then 2, 3, 4, all the way to the Level 6 pile. Depending on where a your level disks sit, you’ll be able to grab from particular piles. These disks start at the Level 1 pile so your card selections will be more powerful the more you move those disks to the right. New cards get added to your hand, core side up.
During the main phase, you’ll be using money to buy upgrades from a separate row that you can side into the cards in front of you. You can also play cards to perform attacks on threats that are in front of you (some are dealt from your deck during setup for Round 1). Ally cards stay in play but can only be used once per round while tactic cards are used once and discarded. Playing cards costs Action Points and typically, players get 3 per round (unless they get bonus actions from other effects). You can do as much as you want, provided you have the money and AP to do it.
During the threat phase, undefeated enemies attack you. You lose armor first, then health. 0 health is game over, so try not to let that happen! Enemies get stronger as the round marker moves up the track, so once weak threats may pose a…well, more serious threat. Some threat cards have skulls on them and their value is determined by the skull value on the round tracker.
Cleanup is…cleanup. There’s stuff to do. The main takeaway is that the round tracker moves forward and sometimes, you’ll get to do things like refresh the upgrade row or pay to thin your deck. The round tracker has a final space which results in an immediate loss!
When your deck is empty in certain situations, you’ll be able to level up, moving your disks to the right above the core row. However, you’ll have to discard your allies and pretty much everything else to reset.
You’ll keep playing until either the boss, or you, is defeated.
Note: It’s not easy to summarize a 19 page rulebook in a couple of paragraphs, but hopefully this gives you an idea as to what to expect.
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Review
Renegade Games has been on fire lately…I don’t think I’ve played a game they published that I didn’t like. I’m particularly fond of the “The Search For” series, but in this case, “Unstoppable” had a similar feel to “Warp’s Edge” but with “Mystic Vale” card building system. This doesn’t surprise me, as John D. Clair, the developer of “Mystic Vale”, also developed “Unstoppable”. I have to say, this card sleeving / building system he implements in his games is rather unique and fun.
Unlike “Warp’s Edge” however, I typically didn’t do damage to the boss directly. In most cases, you’ll have to do a special kind of boss damage that can only be found on certain cards. Bosses will have specific instructions on each of their respective sheets. As always, I love games with unique heroes and villains alike…it’s fun to see what combos work.
Factions served to mix things up a bit too. Like “Star Realms”, “Hero Realms”, and “Dune: Imperium”, the game encourages you to find and acquire cards belonging to the same faction for synergy purposes. It’s one of the ways to stay ahead of the ever-growing difficulty curve. One faction utilizes bargain, for example, that requires you to pay to use an ability on a card discounted by the number of matching symbols you have in your hand / play area.
Two player play turned out to be a lot of fun. Aidalee loved our two player session and smiled almost right away, commenting “yeah, I can see the chaining in this”. In co-op, both players team up and help each other with their own individual threats. Since defeating threats is your primary way of drawing new cards, it felt good to contribute to my partner’s ever-growing hand. Most of everything done in the various phases are done simultaneously but of course, more players means more decision paralysis. Plan your game night schedules accordingly!
While winning is the primary goal, you can earn “points” to see how well you did. I personally don’t have anything to prove, so I didn’t bother with this feature. Thankfully, it’s just an optional bonus. It would have been cool if these points could be spent as permanent progression currency somehow…giving you an edge in your future games. I’m a big fan of rogue-lites over rogue-likes for that reason.
While not in the rulebook, you can make the game more casual outside of the three inherent settings (normal, hard, and expert). Keep in mind I’m a big house-rule kinda gamer and some people absolutely hate that, but you COULD, if you are so inclined, skip moving your round tracker at the end of the first round so that you have more time to build up. The creative, I’m sure, will come up with other variants over time. You can also ignore threat upgrades’ health boosts, as any attack or defense listed on an upgrade on the core side also effects the threat side. I highly recommend this…the game is brutal on Normal difficulty and needs an Easy mode.
The $60 price tag is a bit steep for me ($45 on Amazon), but I’m a bit of an old fart who likes a good deal so take my complaints with a grain of salt. For a game featuring primarily cards, I expected something like $40-45. I get it…it’s 2025 and the economy / price for everything is crazy right now. I highly recommend demoing this if possible at your local FLGS. Keep an eye on Tabletop Simulator, sometimes you’ll find demo builds there (if there isn’t one already).
Some looking for a tried and true deck-builder may be slightly disappointed, since cards are obtained through defeating threats rather than bulk purchasing. Don’t get me wrong…”Unstoppable” is a deck builder, but its mechanisms make it a different KIND of the deck builder. This may take first-time players by surprise and deter those looking for a classic deck builder. It heavily encourages players to TIME their plays, as leveling up resets nearly everything on a player’s tableau. Planning for that level up and making sure you have enough cards in hand to deal with the next set of threats is paramount.
On that note, “Unstoppable” is unique and engaging. It took me a little time to put it all together (physically and mentally), but it was worth the journey. It gets slightly same-y with repeated plays, which is probably why there already exists the “Tyrant Expansion”. I hope to get a copy of that down the line, as more content for this base game would certainly be welcome.
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Score: 9/10 (Outstanding)
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Unstoppable Store Page: https://renegadegamestudios.com/unstoppable/
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3IydNNL
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