Publisher: Altema Games

Number of Players: 1

Play time: 15-30mins+

Age Guide: 13+

Type: Survival

Mechanisms: Card Drawing; Dice Rolling; Press Your Luck; Roleplaying

[DISCLAIMER: This is a preview/review of a game in prototype form. Components and game play may change between now and final release. Tabletop Tribe were NOT paid for this preview!]

Back in the 80s when I was a novice geek, a solo board game was cause for excitement. No longer did I have to bribe or coerce friends and family to fuel my constant gaming need.

Dungeonquest, Space Hulk and Advanced Heroquest were my preferred solo fixes for my addiction. Even the relatively lacklustre Chainsaw Warrior saw some table time, after all, it was actually designed for solo play rather than being an “antisocial add-on” to a multiplayer game.

So I was keen to try out Unbroken, a game sent to me in prototype form by designer Artem Safarov, where you’re the sole survivor of a band of unlucky adventurers. Ambushed by dungeon denizens and with your companions massacred ,you’ve been robbed of your belongings and left for dead.

Big mistake on their part. As well as seeking a way out, you’re also keen to avenge your murdered friends.

Overview

I actually found echoes of Chainsaw Warrior in Unbroken. Both solo games are primarily card-driven races against the clock, where survival is your chief concern.

But whilst Chainsaw Warrior disappointed with a fairly clunky and sprawling implementation, Unbroken is compact, streamlined and with a tidy game length that encourages repeat play.

When I say “compact”, I mean it. The prototype arrived in a relatively small format box, and the meat of the game is just 88 Encounter cards. There are also 10 Condition cards and 24 Skill cards, two dozen large format Monster cards, 4 character cards, 7 weapon cards and the usual smattering of game play pieces (a D6, wooden cubes) and reference cards.

“Large format” isn’t an understatement for the monster cards either at around three times the size of the encounter cards. At first I thought this a little excessive — I mean why not just have them standard size and keep the game more pocket-sized and travel-friendly?

But once you start playing their size makes sense, and not just to accommodate the stats, special abilities and stonking artwork.

The fact is, unlike most dungeon crawls, you’re not carving your way with ease through hordes of critters. In Unbroken you’ll face just four foes over as many levels, so the monster-killing becomes that much more personal and merits that suitably imposing piece of cardboard.

In fact the character cards are smaller than the supersized Monster cards, which adds to the feeling of being mostly outclassed and outgunned by the enemy. There are four characters to choose from, all of whom play differently due to the trio of unique special abilities they each possess.

There’s a combat-focused Brawler, a stealthy Sneak, a Hunter that excels in scavenging and a Sage who creates her edge through knowledge. I played with each one, and they all seemed well balanced with no “ace” that you’ll always reach for.

In fact the whole game breathes balance — in all my plays it went down to the wire, barring one game when I foolishly took too many chances early on and fell pretty much at the first hurdle/monster.

Considering the variety of Encounter and Monster draws possible that’s no mean feat.

Gameplay

Each game you’ll spend most of your turns drawing a couple of Encounter cards, choosing one to resolve and then rinsing and repeating until you face that level’s Monster.

Sure, there are a few basic actions you can take as many times as you like, along with a limited amount of special player actions (dependent on the level you’re on), but the meat of the game is the Encounter deck.

On paper this doesn’t sound like much, and I have to admit that on my first play through, having mostly played the old classics and modern ‘solo-playable’ games like Elder Sign, I spent the first few turns of the game thinking “Is this it?”.

However, you soon discover as you play more that the decisions the cards give you are more pivotal in deciding your fate than you might think.

Most cards give you the option of converting certain types of Effort or Resource into other types, usually costing you a certain amount of Time in the process. All this is kept track of via cubes on a handy reference card.

You also have the option of simply spending Time to Rest in order to regain Effort — and you’ll need your energy when it comes to the inevitable showdown come the end of the level.

