We’ve stepped out into the back garden on the debate of whether or not the Unmatched series is any good. We know that it is. Restoration Games know that is as well. Down to an individual level, there is always going be an aspect of ‘your mileage may vary’. The Unmatched games have always been about bringing a collection of characters together to interact in an arena which would never have a chance to take place even in the realms of fantasy. Previous iterations have brough us Sinbad and Medusa, Shakespeare and Little Red Riding Hood. Deft at avoiding the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or over zealous intellectual property lawyers. Newer adventures have taken us into licensed names and faces, with Witcher And TMNT games appearing. The cynic in you might wonder whether using out of print characters is just an excuse to to shamelessly release Unmatched forever and keep the money flowing, while the fans are wondering what would Alice do if she went toe to toe with Bloody Mary and is there a chance that we might see Boudica, Humpty Dumpty, or even Rob Daviau rock up to kick ass and take names. Only time will tell dear hearts.
For those unfamiliar with the Unmatched games, the aim is simple. Move around a board of connected circular spaces with you character and potential sidekicks, laying the smackdown to your opponents until your reduce everyone’s health down to zero and claim yourself as the rightful unmatched champion. Your actions come in the form of cards that you play in either attack or defence. Some of your cards will act as special moves for the character that you are playing as. At least you could argue that when Unmatched started off it was that straight forward. Over time, the intricacies of what each of the characters can do has changed, and the tactic you need to employ to win has altered through necessity.
For the game, it means that you really need to give everyone the chance to sample the characters on offer. With this volume three set, all of the characters have their own distinct main mechanics. Its quite easy for someone to end up with a play style that they simply do not get on with, while one of the other players have the best time ever as they see an instant synergy with how they would normally play a game of Unmatched.
In this particular set, we’ve got Loki, Pandora, Blackbeard and the Chupacabra, all with very distinct play styles. I mean very distinct styles as well. Its common for an asymmetric move set to mean that one character moves two spaces while the other moves three, and then wow, check out the differences going on here, while Unmatched has one character playing poker while the other is playing darts. In the case of Blackbeard, they like gold, and so their moves are based around how much gold they have around their person, but also the additional effects they can carry out can be prevented if other players decide to pay gold to Blackbeard to prevent it.
Pandora’s is about pressing your luck and deciding whether to draw from the special misery deck of cards. Draw too many cards with the feather symbol, and Pandora will end up suffering damage herself instead of triggering events caused by the misery deck. Loki uses his own Trick cards that end up in opponents hands that will then cause various effects, but mainly help to increase Loki’s mobility about the board, certainly something that the squishy god of mischief requires if they are to succeed during the game.
One thing to point out is that three of the characters barring Pandora come from a recent character design contest which is extremely impressive, especially when it comes to getting the balance right*. There’s also two new arenas to be fighting across including Santa’s Workshop and Venice. Look, I didn’t ask, but more arenas are always going to be a good thing, right?
You’ve got enough of a selection here and differentiators that will take a reasonable amount of time to learn and master, and the best thing is that these characters are adding to the available roster if you have the other sets in your collection. Even if you are considering this as your first set and jump into the Unmatched series, there’s no real barrier to entry apart from getting it on the table to appreciate the different playable characters. The only fly in the ointment with this set, as per the others, is that Unmatched is only going to be fully appreciated when you spend the time and trouble to play through everything available several times to understand which play style is going to suit you the best. So while it is a casual friendly game, I think it needs a bit of dedication to get the most out of it. There is nothing greater than smacking your opponent down to the ground and now you’ve got the chance to play with another four of them, so at this point, what is actually stopping you. Wonderful Stuff.
Find out more by visiting the link below.
https://restorationgames.com/shop/unmatched-battle-of-legends-vol-3/
(*Blackbeard Design – Brad Dilley, Chupacabra Design – Charles Peters, Loki Design – Gary McCarthy)
This first impression piece is based on the retail version of the game provided to us by the designer and publisher. We were not paid monetary compensation for this review. We give a general overview of the gameplay and so not all of the mechanical aspects of the game may be mentioned. As with most first impressions, we try to capture how we felt after playing the game a couple of times. The majority of the games that we are play are going to take a reasonable number of sessions and playthroughs to fully understand every possibility that they offer. We hope this write up gives you an idea of whether or not this game is something that you will consider playing or even add to your collection. Even if we don't like something, hopefully it helps you to decide if it is something that you should find out more about. We always suggest you check out a gameplay video to give you a better understanding of the game as it is played. If you would like to support more content on the blog then please consider backing us on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/werenotwizards
