One person’s inefficient use of space, is another person’s well organise and user friendly set-up, and the trays pack away in a very organised way, hence the box shape.
@@TheBrokenMeeple you make a fair point, but only marginally before usability becomes an issue. I guess if space is an issue for a player, don’t buy. Otherwise enjoy the great tray designs and easy of unpacking / set-up.
@@ryanstandlee7305 If the trays have to be the same size then at least make them more useful. Was there nothing else they could have utilised the tray for? Hell it doesn't even need its own tray, you could have saved money and space by not having the tray and just using literally a card.
Nice review. I rate it a 10/10 and love an optimisation puzzle and this is one of the best. I think you are wrong about the lack of creativity. You cast it as very different from spirit island. But spirit island has plenty of quiet uneventful turns especially early on. Deeper into the game you've attained more powers for more options to solving the repeated puzzle of ravage build explore. Unsettled starts slow. But it offers you the chance to investigate and gain insight. You find one off boons that let you interact positively with the locations and you gain special abilities. These abilities offer huge creativity. 50-75% into the game were are triggering 1-3 free actions every turn of the game. On top of that you have 2 cube actions. Luna move. Resources being added and your own movement. In that 50% plus phase there is so much freedom to work creatively to work out how to solve the objective with more than just move one space. I think the game offers a lot of creativity. I also don't think it's fair to throw the difficulty of the game as a negative. Firstly their is varying difficulty. So just play easy mode like you can with most coops. Secondly we've e won most of our first plays without quarterbacking the game. The game gives you very powerful extra abilities and we've found gaining lots of them early means you can snowball in power at the end and make up for lost time easy enough. So maybe it's now as easy as a forbidden island. But you aren't guaranteed to have a loss first game and you aren't guaranteed to quarterback the game as the owner when there are new players. Completely fair rating though as you highlighted how this game would fit really well with puzzle optimisers. Really appreciate when a reviewer can say I thought X but that objectively this game operates in this way and you can see it being enjoyed by a lot of people.
My top solo game is Unsettled. Love the puzzle, beautiful game, many small actions (and more than 3 dice, e.g. Luna and special abilities too), immersive exploration theme (great playlist on Spotify), winning or losing barely matters other than learning to play better as the game time is pure joy.
If you are triggering 1-3 free actions EVERY turn I don't think you've playing it correctly. You do know that all of those breakthrough cards cost a resource to use every time right? That's why it has the resouce with "-" symbol on it? In one game I did make that mistake and forget to use resources, that one felt exactly as you described, but once I discovered it needed resources to constantly power it, the free actions stopped being used a lot. With that in mind, I still don't see the creativity here for solving the main puzzle. You know where to go, what you need, so get on and do it and hope that the random gods don't hose you in terms of location layouts. Again you mention having lots of high power abilities. There's no way you are collecting enough resources to power those abilities every turn, especially in something like Planet 2 which requires you to constantly spend resources on every objective.
@@TheBrokenMeeple 1-3 actiions from about 50-75% into the game. Not the start. The game has a timer of 30 time. You lose a few of that to time node symbols. So I'd say from turn 13-18 we normally would use a breakthrough each turn and it really isn't uncommon to use more than one. How often do you use them? Because to not use them sounds like the game is going to be really tough late on. I generally find maybe the first 60-70% of the game if doing the first objective. And the next two we can blitz with only 30% of the game remaining. Yes I know to spend resources. Early game you gain insight and investigate. See the lay of the land and probably have to find something as part of the first objective. During that time I'm not gaining a lot of resources unless the objective needs me too. Then maybe our two player game has us each with 2-3 special powers. Then it's well worth me spending a cube a turn to gain a type of resource. Some powers let you gain more stuff. Spend a red to gain a green from all adjacent locations. Spend a blue to get a free move towards Luna ignoring node edges. Hop two spaces. The abilities they can give you are intentionally game breaking and so we are more than happy to spend a focus cube gaining two green. Maybe I use one now. One can be used by the next player. Maybe they gain two blue. So they use a blue and the green I got last turn. Next player gains two red etc and uses the red. Now we have a red and blue for the next player. It doesn't take a lot to use these amazing powers. Also it's not unlikely that through the game things give you a few resources. Maybe an object you found means you gain a green when you walk onto that location. A thing you found fully charges your power on discard.
