Set a Watch review - "Become the best camper you can be"

• Set a Watch is now digital and a solo challenge
• Make a party, roll the dice, prep your camp, and dive into combat
• Luck and RNG are your friends and enemies, but it's up to your strategy

An unintended consequence of certain titles is that they make us think that we could be suited to jobs that we would never have considered before we decided to play. Give us access to an alien army from the future, and we'll convince ourselves that we can lead a modern-day military squadron to victory.

Of course, we won't put ourselves in the midst of it, but we'll trust that our legitimate strategic thinking will keep all our units alive (or at least our favourite ones). At least with Acram, they're trying to give us a more realistic strategic challenge with Set a Watch.

We and our camping buddies are expected to defend the campsite from all the horrors in the wilderness, but you'd better hope that fate is on your side.

What is Set a Watch?

Anything can be made digital with a solid level of effort, and Set a Watch has just received that treatment. Originally a board game RPG, it has since been translated to include all the necessary dice, cards, and models for play.

It follows a group of several adventurers who find themselves on quite a perilous journey. While travelling is reasonably safe, it's when they have to stop to camp that the danger truly emerges. They must work together to guard the camp, keep the fire lit, stay healthy, and be prepared to fend off any nighttime attackers. If you can help them survive the night, then their journey can continue.

Ready to Set a Watch

These adaptations can be effective if they're creatively or faithfully translated, with Set a Watch going for the latter. The team has nailed the source material and presents it in a way that makes it feel like a contained mobile adventure. It leads you in with a straightforward card setup, several adventurers to pick, and then randomly selects a region for you. The campsite is solid and concise, being a visual mix of polygons and what I imagine the pieces would look like. Thankfully, there are plenty of reference materials available to refer to whenever you get lost.

Since this has been made into a you-versus-the-game experience, the challenge is an important aspect that doesn't hold back. Even on the "easier" difficulties, you can expect decent to heavy resistance from the computer-controlled monsters.

It's highly recommended that you go through the tutorial, as this will waste no time throwing you to the wolves, quite literally, if you're in the forest region. It encourages you to take the time to learn all the strengths and weaknesses of your adventurers, both in camp and in combat. It'll only hold your hand if you really want such guidance.

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Now, let's get to the main mechanics: camping. Before each "turn," you roll an avalanche of dice that are all assigned to each of your adventurers. You must then decide which adventurer will handle camp duties, with each one offering different effects, and you can place their dice as needed.

Once that's done, you enter combat with the monsters that have politely lined up to eat you. You must decide whether to use your limited dice to damage the monsters directly or apply them to the selected adventurer's abilities. However, once all the dice are rolled, it's the monster's turn to lay into you to deal damage and exhaust your team's abilities until they can recover.

There's a lot on your plate to sort into sections, but it's all part of the challenge, fun, and engagement to challenge whatever the dice gods bestow upon you.

Set a Watch, miss your alarm

You could have years of experience playing RPGs, but every one you haven't played has a chance to surprise or confuse you, and Set a Watch may be one of them. It can be highly overwhelming due to all the rules and mechanics it has, even after completing the tutorial. You may be a master strategist, but if the dice come up short just as the monsters mash their might mates to the front of the line, you'll be in for an uphill battle or an early reset. It's better to do a few rounds on Easy Mode until you feel comfortable.

Another downside is a lack of variety in your party. You only get six adventurers to choose from and are limited to a party of four. Each one has a set of abilities (and only one set), so you know what to expect from each one.

While this can allow for more consistent strategies and runs, it leaves little room for experimentation. We're all looking for that sweet combo that works for our individual playstyles, and once we find it (be it after several days or minutes), we're unlikely to try any other combinations. Considering the variety of locations and monsters, it leaves much to be desired in customising the home team.

It's time to Set a Watch

Set a Watch is a 3D RPG translated from a board game to mobile, and pits you against the game rather than against other players. It's a faithful and appealing translation both in visuals and mechanics, with enough complexity and challenge to keep things interesting.

Although it can be too difficult and intimidating for novice and casual players, while also not offering enough combo and mixup potential for veteran strategy players, you'll still find a worthwhile endeavour in trying to win. You may not be an army general, but even a broken watch is right twice a day, provided that someone remembers to set it.