Very Briefly

Unsurmountable is quite an unusual pathing game that looks deceptively simple at first glance: gradually build a mountain via cards, and among these cards there should be a connected path that wends its way to the peak. However, the catch is that in order to do so, you’re going to need to understand the value of sacrifice.

This is an excellent little puzzle with multiple levels of difficulty. The expansions are great but not necessary if you’re satisfied with the base game, which it’s quite easy to be satisfied with.

I didn’t expect to like this one at all. Now it’s one of my favorites in the Simply Solo series – a series which I rather quite love.

Briefly

  • Every card shows a path, an icon, and a special power. You can either place a card on the mountain, or discard it to use its special power (which allows you to manipulate the mountain, the base camp, even in some expansions the discard). This choice is at the heart of the game.
  • What also drives the blood of the game is the rules for building the mountain combined with the strict queue order of the cards in the base camp, a kind of “hand” where the First Card will be the card that’s play to the mountain, and the other cards can be discarded to use their special abilities and otherwise will also eventually become, in order, the next First Card.
  • Through clever play you can manipulate what the first card is (and thus what the next building card of the mountain will be), what cards exist in the base camp, the mountain itself (swapping, rotating, eliminating cards). But remember that every card is unique so once it’s discarded or built into the mountain, it’s not so easy to get access to that power again.
  • So in reality, while Unsurmountable is indeed a pathing game, what’s more important is the ability to choose which cards to sacrifice for special powers and which cards to use to build the mountain. This quality makes Unsurmountable exceptional as a pathing game.
  • The adjustable difficulties allow you to, as you become more experienced with the game, really plumb the depths of your ability to plan, sacrifice, and adapt. Eventually working up to a Level V win is thrilling and quite rewarding.

Expansions

At the time of this writing, there are four expansions. They’re great as offerings to add to or change the requirements for scaling/building the mountain – but they aren’t necessary for long-term enjoyment of the base game, especially if you’re up for the Level IV and even Level V difficulties.

I will note that if you dislike the Level III and up’s requirements for icon uniqueness along rows of the mountain, slopes of the mountain, etc. – the expansions are a way to add great variety to both Level I and Level II play, as all expansions are compatible with all difficulty levels.

These expansions can also be combined with each other or all at once – but if you do all of them at one time, be prepared for some brain burn!

Big Climb

Now the mountain is bigger by one level! You’ll get cards with new abilities for all difficulty levels, plus new icons for the Level III - V difficulties. I feel it doesn’t make the game harder, but it changes up the game enough so that you have a new learning curve if for some reason the base game is now just incredibly too familiar to you.

Dual Peaks

Now the mountain has two peaks! And it’s shorter – just three rows, and not four – but the need to have separate, independent paths up to each peak more than makes up for the fewer rows. Definitely throws you back into newbie territory and is a great way to have a very different mountain scaling experience.

This can be combined with Big Climb for a taller two-peaked mountain set up.

Acclimatization

A more auxiliary expansion, this time you shuffle 6 rest cards and draw two. They serve as simple icon adjacency goals to complete at any time before the game ends. I think this one adds much more for Level I and Level II play than for Level III and up – because Level III-V already have icon requirements that can be sometimes quite challenging (read: sometimes annoying ;) but in a good way, mostly).

Rescue Mission

I actually really love Rescue Mission the most. There are three rescue cards, each with one climber on a path who needs to be “rescued” by your final path all the way up the mountain including their little path piece. You’ll choose one at random and insert the card about halfway through the deck after setting up your Base Camp.

It’s a quick way to force you into rethinking how you adapt to paths on the mountain, and requires the least set up. Plus you’re rescuing someone, and I like the concept of that. (Mountain and dangerous terrain rescue teams and systems are actually fascinating to learn about, I highly recommend the subject if you’re ever looking for something to research.)

Lục Bát

When you look upon her,
Note the following upon your heart:
She is beautiful.
But the mountain demands that
Those who would scale her
Understand what they need
And what must be sacrificed.