@mikehowes3980 Certainly on the first 3 planets there are very few "auto resource generating" freebies given to you. Planet 2 requires you to spend a ton of resources for objectives and if you get unlucky with rolling randomly for how many Luna finds, that just makes life harder. Calling them upgraded actions seems more fitting given that you're always using a cube to get the resources to use them in the first place.
@@TheBrokenMeeple you also have to consider that you are using one action to fire off two actions. It seems bad to use a focus cube. But what you are actually doing is saying we'll I don't really ever need the bottom and bottom left action in my board. So I can choose the top 3. After early game I won't use top left. So mid game am I using my two focus cubes on investigating or extra movement. If neither of them work then you can invest in using a cube to gain you two resources ideally. You are using 1 cube to gain two other actions. That's not a bad trade off at all. In fact the abilities on the cards can often be better than anything else you can do in the game. We've never had a problem thinking what a waste it is to collect resources to power cards.
Great review Luke, I appreciate your opinion and perspective. I also appreciate that you are critical of games and give very clear rationales for your conclusions.
I don’t want to pinpoint each of your “bad” game elements, and I know how you generally feel with very tight games (Barrage, Lorenzo il Magnifico to name a few 😁), but the premise you’re on an unknown planet and you want to explore it but have no time is completely wrong. You’re not “explorers” equipped for mapping new planets. You are scientists crash landed on an unknown, deadly planet, with all other crew members dead and you’re on a timer to escape a planet before it kills you or you lose all your hope to survive. And you’re definitely not prepared for such a task. This is not ISSSS Vanguard. This is average guy gets stranded on a far away land with no food, no resources, no training and they have to find a way get back home as soon as possible. You HAVE to explore to find a way out, but don’t have time to hang around.
Interesting. I see how you feel about this game being restrictive and all, but we have loved every play of it. Maybe because I've played mostly with the same people every time so they also know what to expect?
I LOVE this game! It is the best cooperation game I’ve ever played. Surpasses Pandemic, and Horrified. If we happen to surpass the endurance mark, I keep playing, annotating how many more endurances were needed to complete the scenario. What is not emphasized enough in this review, is how you build up comprehension and that gives you breakthroughs, which gives you abilities to overcome and surpass many restrictions and avoid paying time units. The more you play this game, the. More you realize what you need to do at the beginning, and the time and endurance constraints create a great tension to complete the task before your time runs out! The stories are so fun, and I have had memorable experiences with the 3 different people I’ve played with. The inserts maximize playtime and reduce setup time - they are brilliant! My only 2 cons are, sometime the scenario can exceed 1.5 hrs by a lot…and setting up a new planet for the first time can and time and requires more comprehension of the new rule set.
The breakthroughs are mentioned enough, free actions are important though it requires you have a ton of resources to trigger those actions regularly which then requires you to spend actions to harvest them. Once you've played each planet objective set once, you know how to easily beat it the next time providing the RNG gods don't deal you a horrific location set up.
I played a few planets and had so much fun. It’s super inventive and funny. We played it in a 2 player setup and really got into a flow. Not sure we will ever be able to see it all but the planets have such different vibes and I for one really like gameplay at its core. It helps that I am a huge Sci Fi fan so there’s definitely that
The planets feeling different is the key plus point here, but once you're over that initial "wonder" period, it then revolves back to the "path of one" puzzle.
It's a shame that you don't enjoy this game anywhere near as much as I do. That is the nature of board games: the subjective merits and demerits of various elements that create the whole.Ironically, I did not back this on KS and, instead, purchased the core and all nine planets after the fact. As a graphic designer I absolutely love the design and packaging. The set up and tear down is super fast. The optimisation puzzle absolutely butters my parsnips in spite of not being a notable mechanic in many of my games, and none to the degree that it applies to this game. Mechanically, I don't think it is particularly complex but I agree that the interaction and optimisation of players turns is where the complexity lays. To that end the rule book is only adequate and, fortunately, Orange Nebula have some very nifty videos here on YT to help you come to grips with the game. For me this is a game group co-operative game for more players and the designers narrative thread that runs through the scenario planets is wonderfully humorous in that "Marvin" (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe) style. I absolutely see the potential for criticism in such a challenging design, but I love it for all the same reasons.
