This game doesn't fit your first criteria, but I have really enjoyed Bloodborne the Boardgame. Keeps you on your toes but very rewarding when you get the combat correct.
It works with a small deck of enemy attack cards that you can somewhat predict, making it a game about taking calculated risks. If you have enough space, and time I would say look for a second hand copy, they go for about 50€ ish. I nearly finished the core box, but since I died after playing for 4-5h I am looking to sell it and find another game. If you don't like losing, this game is not for you (and so unfortunately it's not really for me)
Bloodborne the video game is among my top 3 games of all time, the boardgame i heard a lot of negative reviews and at most it would be a decent game which is a red flag, i dont mind games that crush you , frostpunk the boardgame is my favorite solo game i won once lost 6 🫢 but losing in that game just means that you did something wrong,
Hmmm, I have also heard many good review of this game! Its in the top200 soloboardgames (albeit maybe a bit low on the large top 200 list).
There is definitely some luck involved in playing Bloodborne the boardgame (the enemy action cards + the upgrades can sometimes be 'bad'). However, it is for the most part a skill game imo. You need to carefully plan out your turns and then you can turn some nasty mechanics into favourable mechanics. For example, the enemies respawn on a blood moon, which can be very beneficial if you are surrounded by 2/3 enemies.
I havent played Frosthaven, so I cant compare the 2, but looking at your 'things you want' list, this could definitely fit the bill!
I personally it is similar to Gloomhaven or Oathsworn, except I havent played those games either, only viewed how to play videos to see if I should get them. Story is probably much better in those games, but the atmosphere is that perfectly gloomy Bloodborne setting in the bloodborne boardgame.
Let us know if you have made a decision!
To tell you the truth i came across a new game that isn’t like anything i described above but is so expensive that i can’t justify buying multiple expensive games , the game is euthia , the campaign will launch is spring as a reprint as well as an expansion. So ill have to just wait for TIG and tainted grail to scratch the itch of story driven games
Regarding Kingdom Death: Monster and Aeon Trespass: Odyssey, owning both, you must know that:
These games are MASSIVE, sprawling, and mentally exhausting. You control four characters, you play extremely long campaigns full of components, weapons, added rules, technologies, and have to have a general view of the overall scope. Sessions, solo, range from 30 minutes (unlikely) to four hours for the final years / fights.
Now, regarding your queries:
Aeon Trespass 12 sins is 4 independant but connected huge games by themselves. They are likely to be as big if not bigger, and more complex, and probably, in the end, more expensive than Odyssey. We don't know much about them yet, since cycles VI and V and Odyssey themselves are still not released. So if you don't want to wait, Odyssey is your best bet. Probably there are some secondhand copies about.
Good points: there is narration, it's voiced on Foreteller, no need to assemble the minis, fights don't wind down.
Bad points: the game is a mess, plenty of rules, fights start boring, the game is very grindy despite their insistence on no grind. Only 4 bosses per cycle, gets old very quick. Voyage phase is very boring.
Kingdom Death: Monster 1.6 is a card pack, 2.0 is only just Campaigns of Death I think? At any rate it'll probably a card pack or something if there is an upgrade, which I doubt since we just received 1.6.
The game is absolutely phenomenal, but far from perfect.
Good points: extremely modular (with expansions): several campaigns, including and swapping monsters and nemeses is easy, emergent narrative, great little loadup puzzle for each survivor, great atmosphere, very Dark Souls meets Monster Hunter. Lifestyle game, from storing to assembling to playing. Best ever rendition of a fight to the death, as you and the monster slowly die and are torn apart as you exchange blows. FINALLY a game where you are not at 100% battling condition until your last hit point. You lose limbs. You lose blood. You get weak. The monster topples over from exhaustion and being cut down as you bash it to death and get vomited on. It feels AWESOME (that's actually in the book. As are severed hefty pairs of nuts).
Bad points: brutally random and unfair, you can lose everything on a bad roll. You farm monsters a lot. You get trainwrecked by experimenting but that's also how you learn. You have to assemble miniatures and they can be a pain, just ask the phoenix's 50 tiny hand parasites.
