Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Here at Meeple Mountain there’s a spectrum of opinion on the merits of Restoration Games’ Unmatched. I lean towards the positive. Partly because of the system’s easy rules, snappy fights and gorgeous production. It’s a hard game to hate.
But I’m also the ideal audience for Unmatched. I don’t play player-versus-player fighting games, as a rule. It’s the head-to-head combative nature of them; it’s just not my jam. Sure, I’ll happily block your perambulation in Tokaido, cut you off in Through the Desert and strand as many of your meeple as possible in Carcassonne. I can be ruthless as I claw towards victory, but that victory isn’t dependent on you being eliminated, just inconvenienced. Perhaps it’s less honourable than looking you square in the eyes as I punch you in the face, but a game where the entire point is to whittle you down to zero health does not my boat float.
Unmatched is the exception. With its sleek rules and sharp turns, I don’t have to invest much energy into engaging with a genre that doesn’t thrill me. The stakes are lower, which conversely means I’m more invested in enjoying the experience itself. And there’s a lot to enjoy.
Take The Witcher sets, Realms Fall and Steel & Silver. They’re solid entries to the catalogue, continued evidence of the Restoration Games team honing their skills. Each set has three characters and a double-sided board and each set continues the high production and diversity of character builds that the series is known for. Neither set is likely to change your mind if you aren’t already a fan of the series.
There’s a temptation to suggest that when it comes to Unmatched sets, the ones based on licensed intellectual property have been broadly less interesting than the copyright-free sets. To appeal to the broader audience that a property brings, characters are toned down, with more interesting oddities reserved for the Battle of Legends volumes and boxes like Slings & Arrows. There are exceptions, IP characters that feel unique in the Unmatched-verse but if you want a higher proportion of adventurous characters, it’s best to look beyond the commercial tie-ins.
I’m not sure that The Witcher sets completely avoid this, but, for me, they’re more successful at doing something interesting than other licensed sets.
The Ancient Leshen feels completely unique, both from a gameplay perspective and in its physical presence on the board. It might well be Restoration Games’ best bit of character design yet. There’s a real sense of menace about it, an unease as it disappears off the board and reappears anywhere, the feel of the forest closing in around you despite none of the trees actually moving. It’s excellent, a fantastic opponent and an interesting challenge to play as. Of course, with an unfortunate shuffle or some poor decision-making, the Ancient Leshen is about as frightening, mobile and dangerous as a rotten tree on the woodland floor.
Philippa is wonderfully tricksy, and it’s easy to give into the gleeful temptation of grasping for more and more power, burning through cards like an addict. Cards are always tight in Unmatched, and her ability to draw up to four at the end of every turn, whilst it sounds a little plain, is devastating. Her sidekick Dijkstra is no slouch either; despite not being magical, he feels like a solid partner. Managing the pair of them to deal some crushing attacks is a highlight of these sets.
The agility and increasing power of Ciri is an utter joy too. Ciri’s main power involves little source symbols, with more of these in your discard pile leading to more powerful actions. We’ve seen this before with Sinbad and the early stages could feel like a drag except that Ciri’s fleetness (and that of her sidekick Ihuarraquax) after attacking means it’s a delight to overcome Unmatched’s usual two action restrictions to move in, attack and retreat in a single turn. Biding time actually feels fun.
Sharing a very similar miniature pose, although not quite able to high five, Geralt and Eredin are a little more stolid. They’re never boring, just not as memorable. Playing as Geralt you get to seed his deck with your chosen sword, armour and potion. It’s a good, if not all that new (hello Buffy with Xander or Giles), concept that works better on paper than it does in practice, placing all the fun of the character before the game even starts. Being prepared might be sensible, but it’s a little dull. I do, however, like that there are very few Dandelion cards in Geralt’s deck, and no ‘Any’ cards, making him one of the most useless sidekicks in the series. Fitting.
Meanwhile, as Eredin you direct a bunch of Red Riders and become more powerful if they’re all defeated. Again, we’ve seen this before with Achilles and Patroclus, although here you can bring your Red Riders back as well as sacrificing them yourself, allowing you to hit hard solo and then bring in reinforcements to distract your opponent. Again, it’s a variation on a previous theme, but Restoration are clearly taking lessons from legendary designer Reiner Knizia and mining gold from incremental changes.
And then there are Yennefer and Triss. Much has been made of the fact that you choose which is the hero and which the sidekick at the start of a game, but the reality is that you’re choosing what special ability you want rather than the deck itself. The result is a deck where almost all the cards can be used by either fighter. This creates some stellar moments (it’s nice to have a sidekick without struggling for cards for each fighter) but it also means neither is especially distinct.
I’m a casual fan of The Witcher. I’ve played half of one of the games, I’m two series behind with the TV show and I’ve read the first 7 books (and enjoyed about 4 of them). It’s decent, but for me it’s not as compelling as it promises. One thing I think author Andrzej Sapkowski does well, however, is his female characters, not a sure thing in a fantasy series. Yennefer and Triss are the biggest miss for these sets. These are complex characters, distinct personalities with their own motivations, agency, strengths and weaknesses. Blending them robs them of that. The fact that they’re both drawn to the most unlikeable leading man in fantasy fiction is neither here nor there.
Whilst I appreciate that Restoration Games have effectively squeezed in another hero by combining them, I feel like these sets are a missed opportunity. Unmatched is already a system that is heavily gender biased – male characters outnumber females 2:1 – and blending them into one does a huge disservice to two strong, multilayered and flawed female characters.
Across all the characters Realms Fall and Steel & Silver introduce ongoing effects, special Scheme cards whose abilities can remain active between turns. Philippa’s card ‘Polymorphy’, for instance, increases her move value to 5, but the card is discarded if she isn’t in the same zone as an opposing fighter at the end of her turn. These are lovely additions, twisting expected playstyles to ensure you meet the requirements to hang on to the cards. A small but lovely tweak to the system.
Recently, I introduced Unmatched to my brother. The rest of the family was busy, the adults chatting, the kids busy crafting. We snuck away and I began to teach him the rules. A minute later my 4-year-old nephew joined us and started building a Brio train track around the wicker picnic basket and wooden chair we were using as improvised tables for the board and cards. Once we started playing, he began driving a train across the board, pushing Geralt and Yennefer aside. Half-way through the game, my eight-year-old son turned up and had enormous fun placing other miniatures from The Witcher boxes on the board to spectate.
It was messy and muddled, the sort of environment many gamers would shudder at. We had to repeatedly move our characters back into position and stop regularly to roll a small train around the picnic hamper and under the legs of the chair. One of the dogs ambled up to see what was happening, and only the quickest of reflexes stopped an enthusiastic tail from sweeping the whole board clean. There were frequent breaks for questions and drinks and small bladders needing emptying. It was utter chaos.
And yet.
My brother, a casual gamer at best and not at all familiar with The Witcher series, had a blast. There were moments of genuine suspense and excitement, not lessened by the hubbub around us. The game came down to the wire, both of us on 1 health. Only some last minute clever card play managed to halt my final attack and allow my brother to win. It was glorious.
That, for me, is the power of the Unmatched series, and these sets are a great addition to it.