Wow that's rough. I can't imagine going for the Super Nova pledge to then conclude it was an average game at best. Teaches me to take the whole crowdfunding thing with even MORE caution. This one was expensive!
@@TheBrokenMeeple There's Sooooooo much cognitive dissonance out there! "If I spent this much money, it MUST be a 9." People can't deal with the discomfort of having made bad decisions. Glad you have enough experience and perspective to be able to offer your viewership an honest opinion. Thanks, Luke!
Dan Ariely actually published a study about this effect "Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions: Consumers May Get What They Pay For". Same with Plassmann et al. is "Marketing Actions Can Modulate Neural Representations of Experienced Pleasantness." The relationship between price and enjoyment is actually a well known effect! Must be great not to beholden to it!
@@TableTopTroubadour I'm sure some people will respond this way, but I know don't. When I've spent a lot of money on a game I tend to be more critical and experience buyer's remorse more easily. When I pick up a game for a super price I might rate it more lightly than I would otherwise. That's just me. People will respond differently depending on their personality and since we don't know the reviewers all we can do is consider the logic of what their argument and if it resonates with us. Real life examples: I bought a used copy of Quest for El Dorado with pocket money and I think it's the best racing game I've ever played. Better than Heat, Thunder Road, Long Shot, Flamme Rouge, maybe not as good as Cubitos, but close. At the time when I bought Tapestry, it was the most I had ever spent on a single game and I regretted it on my second play and was happy to take a loss when I managed to sell it.
@@jacobjslee The many fascinating studies that have made cognitive dissonance a social science fact are pretty undeniable, but I agree -- I try to be as wise to my own reaction as I can. BGG ratings of massive KS projects are, however (IMHO) evidence of the phenomenon. More $$ = higher rating. And I've owned and/or played many of these games, and found them to be as highly variable in their quality as $40 games.
I’m quite sure that if you had someone who knows how the game / planets mechanism work guide you into the game with the right mindset, you’d appreciate it more. A tutorial scenario could make the difference for a lot of people. Knowing that many people manage to succeed in their first attempt at a task means that it doesn’t require that much prior knowledge or stars alignments. It’s just a matter of optimising your two actions (plus Luna, plus free actions from anomalies and breakthroughs) per character towards the step of the task you’re on at any given moment, manipulating the planet’s quirks to your own advantage. It does pay off replaying the same planet over and over, just like it pays to replay the same gearloc in Too Many Bones. There is more than one way to fulfil each task once you know how to use the planet to your advantage
Solo is still played with 2 characters. Does it ring any bell? Why anyone would want to group together constantly when you’re on a timer to survive? You need to find a way home as soon as possible. You just need to group when actions require you to, in which case you need to use the planet features to traverse nodes quickly. Managing all your characters in an optimal way is part of the process. Having two characters and moving them around like it were just one with double amount of action cubes is not going to work. Again, it just feels like a misguided learning of the game put you in a sub-optimal spot to “understand” how to approach its puzzle nature
@@Feldingor It's not a misguided learning, it's just illustrating that the planet is a "one path to solve" affair. Once you know Planet 2 needs both characters to stay at each corner and then work their way back to middle, that's the puzzle solved. I know perfectly well what the mindset is for the game, it's just not one that gives enjoyment, strangely it brought back mage knight vibes of "here's the puzzle with the theme draped on it".