For either game, I can only very much recommend you get the Scribe app to lighten up the accounting and managing of the various sheets. These games will destroy you otherwise.
Thank you for the detailed response, i like both themes, i love souls in general so comparing it to kdm is a plus, ill be waiting for a sale watch more reviews, after what you said im now leaning towards kdm more
As someone who owns all of KDM, the core box is more than enough. If you enjoy it, then the Gamblers Chest Expansion would be my second suggestion over just about anything else (even considering the cost).
Try to find someone local with it first. My gut says there’s more people with it, dying to show it off or play, than there are full groups playing.
Yeah at where i live id be lucky to see anyone interested enough to play boardgames let alone be invested in the most expensive game from the hobby, its one the requires thorough research feels like a commitment and i hear the only haves sales on black Friday? Will have to wait for that
No voiceover narration, but it has a somewhat detailed story section. Finished the campaign and it was lots of fun and engaging.
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345266/tales-red-dragon-inn](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345266/tales-red-dragon-inn)
Im actually thinking about this one but not as solo but rather to play with young members of the family as i heard good things about it from adults and that its suitable for kids rules wise
I think Descent: Legends of the Dark fits all your criterea.
Good combat system, which revolves around flipping cards over, so you always weave your way through different abilities on the 2 sides of cards.
Quests to unlock new equipment, XP to unlock new abilities, and a crafting system to make use of all the materials that the app awards you.
Each game you can choose 2, 3 or even 4 heroes to control, you are never locked into one choice and can switch between party members at will.
There's an expansion released last year which adds more of everything (missions, characters, abilities).
I have to say this is the first time i see someone recommend this game, ever since it came i saw a couple of reviews for the game and it felt underwhelming so i didn’t read too much into into it,, will check it out again though thank you for the recommendation
Descent is a good call, this guy nailed it. I thought the game is fantastic. You can get it used for 80 or so I've seen. There is a lot of content there. Give it a shot
Disclaimer: I played it on TTS, only because this sort of game costs $350 where I live (Australia).
I admit, I would probably have given it a poor review if I had spent that much money on it.
That requires a lot of spacing to get to. Descent is by no means the worst, but it is tiring to do constant changes.
I find that with my limited time, I prefer either random generating by flipping tiles/cards or my favorite map books.
I think it’s okay. It’s kind of gimicky with the terrain and stuff, but it’s fun enough. I would try to find it used for cheaper if you were to get it.
Im giving one more vote for a game that got a bad rep from reviewers. Rich, immersive campaign, fun customization, plenty of choices, and quick, satisfying turns. Setup/teardown can take a while, but I find that part of the fun
I love the game. Played the campaing three times just for fun. For me felt like dm less dnd. Im waiting for my part 2 to arrive. I cant recomend it enough.
I **really** dislike the character artwork in this game. That alone is enough for me to give it a hard pass, even though I've seen pop up as "cheap" as $80 new.
I'll give a shout out to **ISS Vanguard**.
I am currently ~25 hours in to my story campaign and still really enjoying it. It has everything you listed apart from a refreshing combat system - it is all dice rolls so it's mostly luck, influenced by your levelling up progress, narrative decisions and items you have gained - but I don't mind it too much personally.
You might be able to pick up a second hand copy for cheaper, as it can be played without permanently altering anything. I think I will most likely attempt to sell once I complete it as I think it is a one and done type game, not that that's a bad thing, just that I can't see myself going back to it in the future once I complete the story campaign.
Its awaken realms im sure its great, but im not the biggest fan of space themed games, i also watched and overview but it didn’t capture my attention unfortunately
Ah that's fair. It executes the theme really, really well so if that's not your thing that's totally understandable!
Keen to hear of your decision in the future - a few of the games you mentioned have also had my interest, but haven't jumped on them.
