Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8185930/unstoppable

Designer: John D. Clair
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios

This game (along with the Imperium series that I’ll get around to reviewing eventually) has no business being as treasured by me as it is. I’m typically not a deck building fan and I usually like cozier themes, but this game is amazing and I love it. It’s so incredibly fun and brilliant and challenging and strategic and unique and tactical and enjoyable and mechanically rich but not complicated, and just a really solid game that I’ve now spent countless hours playing.

Each turn in Unstoppable is mostly dictated by the number of action points you can use. At the start of each round, players gain three AP discs automatically, but there are ways to get more as you play. After gaining your action points, you acquire a card from the general market area based on what level you are. For the sake of simplicity, players level up once their deck runs out, all the way to a maximum of level six. Each level has a specific core deck that contains various types of cards with multiple different powers, benefits, costs, etc. When gaining a card, you draw the top three off the stack, choose one to keep, and place the other two at the bottom of that deck. This new card gets slid into a sleeve (included in the box) that contains a threat card on the back, so every time you make your own deck better, you’re also increasing the number (and potentially strength) of the enemies you will have to beat. The card you acquire gets immediately added to your hand.

During the actual main action phase, you utilize the cards in your hand and any other allies you have in play to try to level up your existing cards, defeat the active threats of the round, and ultimately try to damage the boss. To do so, your main two strategies are to spend action points to utilize the cards in your hand and allies in play to deal damage to the threats, and to spend credits to purchase upgrades that can be placed on the cards in your hand and/or in play.

After you’ve completed all actions you can and/or choose to, any remaining active enemy threats attack you. Lastly, after a few other clean up type steps, the danger level also advances by one. Each enemy boss has a different danger track, but they all generally work the same.

The only way to win Unstoppable is to meet the boss’s endgame condition, which is usually dealing a certain amount of damage to them before the danger level advances too far. You can lose if that danger level does get too high or if you run out of health.

There is definitely more nuance to the game than what I explain here, but this is the gist of it. Gain a card, use action points and allies to try to defeat enemy threats and the boss, and use credits to buy upgrades to strengthen your cards.

Before I get into what I like mechanically about this game, I have to say the artwork is beautiful, it has a lovely table presence that’s organized but visually appealing, and the player mats have an amazing step-by-step guide for each turn, so you never miss anything. Even after playing 15+ times, I still used it just to make sure I was keeping up with everything. The included sleeves are nice, and the standard player components are thick painted wood. There is also an incredible box storage system with dividers and labels.

One thing I do have a tiny issue with is the wear and tear on the cards from sliding them in and out of the sleeves consistently. Truthfully, I think it bothers me less than most people just because I don’t mind if my game looks played as long as it’s actually been enjoyed, but I can definitely see others having issues with this.

Mechanically, this game is a gem. The player leveling system with the core decks and the tradeoff between gaining a new, good card to your hand and adding a threat is brilliant. The card upgrade system is also very clever and well done. The interactions between the cards are also really fun, and some of the threat cards have varying keywords that can affect rounds and players in challenging and unique ways. It’s just very smooth and efficient while still being exceptionally puzzly and thinky and challenging. It’s one of those rare games that keeps you intrigued and motivated throughout the whole game even if you’re 99% sure you will lose. For me, there was always the inner monologue of not giving up hope because maybe you’ll actually succeed this time. And even if you don’t, you’ll still have fun trying!

On top of the incredible design choices for the decision space, there’s also a decent amount of variety in the box. There are endless combinations of cards and threats and upgrades, but each of the three bosses also feels different and has specific rules and requires unique strategies. There are also multiple characters you can play as that have unique starting cards.

Honestly, as crazy as it sounds (as I rarely ever have this feeling), playing this game is a truly thrilling and exhilarating experience. There was one game when I was so close to winning and the husband came downstairs to check on me and I felt I was like I was out of breath and smiling and moving around in a flurry trying to execute my plan and hopefully succeed, probably shushing him in the process so I could focus. It’s truly incredible.

I will say, at the beginning and throughout two of the three bosses, the games took me longer than the printed box time. One boss seemed to play much more quickly, but the other two are a bit more slow going (not in a bad way), so they took me a bit to finish. Regardless of game length, though, the time flies by in a flash since you’re having so much fun and so engrossed in the game and trying to figure out what to do to win. I can’t lie; I also sometimes played beyond the game length (on the danger track) if I was still alive just to see if I could ultimately beat the boss and because I didn’t want the game to end.

So, like I said at the beginning of this review, I really don’t understand how or why I love this game so much when it’s so opposite from what I usually play and similar to things I typically don’t enjoy. Somehow, though, John D. Clair made a game so intensely enjoyable that I can’t stop playing and just want every game to last forever (not really) because I’m having a ridiculously good time. It’s everything I want out of a solo game and more and is assuredly my biggest solo surprise of 2025.

Now, if only they could release a few more bosses…