Yeah, I was starting to see the similarities with Mage Knight in your “issues” with the game well before we started discussing them 😅 Apparently you don’t like the formula “this is the puzzle, you know your goal, let’s see if you manage to get there with some random stuff happening in between”. I find it interesting and stimulating but for others it’s just boring 🤷♂️😅
@@Feldingorespecially when that random in between stuff often has the potential to be beneficial. You're actually encouraged to eat every strange plant you encounter because it has an equal chance to cripple you with poison or to give you a power to teleport three spaces with no edge effects. In fact, in one early game I taught we carefully managed the player boards to minimize distress and ended up losing on time about halfway through the mission. Just the opposite of staying on the yellow brick road, you basically have to expose yourself to the planet every chance you get in the hopes that you get something that will let you do a crazy combo to escape. In fact, the first time I taught my sons, we were nearly done with the spore place but one of them was basically trapped on the edge of the map, too far to reach the ship before we drained our last time spaces. In desperation, he drew a teleport card that allowed him just enough reach to get back to the ship in one turn and that won the game for us
I think the base game box has been designed to store 2 planets to begin with. And it is clear to me that the first perception of the game influences your thought how good/bad the game is. People who love this game usually say it is a great survival game. People who dislike the game say it is a bad exploration game as you can't do the exploration as much as you want to.
There's a ton of rule book exposition to get through and no tutorial - it's a bit of a chore when a simple tutorial mini mission would have done much more justice.
I should have researched more before I went all in. I only buy from the 2nd kickstarter campaign if it rates well after 1st gets delivered cause proper reviews. Thought ok it rates well but damn it is expensive. After it got delivered, I read the rulebook on my tablet (which was probably a mistake cause the pictures are spread across pages so things didn’t make sense), i went on bgg and posted in the rules. Mentioned that the rulebook could have been structured better and reduced. Guess i wasn't the only one. Sits on the shelf of shame.
Alright a friend wants to play this week. So shrink off. And yeh rulebook...weird dimension size that is detrimental..heaps of pages.. repeats of things...flavour text..repeating the useless avatar token hence space waste...names of stuff I can't remember cause there's no icon reference in the book and it keeps jumping. Swear with a normal size layout everything would have been covered and more clearly in half the pages. Anyways I get that the restriction was the box dimension which I kindof appreciate the setup/teardown. Anyways rant over. For such a simple sounding framework it did not need to be like this.
I love unsettled … I think it played best 2 player or solo. It’s a puzzler and unashamedly so. Great review though as you are fair as ever I have. Everything and will work my way through them all. If your not into that save your money
Hard disagree with your assessment of game play. There is plenty of room for finding very creative ways to resolve the current objective. It's certainly not a "single path" in order to win. Sure, it's an optimization puzzle so you can't just wander off willy-nilly. You have to pay attention to managing your resources (including time) as well as choosing the most effective method and time to use your abilities. The same is true of Spirit Island as well. You can play it without considering the puzzle/objectives and you will lose. In fact, you can pay attention to that and still lose. That doesn't mean there is only a "single path" for approaching Spirit Island or Unsettled. We also have not had a problem winning scenarios on first playthroughs. There is no need to know "in advance" how to proceed in order to succeed. The game definitely provides a feeling that even if you win you were on the edge of losing and whenever you lose you feel like you were this close to succeeding. There is luck involved so it is possible that you get a planet configuration or set of card draws that result in a particular playthrough being more difficult but it never feels unfair or entirely unwinnable. Lastly, this is a much better game when you have more people thinking about the problem and the team's resources/abilities because the group will come up with many more creative approaches than any single player would. In fact, I'd venture to say that your main complaints with the game stem from the fact that you generally played it as a 1-2 player experience. As far as the tray sizes/table space required, you are correct. It does take up a large amount of table space that could have been reduced by using a different method of storing some components. However, the trade-off would be that it wouldn't be as quick to set up or put away the game. The trays are all designed to pull keep the components on them and act as lids for the tray below when stacked. Maybe not the trade-off everyone would make depending on their table space but the packaging design is very thoughtful for getting the game to the table easily/quickly. I get that you may not have found the game to be for you and that's OK. Just wanted to provide a different perspective that is radically different than yours. This game is easily a 7-9 depending on how much you enjoy interactive/cooperative puzzle solving.
