Set A Watch Review

Set a Watch is a cooperative game I've only played solo and probably will only play solo. In the game, you control an adventuring party and must clear out locations to prevent the earth from being covered in darkness. Each game will use 4 adventurers and each round, one must stay back at the campfire. At the start of the round, each player will roll their dice and this can help determine who stays back. While at the campfire, they can heal, add wood to the fire to keep it lit, scout ahead, and more. After the campfire phase, the watch phase begins. Here, a set number of creatures will be added to a line based on the location drawn at the beginning of the round. The 3 adventurers on watch will assign their dice to the monsters or to any of their special ability cards on their player boards. Ability cards can have a die assigned or they can be flipped over to use. If they're flipped, they cannot be used again until it is refreshed. If all monsters are defeated, then a new location is revealed. If they are not, then they'll attack. Damage is done by flipping over unexhausted abilities. If all adventurers' abilities are exhausted, they lose. If they make it through the final round, they win.

The Good: There are a lot of cool concepts at play here. I loved how the abilities doubled as health. You needed to decide who was more expendable than others and make sure that they could be healed if needed. Using the actual game box as the campfire board saved a lot of space and setup time. The overall dice manipulation was done perfectly as well. In most rounds I never felt like I was totally screwed unless it was my own fault.

The Okay: I mentioned it in the opening paragraph, but I just don't ever see myself playing this with anyone else. There's a fair bit of management but it was easy to do and the small footprint of the game just feels like a solitaire experience. I'm a bit biased here because I don't typically go for collaborative games as a whole.

The Not So Good: While you can manipulate dice fairly easily, the same cannot be said for the monster deck. You can find yourself at a huge disadvantage with a bad shuffle. Some abilities let you move one or two cards but beyond that it's pure luck.

Final Thoughts: Set a Watch is a great puzzle to figure out. It's challenging but rewarding when you finally clear a tough line of opponents. It can be punishing at times but it's a game that I keep going back to in my free time even if I know I'll probably lose. It's a great travel/solo game and I absolutely recommend it.

Thanks to Tabletop Tycoon and Rock Manor Games for providing a review copy.