Happy Star Wars Day!

To celebrate, we’re diving into a review of another Star Wars family board game – Star Wars: Unlock!

That’s right, the very cool Unlock! escape-room series of games now has a Star Wars themed game – with 3 distinct game adventures. As far as escape-room games go, the Unlock! series have been our favorite. So I was super excited when Asmodee published a Star Wars version.

After having played through all 3 adventures, I’m happy to report that all of them are super fun to play.

 

How to play Star Wars: Unlock!

Star Wars: Unlock! plays exactly like the many other Unlock! games. They’re cooperative, card-driven games with a companion app where the challenge is to solve the various puzzles and successfully complete the adventure story before the time runs out.

The game box comes with 4 decks of cards. The first is just a simple tutorial deck to learn the Unlock! game system. The other 3 decks are the actual Star Wars: Unlock! adventures in increasing level of difficulty:

1. An unforeseen delay
2. Escape from Hoth
3. Secret mission on Jedha

In each of the adventures, at the outset players get to choose 3 of the possible 6 Advantage cards. However, they’ll have to choose from just the title on the card. Once they’ve chosen the cards, then they’ll flip them over and discover something to help them along the way.

Then players read the first face-up card of the deck and do what it says. It will set the stage for what’s happening and then instruct players to flip the card over and start solving what they encounter.

For example, in the first of the Star Wars: Unlock! games, “An unforeseen delay”, players are smugglers in the Outer Rim. While transporting expensive cargo belonging to Jabba the Hutt, they’re intercepted by an Imperial Star Destroyer and they must get away.

When players flip over that first card, they’ll see a scene with some numbers on it. When players see a number on a card, they take that card from the deck, read it, and figure out what they should do next.

Within the game there are 5 basic colors of cards.

The red and blue cards are ones with puzzle piece icons that must be combined in some manner to arrive at a numeric solution. Once players think they have the right number, they find that card in the deck and flip it over. If they’re wrong, they’ll get a penalty. If they’re right, they’ll get new information to continue.

Green cards are machines that must be manipulated in some way.

Since the Unlock! games don’t involve destroying any cards, there isn’t really a way to manipulate a machine on a card. Instead, players use the Unlock! app to fiddle with the machine. The free Star Wars: Unlock! companion app runs the timer while also providing clues, offering hints, and confirming successes. And in the case of machines, that’s where the players will solve the machine puzzles.

Yellow cards are codes. Once again, correct codes must be entered in the app to progress in the adventure. The catch is that codes can be found in a large variety of ways. So players will have to use their wits to figure them out.

Grey cards are everything else that provides information to the players throughout each game.

Players can also use the app to request hints on cards if they’re stuck.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Star Wars: Unlock!?

Absolutely!

That’s because it’s a cooperative game where everyone can participate. Even if you have kids that can’t read yet, they can still listen to the story and clues and contribute to figuring out what to do next.

And if they love Star Wars, even better!

The storylines feel like a great fit in the Star Wars universe – especially the Escape from Hoth adventure. That game begins with you on a Tauntaun on Hoth in a snowstorm. I bet you’ll know what to do next.

We also really like the way the app is a key element of solving the puzzles you’ll encounter in the game. I hate to give any spoilers in games like this, but I will say that the app is more than just punching in code numbers. In one of the adventures, you’ll have to position your phone in different ways to find clues. It’s really cool.

I played through the 3 different adventures with 3 different groups of players and everyone had a great time with each adventure. I played the first with co-workers over a lunch break. The second I played with our family. And the third I played with my game group. All were a hit and we successfully got through the games within the 60 minute time limit.

In comparing to other Unlock! games, these did feel a bit easier to solve. However, that may also be due to our experience with the Unlock! games.

One bit of advice is that even though the game box says up to 6 players, we wouldn’t recommend playing with more than 4. Once you go over that amount, some players will feel like they’re not contributing as much.

If you love Star Wars and enjoy cooperative games, we’d totally recommend playing Star Wars: Unlock!

 

How does Star Wars: Unlock! score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

While we really enjoy the games in this series, once you’ve played through each, there isn’t much draw to play through it again. And that’s simply because you’ve discovered the solution to all the puzzles. So playing again would be very anti-climactic.

That being said, a number of our friends have borrowed our copy of Star Wars: Unlock! to play with their families. So any replay really comes from sharing.

Over the 13 years we’ve been reviewing family board games, we’ve reviewed 8 Star Wars games. Check out our full Board Game Reviews list to get links to reviews of other Star Wars games we love.