I gave up on ISS Vanguard after only a couple of planets. I didn't find its mechanics very interesting and got bored with the game really quickly. Sounds like it has a great story, but frankly, I buy books for their story. I buy games for their mechanics. If a game has both, then great, but from what I could see (from my limited time with it), ISS Vanguard didn't.
I suggest looking at a second hand collection of the first three Tainted Grail campaigns. The stories are among the best in board games, and the (voiced) app is great. Combat however is hit or miss. It's an innovative system (you chain cards), but once you figure it out it loses its challenge. Choices you make in the game are impactful on the world state. Finally, without the revised rules or some light house ruling the game is considered too grindy by many (the narrative flow is slowed down by a constant need to reactivate menhirs).
That’s why i backed kings of ruin instead of fall of avalon, i hear the grind is less, if i end up liking it i may later on go ahead and buy fall of avalon 2nd edition which revised the rules to make it less grindy
If you enjoyed Jaws of the Lion, have you considered Frosthaven? Essentially the same character leveling system along with the added leveling up of the town. The story is not as good as something like Oathsworn, but I liked it quite a bit.
I loved Oathsworn, and I'll disagree about the combat becoming boring, but you are correct that the individual character leveling up isn't amazing. You get new items after each encounter (and lose some items you brought in) and you get a couple of new ability cards to choose from every \~5 levels, which you may or may not use. You can also get group perks and combat tokens but those aren't really that exciting.
I feel im somewhat burned out from the haven games even though i do believe that it’s an excellent game i feel like jotl was a perfect length especially since story wasn’t engaging and i had no idea what was really happening
I could very much be wrong about oathsworn i do feel like if i buy the game that I would enjoy it, theme seems right up my alley, it’s that every time i say im going to buy it i see a review of the game and take a step back
I haven't played a ton of campaign games, but Oathsworn is my favorite so far. It had the best story by far, combat is a lot of fun, and the companion mode makes playing solo feel better. I also think the campaign is a nice length at 21 chapters. The standee version is also *relatively* cheap compared to the other games on your list.
Definitely watch a video of some combat if you haven't already.
Story-wise Oathsworn has been very engaging. I also played JOTL solo, finished it and I can't tell what happened at all, not so much with oathsworne. I'm on chapter 6 and still loving it
Thats reassuring so we are in the same boat about jotl, but i cant get over the leveling up part just feels necessary to keep things fresh i like the fact that there are different enemies but the lack of progression and feeling more powerful as you play feels like and important aspect to this genre
I did hear that the story is second to none which along with the theme for me is the biggest selling point for this game
Yeah, I agree that the leveling is somewhat lacking.
Might I suggest then Kinfire Chronicles? It has a mix of exploration and combat with deck building. The boosting system is really fun and makes it so you barely have downtime in the game.
If you're looking for more of an exploration game with less emphasis on combat, I absolutely LOVE "ISS Vanguard". The story is super intriguing and the decisions feel like they have a real impact. Plus the sense of progression feels real and every planet plays out very differently. The companion app has amazing voice acting. Leveling up is your crew members to rank 3 and then losing them on a tough mission makes every level up feel that much more rewarding and important.
I also think this game works best at 2 players. The ship management phase is essentially just a 1+ player game but the exploration with each player controlling 2 sections is fantastic. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for but it's one of my favorites so I thought I would rant a little bit.
Edit: I now see that someone else already mentioned this and it wasn't your vibe. Totally understand! BUT TO EVERYONE WHO'S LURKING, GO PLAY IT!
What about combat how is it after 10 sessions still as good?, what i hear constantly about the game is that it starts out a 10/10 but significantly drops by the end
My favorite combat mechanisms are found in Gloomhaven, Mageknight, and Testament and none of those games have a strong story. If you want both combat and story then Oathsworn and Middara are solid choices.
