Restoration Games are known for bringing older games back in new and improved ways. Downforce and Fireball Island have been extremely well received. With a wealth of older games to update it's exciting to guess what they might restore next. Already announced is Return to Dark Tower which re-implements The Dark Tower the groundbreaking (for its time) early 80's game. Restoration have also turned their eyes to long out of print Star Wars Epic Duels.
Renamed as Unmatched, the 2-4 player duelling game no longer has the Star Wars licence. As a result, it has turned to other legends. The base game will see King Arthur, Alice (from Wonderland fame), Medusa and Sinbad battle it out.
This will be followed by the Robin Hood vs Bigfoot Expansion. BoardGameGeek also excitingly lists a Bruce Lee hero pack, which offers the martial arts expert as a single character pack.
Unmatched
Unmatched will undoubtedly live or die on the strength of it's available characters. While the base game could be considered strange at best, the expansions above are definitely a step in the right direction. The news about the next character packs is amazing!
Unmatched will be getting licensed characters from the Jurassic Park World! First up is Ingen vs Raptors, which in my opinion should be renamed 'clever girl'. The pack will feature everyone's favourite park keeper, Robert Muldoon, and, of course, the raptors. This will be followed by Sattler vs T-Rex (not hard to pick a winner in that one?) and another single character pack featuring Alan Grant.
It will be interesting to see where Unmatched goes from here. Having Bruce Lee face off against a group of Raptors is a tantalising proposition. The scope for these match ups is incredible. If Restoration Games can continue to gain other licences the potential is mouth-watering! Freddy Kruger vs The Green Power Ranger? Predator vs Alice? Nanny McPhee vs Aliens? Who knows?
Outside of fantasy match ups, the game uses a card-based diceless system, that features clever line of sight built into the maps. The game is simple in terms of complexity and gets you into the action quickly. The main characters are represented by beautiful minis and most come with sidekicks that are plastic tokens. Health dials are provided for everyone who needs them, but some sidekicks only have one hit point.
You might be able to tell I am quite excited about this one! Star Wars Epic Duels is on my grail list and I'm relishing the chance to play Unmatched. Unmatched Battle of Legends is released in September, with the expansions due around a month after that.
Keep your eye on the Zatu store in the coming days, because we'll be adding Unmatched to our ever-growing catalogue.