@@TheBrokenMeeple I agree that it's possible that it is easier with more players. I haven't played at 1 or 2 so don't have a direct comparison. For me the factor that makes it "easier" with more players wasn't necessarily that you cover more ground/take more actions. Since that can increase the advancing of the time track it's a bit of a counterbalance to more players being strictly easier. In any case the thing that made it more likely we'd succeed was just more ideas/ways of looking at the problem. I can think of a couple of cases where another player came up with a wild idea I never would have thought of and it ended up working and we won the scenario. That's my main reason for feeling like the experience is better at the higher player count (3-4). Definitely not a perfect game. I just think it's better than your review gave it credit for. Not saying that your experience with the game or your opinions aren't valid. Just didn't correlate with our experience. Cheers!
Although I strongly and respectfully disagree on the basis of opinion, I’m surprised Ifound your review refreshingly honest and thorough, and thoughtful. Now I actually appreciate why there are those who actually really dislike (dare I say hate the game) or who end up puzzled (NPI) by the experience. Thanks again for these perspectives I always do enjoy them!
I have it, but I havent played it yet. I was thinking of doing it on a gathering I'll go in September, but looks like better not... Maybe play it solo once and see? But I generally dont like solo games, specially if they are collaborative; the point of that is to be surprised by the help coming your way and surprising the other players with your understanding that this particular thing you do will help them. In solo, is just you checking two sets of stuff. Have to think about it. Seems most of the comments are from people that love the game, but hey, as usual, your review is your honest review, you tell us what didnt work for you. I just hope I get to find out that I'm in the opposite camp, although seems not very probable :/
i really like vidication, i have the ancients box and unfortunately dont play it enough. the solo option in this one intrigued me. i gave it a look, read some things, sounded like it might be for me but something kept me from jumping in. next KS rolled around and and i watched some more, and the same thing happened. i want to say its for me, its pretty, its fancy, its crunchy. BUT, that one path to victory thing really bothers me so ive ultimately passed. this is aside from quite a few issues surrounding in the game on the production and logistics side. its pretty expensive for a game thats pretty much 27 succesful plays from done. at least for me
I also got this through a group pledge, and by the time it arrived, my gaming schedule and interests had changed heh. So I don't know if I'll be keeping it. But just to clarify, you're saying that every scenario has one specific way to solve it, so no randomness involved?
No that is not correct. Each scenario has one key objective, which is get in, deliver on the objectives and get out alive. There are multiple tough decisions you have to take, stick together or separate, fly in fast or be a little cautious, then as the puzzle reveals itself, the challenge is how to execute on an effective path to win. Discovery is paramount, as is learning (meaning gaining knowledge & upgrades via exploration & experimentation with what you find), this discovery & learning supports ways to win. The game variability comes from player set-up variances, map tile sequences (modular), the random upgrades you get and the tactical decisions you make along the way. It is not 'solve a puzzle' by one method, it's more of 'overcome the main challenges' thrown at you using the variable tools you have acquired along the way. The 'objective & challenge set' is altered each time you play the same planet if you choose a different scenario of the planet (typically 3 scenarios). Of course they are similar within each planet as they are driven by the planet card set (You only see a % of cards each game). But one thing @thebrokenmeeple Luke didn't major on in his review was the thematic writing. Each planet has amazing writing which is both witty, clever & thematic. If you lose you think "I know what I'd do differently next time" and you want to try again, if you win you think OMG that was close. Hope this helps. From my part I bought the Super Nova pledge, I have only played two planets so far and enjoyed the scenarios, and my friend I play with really enjoyed the experience. The question is will the variance in the planet puzzles & scenarios keep us coming back for more or get a little jaded if they don't provide variety in how you overcome them. The jury is out! Suggest you checkout the Orange Nebula Discord for player feedback.