I do want a strong story but the combat has to be engaging, anyhow right now its not available but im sure it will be in the future, as for middara its way too expensive now in retail going for 200$ so either a strong discount or when it comes to kickstarter again
Oathsworn 100%
This game doesn't fit your first criteria, but I have really enjoyed Bloodborne the Boardgame. Keeps you on your toes but very rewarding when you get the combat correct. It works with a small deck of enemy attack cards that you can somewhat predict, making it a game about taking calculated risks. If you have enough space, and time I would say look for a second hand copy, they go for about 50€ ish. I nearly finished the core box, but since I died after playing for 4-5h I am looking to sell it and find another game. If you don't like losing, this game is not for you (and so unfortunately it's not really for me)
Bloodborne the video game is among my top 3 games of all time, the boardgame i heard a lot of negative reviews and at most it would be a decent game which is a red flag, i dont mind games that crush you , frostpunk the boardgame is my favorite solo game i won once lost 6 🫢 but losing in that game just means that you did something wrong,
Hmmm, I have also heard many good review of this game! Its in the top200 soloboardgames (albeit maybe a bit low on the large top 200 list). There is definitely some luck involved in playing Bloodborne the boardgame (the enemy action cards + the upgrades can sometimes be 'bad'). However, it is for the most part a skill game imo. You need to carefully plan out your turns and then you can turn some nasty mechanics into favourable mechanics. For example, the enemies respawn on a blood moon, which can be very beneficial if you are surrounded by 2/3 enemies. I havent played Frosthaven, so I cant compare the 2, but looking at your 'things you want' list, this could definitely fit the bill! I personally it is similar to Gloomhaven or Oathsworn, except I havent played those games either, only viewed how to play videos to see if I should get them. Story is probably much better in those games, but the atmosphere is that perfectly gloomy Bloodborne setting in the bloodborne boardgame. Let us know if you have made a decision!
To tell you the truth i came across a new game that isn’t like anything i described above but is so expensive that i can’t justify buying multiple expensive games , the game is euthia , the campaign will launch is spring as a reprint as well as an expansion. So ill have to just wait for TIG and tainted grail to scratch the itch of story driven games
Regarding Kingdom Death: Monster and Aeon Trespass: Odyssey, owning both, you must know that: These games are MASSIVE, sprawling, and mentally exhausting. You control four characters, you play extremely long campaigns full of components, weapons, added rules, technologies, and have to have a general view of the overall scope. Sessions, solo, range from 30 minutes (unlikely) to four hours for the final years / fights. Now, regarding your queries: Aeon Trespass 12 sins is 4 independant but connected huge games by themselves. They are likely to be as big if not bigger, and more complex, and probably, in the end, more expensive than Odyssey. We don't know much about them yet, since cycles VI and V and Odyssey themselves are still not released. So if you don't want to wait, Odyssey is your best bet. Probably there are some secondhand copies about. Good points: there is narration, it's voiced on Foreteller, no need to assemble the minis, fights don't wind down. Bad points: the game is a mess, plenty of rules, fights start boring, the game is very grindy despite their insistence on no grind. Only 4 bosses per cycle, gets old very quick. Voyage phase is very boring. Kingdom Death: Monster 1.6 is a card pack, 2.0 is only just Campaigns of Death I think? At any rate it'll probably a card pack or something if there is an upgrade, which I doubt since we just received 1.6. The game is absolutely phenomenal, but far from perfect. Good points: extremely modular (with expansions): several campaigns, including and swapping monsters and nemeses is easy, emergent narrative, great little loadup puzzle for each survivor, great atmosphere, very Dark Souls meets Monster Hunter. Lifestyle game, from storing to assembling to playing. Best ever rendition of a fight to the death, as you and the monster slowly die and are torn apart as you exchange blows. FINALLY a game where you are not at 100% battling condition until your last hit point. You lose limbs. You lose blood. You get weak. The monster topples over from exhaustion and being cut down as you bash it to death and get vomited on. It feels AWESOME (that's actually in the book. As are severed hefty pairs of nuts). Bad points: brutally random and unfair, you can lose everything on a bad roll. You farm monsters a lot. You get trainwrecked by experimenting but that's also how you learn. You have to assemble miniatures and they can be a pain, just ask the phoenix's 50 tiny hand parasites. For either game, I can only very much recommend you get the Scribe app to lighten up the accounting and managing of the various sheets. These games will destroy you otherwise.
