Unrest: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Set Collection, 2-Player, Asymmetrical, Deduction, I-Cut-You-Choose
Player Count: 2 Players Time to Play: 10 - 20 Minutes
Game Designer: Brendan HansenGame Artist: Jor RosPublisher: Pandasaurus GamesYear Published: 2023Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Game Designer: Brendan Hansen
Introduction:
Unrest is a two-player asymmetrical game where you play as either the rebellion or the empire. The rebellion is aiming to liberate three out of the five districts, whereas the empire is trying to keep a hold of their power and delay the resistance until their deck depletes. If the game ends and there are at least three un-liberated districts then you win as the empire. This is a tense back and forth dynamic between the two players using a twist on the I-cut-you-choose mechanism. Each turn the rebellion will choose three of five cards in hand to place on two adjacent districts. The aim is to complete one of four possible missions which will then liberate the district. Two of the cards will be hidden face-down from the other player and one will be face-up. The empire player will respond to this by choosing two of four options; block a district, destroy a card, peek at a card, or move one card to another district. This will continue until the rebellion has won or the empire have delayed them for long enough to empty their deck.
Game Anatomy:
Districts:
There are five districts included in the game. This is where the rebellion will be playing cards into throughout the liberation pursuit. Once liberated, the district and all attached cards will be removed from the central board and placed to the side, repositioning the remaining districts together in the central area.
Rebellion Cards:
The rebel deck is made up of 24 cards. There are four suits containing a single card of each value from 2-6 and four misdirect cards. Unlike the other four suits, the misdirect cards do not have any value attached and cannot assist in the completion of missions. Instead, they are used to mislead the empire and waste their resources. Misdirect cards must be played face-down and must be revealed then discarded if they are peeked.
Mission Cards:
Three mission cards will be randomised and used every game These are the goals that the rebellion is trying to achieve in order to liberate the districts. These goals may be collecting one of each suit, identical-value cards or a consecutive run, to explain only a few. A player may liberate multiple districts using the same mission at different times throughout the game.
There is a fourth mission that is used every game called the revolution which has the total value of cards equal to or exceeding 21.
Empire Tokens:
There are four tokens representing the actions that the empire can do. Each turn the empire player will choose two actions by flipping the tokens to the locked side.
Once all the tokens have been locked the player will flip all tokens back to the unlocked side. The actions are explained in detail in the image below.
Setup:
- Choose which player represents the rebellion and the empire.
- Place the five districts in a row in random order between the two players.
- Shuffle the rebel deck and place it face down.
- The rebel player will draw five cards.
- Place the four empire tokens next to the empire player.
- Give each player a reference sheet.
- Give the area of interest token to the rebellion player.
-Place the revolution mission face-up and place three randomly drawn missions beside it.
How to Play:
Rebellion Player:
As the rebellion player you are trying to liberate districts by placing combinations of cards to meet the missions. However, your are limited to where you can play. At the start of each round you have to play the area of interest token in the nook of two adjacent districts. This limits your choice to two districts that can receive your cards.
Empire Player:
The empire player is trying their best to delay the rebellion until all 24 cards are played. To do this they have two actions per turn, as denoted by the chips. The challenge with the empire player is that they are working on limited knowledge as two of the rebellions cards are face-down every round. The other challenge they face is for every two rounds, each action has to be used once before all the actions are refreshed and available again.
Round Structure:
The rebellion player will place their area of interest token adjacent to two districts, and select their three cards, one of which will be face-up. The empire will then defend its control by activating two unlocked tokens, selecting one at a time and fully resolving the action then flipping the token to a locked state. Any of the rebellion’s remaining cards will now go to one of the two selected districts. These cards have to remain in the same state (i.e. face-up/face-down) when placed in their district.
After each round the rebellion player will draw three cards from the rebel deck and the empire player will unflip their locked tokens if all four are locked. Following this, the rebellion player will reveal if any district is liberated. Once liberated the district and all attached cards will be removed.
If the rebellion player liberates a total of three districts they win, otherwise the game will continue until all the rebellion cards are played.
Final Thoughts:
- Completely asymmetrical sides.
- Unique deduction twist on I-cut-you-choose.
- Wide range of missions helping the games to feel varied.
- Quick playtime.
- Can be tricky to explain to first time players.
Unrest is a quick-playing but tense asymmetrical deduction game between two players. Each role plays completely different from the other, where the rebellion works like a set collection game filled with attempts to mislead, and the opposing player wants to destroy and misplace your cards. As the empire you have very little information at the start of the game but, after revealing cards using the surveil action, you can slowly deduce the missions that the rebellion are targeting. This doesn't make your task any easier as you have to thwart their every move. While cards continue to stack up on the districts both players begin to run out of time. Not all missions become easier over time but the revolution mission definitely becomes easier to achieve as the game goes on. In the same vein, the rebellion will struggle more as each card only appears in the deck once, so as their cards deplete, so do their options. The other great element to the game is the unique deduction implementation of the I-cut-you-choose mechanism. Normally this mechanism is used in drafting games where a player splits up a hand of cards into two piles and the other player chooses first what they want to draft and the other player is left with the remainder. Unrest brings in a unique twist on this; the rebellion player chooses which two adjacent districts to target then displays three of their five cards (two face-down). The empire then gets to choose which two actions they want to interfere with the cut. Then the rebellion can choose how the remaining cards attach to the two districts. If you enjoy tense back and forth deduction games that reveal more intricacies and strategies as you play it in succession, then I recommend trying out Unrest.
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