Base price: $15.
2 players.
Play time: ~20 minutes.
BGG Link
Buy on Amazon (via What’s Eric Playing?)
Logged plays: 4
Full disclosure: A review copy of Unrest was provided by Pandasaurus Games.
I really did swear up and down that I was going to get ahead on reviews while I was on vacation, and I’m proud to say I was woefully unable to do that. Now, breathing down the barrel of Gen Con, I’m kind of wondering how I ever got any board game reviewing done. I published five reviews one week a few years ago. Where did that even come from? But, another day, another dollar (or lack thereof; this is not exactly what we’d call a lucrative hobby, but I do enjoy writing). This week we’re taking a look at another Pandasaurus title: Unrest! Is there a strong correlation between games available on BGA and games I have the chance to play? Yes, but that’s largely because after I moved I have yet to rebuild a consistent board game group. I am working on it; I promise.
In Unrest, players become opposing factions: one, the great Empire, crushing all resistance; the other, the Rebellion, armed with plans and schemes to finally topple their tyrannical overlords. Each round, the Rebellion will plan an event in two adjacent Districts of the city. The Empire will then use two of their four actions to cordon off a District, reroute some of the Rebellion’s cards, reveal one of their hidden cards, or destroy a card entirely. They do this because if the Rebellion plays too many cards to any one District, they risk it becoming Liberated. If the Rebellion can Liberate three Districts, they win! If the Empire can hold on until the Rebellion runs out of cards, well, it’s curtains for them. Who will you play, and how will you fight?
Overall: 7 / 10
Overall, Unrest is fun, but I do think its mileage will depend on your group’s play preference. It’s not quite as “universally entertaining” as the games that I usually tend to like and show, as its hidden information aspects can add a bit of clunkiness to the game’s flow and the asymmetry can make the game challenging to learn (which is tough for a shorter game). These are pretty common things you’ll see with asymmetric player roles, though, and a number of short two-player games with asymmetric play can have a bit of this clunkiness. Not all of them, mind you, but Unrest is far from alone in this category. The hidden information is kind of a necessity, but you’ll have a lot of players flipping cards pretty regularly which really hampers the game’s flow. It’s not like you can prevent them doing that; making the game a memory-reliant experience would be silly on its face. There’s also a slight feeling of imbalance where, for new players, the Empire player seems to have a more secure position. I think the rules do a nice job of remedying that by including a variant that is significantly more challenging for the Empire player, but players can bounce off of a game hard if they perceive imbalance, regardless of whether or not that imbalance is there, in my experience.
That said, there are a few high points about the game that really shine, and if these appeal to you then you’ll almost certainly like the game. I think the theme, on its head, could be a little played out, but Jor Ros’s art really does a good job of making the world feel authentic and out of time without being stuck in any particular period. There’s good color work, good graphic design work, and some really fun art for the different districts. Like that a lot. I also enjoy the gradual progress that the Rebellion player makes over the game. Unrest is, fundamentally, a tight two-player game, and any player’s mistake can be enough to sink them. A lot of players thrive within that tension, and given the hidden information and the ebb and flow of the Empire player’s abilities, you’re going to find a very tense two-player game every time you play. It can be thrilling, and some players may find a gradual metagame to emerge as they cat-and-mouse against their opponent. Does your opponent tend to hide valuable cards in the middle? Do you think you can predict which cards they’re going for? Mind games abound. This is also where the quick playtime of the game is a point in its favor: if you lose, you can quickly reset, swap seats (or not!), and go again. It’s speedy tactics and feints for both players.
So, yeah, I’ve enjoyed my plays of Unrest. It’s not my favorite game, but playing it in person has also decreased some of the issues I had with it on BGA. It’s not really a game that benefits from spending a week checking in on it every day. There’s enough moving parts that you don’t necessarily want to play it asynchronously; real-time play is where it thrives. And as someone who’s lately enjoyed more and more of their plays on BGA, it’s kind of a nice rarity for me to see a game that I actually prefer to play in person that isn’t, you know, real-time or something that doesn’t necessarily work with async play. It’s like how I used to go to BGG.CON every year and try to play a game that I hated just to make sure that I still had that range, but with less vitriol. I’ll probably end up playing Unrest again and finding something new next time, too. If you’re interested in asymmetric two-player games; you enjoy tactics, subterfuge, and intrigue; or you just want to take on the role of the evil empire quashing rebellions, you’ll probably enjoy Unrest!
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