Set a Watch Digital Edition Review

We were given the opportunity to review Set a Watch Digital by Rock Manor Games and it does not disappoint. We enjoyed the tabletop game and you can check out our original review here. The original, tabletop game sets you on an expedition where you and your characters take turns battling zombies, dragons, bears (Oh my!), and other manner of fantastic creatures while one of your teammates takes a turn on watch duty at your outpost.

It’s like staring at the tabletop version but with special effects!

You and your characters will face increasingly difficult hordes of enemies, alternating attacks, charms, and special actions. This is of course in the form of a deck and dice to represent your attacks. The Rogue has a smaller dice set but can permanently remove an enemy from the deck. Every character has some great abilities and each adds to the game in unique ways. The Warrior can do some heavy damage AND keep the fire going like it’s no one’s business, the Wizard can illuminate the path ahead to reveal future attacks, the Cleric can clear the undead like it’s nothing, and the Beast Master…has some beautiful artwork.

Character selection in the digital version is significantly faster than fiddling around a box for their cards, dice, and ability cards.

Characters all add an element of planning that is unique to Set a Watch. Sometimes it’s as easy as: “Well the cleric rolled low this round so he stays behind.” Easy. BUT what most commonly happens is that you’re about to face a horde of undead and the Cleric has the highest roll of anyone but he has one ability card (the games version of hit points/stamina/special abilities) left and he’d be out of commission pretty quick if something goes wrong.

Starting a new round gives you an overview of camp abilities, dice rolls and heart/ability cards. The Wizard at the bottom is a pretty solid pick for watch duty.

Because this game is based off the tabletop Set a Watch, health is based off of your abilities. Yes. That’s right. In Set a Watch Digital (also the tabletop game), your health is tied to your abilities. Should you decide to use one of your abilities (for the most part, at least) you are literally draining your health. The game coyly hints at this during the tutorial by telling you to reserve exhausting your abilities only during dire emergencies, then it thrusts you into dire emergencies every turn. Okay, we might be going a little harsh, it’s more like every 2 turns.

Digital dice are great but they don’t have the same feel as real dice. (Full disclosure, we are dice goblins)

If you expect Set a Watch Digital to be any easier than the tabletop game, you will be pleased to hear the digital game is significantly easier in one aspect. That aspect is… Cleaning up. Once you lose, there is no longer the need to pick up tokens, pick up dice, stash away character cards, and neatly fit everything back in the box. You simply just close the game whenever you lose.

This is the board game equivalent of the Dark Souls “YOU DIED” screen.

The enemy deck offers great variety. Bears can attack swiftly, the undead can return to attack, bandits will steal an attack die and so on. It allows for some unique situations where you have to really make use of your dice and abilities. Making it through each location is exciting. You feel like a master tactician when you stack abilities and defeat all the enemies and narrowly avoid getting injured. Difficulty can be managed before starting a game, with summon cords being the defining trait. They essentially cause a wave of attacks to start and cause you to exhaust some cards. The tutorial is a nice way for newcomers to learn the rules in an interactive way and is a good refresher if you haven’t played in awhile.

The game offers 4 difficulty settings ranging from “you *might* make it to a few locations, probably” to “why are you doing this to yourself?”

The game automatically saves your progress as you play through a short 9 location campaign. Each location adds a little extra challenge or a bit of a respite depending on what you draw. It’s a nice way to step away from the game if something comes up and you need to stop playing. Since it’s digital, there’s nothing to clutter your table and you don’t need to be wary of moving pieces around by accident.

A brief respite with the bonus on Cliff Watch

Overall, the game is exactly like the tabletop game. There’s not a whole lot of new content in terms of gameplay but what it does have is much faster gameplay, much faster setup, and animations that make the cards pop and come to life. Even the cheesy tutorial is enjoyable because of the over the top lines and animations. Just like the tabletop version, you will find yourself losing often, but because it’s digital there’s no extra steps and cleanup so the game feels like a rogue-like. Once you expect yourself to fail constantly and you’ve accepted that you probably won’t win, the game becomes enjoyable for that very reason. It becomes “how far can I make it this time?” rather than “will I win this time?” Set a Watch is a difficult game and it’s a great game to add to your library. Just prepare yourself for failure. No joke. We failed the tutorial. But we must press on adventurers!