Less Collectible, More Playable? My Star Wars: Unlimited Review

Last week, Asmodee Canada and Fantasy Flight Games sent over a huge box of Star Wars: Unlimited products including the 2-Player Starter Set, 3 Booster Packs, Two Deck Boxes, playmats and more. We will talk about the GameGenic products in a separate article, but rest assured, even the cheaper GameGenic boxes and sleeves are a fantastic quality – the price-for-product ratio is fantastic in my opinion. But today, it’s about Star Wars: Unlimited – and I’m here for it.

As a quick overview, each player will have a leader and base, along with their own pre-made deck of cards. The goal of the game is to eliminate your opponent’s base by dealing damage to it over the course of the game. Units and vehicles are played into two different play areas, Space and Ground. Leaders can be deployed as units, or can be used at the base giving an ongoing turn-to-turn ability. Decks are built based on aspects, although as we will see you are not limited if you don’t want to be.

My title does reflect my feelings on the game. While something like Disney Lorcana  is very collectible in my opinion, and perhaps it’s because of my love of Disney, but I feel that Star Wars: Unlimited is a game first and foremost, and a collectible game second. See, the artwork on the cards are fantastic, no doubt about that. But with so many cards in the initial set, and the cards obviously being printed for game play purposes as opposed to collectible purposes, makes this less collectible to me.

That isn’t a knock on the game at all – and if you are into collecting card games like these, have at it and I wish you the best! Your chances at HyperSpace cards, holos, and others are pretty good, with the only real outlier being the Showcase Leader cards which are VERY rare.

Honestly, I don’t need another collectible card game to spend my money on, but if someone delivers a really strong game, I could be swayed. And after a dozen or so matches using the starter decks and mixing in cards from my boosters, I’m sold on Star Wars: Unlimited. I love the way the game flows, I find that most games, regardless of decks, are pretty competitive, and I love synergizing specific cards together to make amazing combos.

With other trading card games, I find that decks are built to do one thing – with Star Wars: Unlimited, I feel that even when building out a specific deck, you can easily create enough different synergies that work with your overall deck build to stay competitive even if certain cards don’t end up in your hand. I love that.

Mostly, however, I love that the game works on a back-and-forth action system. I take an action, you take an action, I take an action, you take an action. I love this, as it allows for more strategic game play as you prepare to unleash a massive attack, or simply grab the initiative token as you have grand plans for your next turn.

I also love how this game doesn’t limit the cards you can play. Each Leader and Base has an aspect, and cards in your deck will generally align with those aspects you have chosen. Each player will either have the Hero and Villainy aspect, as well as two others.

Different aspects have a specific way they play – perhaps focusing on defense, or attack, or giving abilities to others, etc. However, if there is a card you REALLY like and you don’t have the appropriate aspect on your leader or base, you can still put it into your deck and play the card – you just have to pay 2 additional resources per aspect you cannot match with your Leader or your Base. Again, I love this!

I’ve enjoyed a lot of Trading Card Games over the past few years, but none of them have come close to matching the enjoyment I get out of the actual gameplay. As I noted above, this isn’t a game I’m likely going to try and collect every card, but I will be getting a booster box or two per release in order to build fun and unique decks. This is my pick for the current BEST Trading Card Game in 2024.