That end-of-level ‘boss’ can show up in one of two ways: either you choose to face it when you feel you’re strong/equipped enough, or you run out of time and it ambushes you, usually triggering a nasty effect listed on the Monster card.

You can spend varying amounts of Cunning (a Resource) and Time (depending on the level) to scout out the Monster ahead of time in order to properly prepare for it, even to gain Resources enough to simply Sneak past it to avoid conflict altogether (unless it’s the final Level 4 monster — like it or not you’ll have to face the worst of the bunch!)

Whether you scout the Monster, decide to face it blind, or get ambushed, you’ll roll a die to decide which one of the six bad guys/gals for that level you will face, which means it’s highly unlikely that any two games will have the same combination of foes.

When it comes to Combat, your own attacks will be dictated by the weapon you’re holding (or your bare hands if you haven’t managed to craft anything better with your Resources) and the amount of Effort you have to spare.

Bigger attacks that inflict more damage or punch through armour require more or different types of Effort. If you have the necessary Effort available then your attack will succeed automatically.

For the Monster’s attack you’ll roll a die and consult the Monster card to see how much damage they inflict or what nasty effect their attack might cause. Damage inflicted lowers the amount of Effort you have to spare, but might also cause the loss of Resources or force you to draw a Condition card which can effect you for the rest of combat and the entirety of the next level.

Run out of effort and you’re dead meat. Kill the Monster and you’ll gain a reward of Effort/Resources/Time/All three and a choice between two Skill cards drawn from the top of that deck. If you chose to Sneak past the Monster before combat began, you get nothing, but at least you’re in one piece and have saved a lot of Effort.

Finally, before the next level starts you’ll need to Rest and eat, costing you one food per level. If you don’t have enough food you’ll lose Effort through hunger. No effort left? You’ll starve to death. If you make it through all four levels (including resting and eating after your final showdown!) you’ve beaten the game and can add up your remaining Resources and Effort to give you a score to try and beat next time, or give a friend a target to aim for.

Final Thoughts

As I said at the start, it took me a few turns to get with the game’s simplicity of Encounter card drawing, but once you get into the swing of it, this leads to pretty blisteringly fast game play that surges your character on from level to level.

The game has the palpable sense of danger you get from Dungeonquest, without that annoyance of a card draw saying “Oh you rolled a one? You’re dead.”

You can still die pretty quickly if you do something dumb or are in too much of a hurry (or both) but the blind luck in the game is kept to the wandering Monster generation/attack rather than punishing you during the exploration phase.

There’s a good deal of randomness in terms of card draws, but of course that’s a good thing for repeat plays. Given the large deck of Encounter cards (and I can definitely see more of these being released at a future date) and the possible combinations of Monsters means it’s pretty much impossible two games will ever be alike, even if you play the same character each time.

If I had one criticism it would be that I’d like to see a little flavour text added to Encounter cards, so you feel they’re telling more of a story with each card turn, but that’s a minor complaint. After all, we’re gamers, so we’re not short on imagination, right?

As a side note it’s also refreshing to see a Kickstarter campaign that isn’t dripping with Exclusives. All the stretch goals are aimed at increasing the quality of components, adding extra artwork, cards or digital content, and everyone will get it. It’s what Kickstarter should be about.

At the time of writing there’s still a couple of days of the campaign left to run, so if you like what you’ve read about Unbroken, then get yourself over to the Kickstarter page and pledge just $29 for the core set.

For the amount of game play provided on those lonely nights when there’s nothing on TV and you can’t get to your local gaming group, it’s an absolute bargain and I can’t wait to see what polish is added to the final product.

Pros:

Small format portable box.

Cool artwork.

Brisk, engaging game play.

Palpable tension.

Great replayability.

A unique mashup of the Dungeon-Crawl and Survival genres.

Cons (baring in mind that this is a prototype, so things may change):

A little more flavour text wouldn’t go amiss.

A card-stock Resource/Effort tracker with sliders would be nice.

Due to the large format of some of the cards, the game isn’t quite as economical with table space as it might be should you want it as a travel game.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.