There is certainly randomness because you have a random set of locations and you roll for what LUNA can find on each location. And you also draw breakthroughs and anomalies and opportunities at random so yeah there's still plenty of that about. And it is a "one puzzle" scenario. For example, Planet 2. You split up, go to the opposite ends, harvest resources, plant the pylons down, get more resources, then rinse repeat spending them for the remaining objectives, but NEVER return to the centre until it tells you to. You follow that lineup, you won't fail unless the RNG gods absolutely hate you. The thematic writing is barebones. You get about 8 cards in the objective set and one card with a little background. That's all the writing there is. There's no journal book, no storybook, no compendium of narrative paragraphs to look up. It's just a few cards with some bits of writing on them. Yes they are fine, but this is not a story narrative game. It's a little blurb to set the scene for each scenario and each objective you complete, but once you've read it once, that's it. Steve - you claim that there's a bunch of variety and the challenge is altered each time etc, but then you question whether the variance in each planet would keep you coming back for more? Certainly after you've completed each objective set, that's it for the planet, no reason to jump back as you'll just never fail.
Why. Why?! I have a lot to do and you ask me for 30 min? You expect me to drop Everything (noices of popcorn making in the background) sit in front of the computer (putting the popcorn in the desk) and watch this review? (noises of monching popcorn) Eyy this is the broken meeple! You won this time.
Thank you for your review Luke. As most times, I don’t agree 😂 but I always appreciate your (wrong) opinions 🤣 I also got this from a group pledge and it took forever; don’t want to be the devil’s advocate here, but the huge delay from EU/UK group pledges was all on Orange Nebula: apparently they utterly miscalculated (forgot?) the pledges from group pledges so they had to ship copies of the games from the US. On top of that, EU/UK deliveries were halted for more than a month to wait for the correction kits to arrive. It’s likely they didn’t notice the issue with not being enough copies in fulfilment hubs in the meantime, so after halting rewards delivery, they had to wait another 2 months for the game to arrive from the US. If you add this debacle to the Nature Incarnate epic mess up from last summer, it’s not been a good 9 months for crowdfunding fulfilment 😔 I was baffled to find out the boxes do not add up to fit into a Kallax cube. I may be wrong, but I thought I’ve read somewhere in the KS campaign that they were sized appropriately to fit that 33 x 33 cm space 😤
I agree with all the points you make, and it's perhaps exacerbated by the tone of the rulebook which seems to encourage you to explore. But if you do you'll soak up precious time. The rulebook is indeed a bit dense, I found the iconography and terminology unintuitive at times. Not knowing the victory conditions at the start means you just can't plan so you can do short term stuff but get completely screwed if you don't know what's coming....but then that's probably what space exploration will be like. Despite this I do enjoy the game alot, even though I think your honest opinions here are spot on (keep on doing it, much more useful than the constant praise merchants) That time marker tray is ludicrous.....
I think the people here claiming it's easily beatable either forgot that you have to spend resources to use the free actions or that they are playing 4 player which makes the game easier.... And way too long.
I love the puzzle and the punishing challenge, spend days after thinking about where I went wrong or how I could have saved the day. It is supposed to be as much about the weird and sometimes funny way the planet got you as it is the elation of making it off the planet with the last gasp choice. Agree on the table space required, the trays could have been a bit busier but less in number. Still going to be a game I keep forever and always in my top 20 or so. Orange Nebula are a superb company who produce stunning games in terms of table presence with some amazing engagement with their player base (some of the new planets were developed from their fanbase ideas).
Good Review, but The scoring wtf? 5/10? This Rating is for shit Games, and its definitley Not a shit Game, its a very good solo to two player koop surviving puzzle with aspects of Sorcery - Speed and Instant speed actions from Magic. I love it, 09/10. yes its Not about exploring, its about do your shit asap and run for your life, no sightseeing at all :) Played Wenora over 12 times, still loving it.
5/10 is actually for average games. Note that I use an actual 10 point scale whereas other reviewers simply use 7-10 and anything less than that is garbage. For me Unsettled is certainly an average game. Why would you play the first planet 12 times? That would bore me to tears. After 4-6 times I've played all 3 objective sets AND succeeded in them. After that, there's no more challenge or new things to see.
@@TheBrokenMeeple you The answer, its because of new Players :) they want to See The Game, so you Play lv 1 for The hundred time^^ but i let them decide, so they make mistakes i did too playing it for The First time. Hilarious and Funny everytime. Ah okay, thought u use The bgg Rating System. For me 5/10 is an insult, but now i know.
