“A cooperative survival game in the bizarre and wondrous reaches of deep space.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/290484/unsettled
Playing Time: 60-90 Minutes
Weight: Medium
Genre: Story-Driven Cooperative
Designer: Tom Mattson, Mark Neidlinger
Players: 2-4
In Unsettled, players crash land onto an alien planet, where they must work together in order to find their way off. The mechanics are relatively simple – players can explore and scan, mostly, to find what they need to get off that rock – but the physics of each planet is different, and therefore the puzzle on each planet you find yourself on is completely different. Left relatively unsaid is that it’s pretty weird how your crew keeps crashing into planets.
One thing that really stands out in Unsettled is the writing. Normally, writing in board games is either very dry or very generic. Unsettled is… funny – unafraid to be cheeky and even point out the core absurdities of the game’s central premise. Which is important — a mission-based scenario system works so much better if players are eagerly looking forward to unlocking the next story nugget in the narrative.
Beyond that, the impressive thing about Unsettled is how differently each planet plays. I will confess that the replayability of each planet is somewhat limited – once you know the schtick of the planet and you’ve heard the big story beats before, they lose their punch – but there are 11 planets you can acquire and we’ve replayed the game tons and feel we are nowhere near exhausting even the planets we have visited. If you have a group that likes fun and silly cooperative experiences, this has a good chance to be a hit.
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