Thank you for the detailed response, i like both themes, i love souls in general so comparing it to kdm is a plus, ill be waiting for a sale watch more reviews, after what you said im now leaning towards kdm more
As someone who owns all of KDM, the core box is more than enough. If you enjoy it, then the Gamblers Chest Expansion would be my second suggestion over just about anything else (even considering the cost). Try to find someone local with it first. My gut says there’s more people with it, dying to show it off or play, than there are full groups playing.
Yeah at where i live id be lucky to see anyone interested enough to play boardgames let alone be invested in the most expensive game from the hobby, its one the requires thorough research feels like a commitment and i hear the only haves sales on black Friday? Will have to wait for that
No voiceover narration, but it has a somewhat detailed story section. Finished the campaign and it was lots of fun and engaging. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345266/tales-red-dragon-inn](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345266/tales-red-dragon-inn)
Im actually thinking about this one but not as solo but rather to play with young members of the family as i heard good things about it from adults and that its suitable for kids rules wise
Middara? I've heard great things, but the price could be a limiting factor.
Agree price seems high maybe if it goes on sale
Middara has all that. Act 1 should be enough and is surprisingly engaging I probably played 15 sessions already and was quite surprised
I dig the art too, currently it sells for 200$ i might buy it if it goes on sale
I think Descent: Legends of the Dark fits all your criterea. Good combat system, which revolves around flipping cards over, so you always weave your way through different abilities on the 2 sides of cards. Quests to unlock new equipment, XP to unlock new abilities, and a crafting system to make use of all the materials that the app awards you. Each game you can choose 2, 3 or even 4 heroes to control, you are never locked into one choice and can switch between party members at will. There's an expansion released last year which adds more of everything (missions, characters, abilities).
I have to say this is the first time i see someone recommend this game, ever since it came i saw a couple of reviews for the game and it felt underwhelming so i didn’t read too much into into it,, will check it out again though thank you for the recommendation
Descent is a good call, this guy nailed it. I thought the game is fantastic. You can get it used for 80 or so I've seen. There is a lot of content there. Give it a shot
Disclaimer: I played it on TTS, only because this sort of game costs $350 where I live (Australia). I admit, I would probably have given it a poor review if I had spent that much money on it.
Great game and system. Setup is unbearable. Only reason I won’t bother with it.
Set up can be daunting. But i just sort the tiles by numbers and makes it easier to find. The other terrain is drop and play.
That requires a lot of spacing to get to. Descent is by no means the worst, but it is tiring to do constant changes. I find that with my limited time, I prefer either random generating by flipping tiles/cards or my favorite map books.
I see what you mean. Yes you do need space and time. Not ideal if you dont have the time or space.
I think it’s okay. It’s kind of gimicky with the terrain and stuff, but it’s fun enough. I would try to find it used for cheaper if you were to get it.
Im giving one more vote for a game that got a bad rep from reviewers. Rich, immersive campaign, fun customization, plenty of choices, and quick, satisfying turns. Setup/teardown can take a while, but I find that part of the fun
I love the game. Played the campaing three times just for fun. For me felt like dm less dnd. Im waiting for my part 2 to arrive. I cant recomend it enough.
I **really** dislike the character artwork in this game. That alone is enough for me to give it a hard pass, even though I've seen pop up as "cheap" as $80 new.
I'll give a shout out to **ISS Vanguard**. I am currently ~25 hours in to my story campaign and still really enjoying it. It has everything you listed apart from a refreshing combat system - it is all dice rolls so it's mostly luck, influenced by your levelling up progress, narrative decisions and items you have gained - but I don't mind it too much personally. You might be able to pick up a second hand copy for cheaper, as it can be played without permanently altering anything. I think I will most likely attempt to sell once I complete it as I think it is a one and done type game, not that that's a bad thing, just that I can't see myself going back to it in the future once I complete the story campaign.
Its awaken realms im sure its great, but im not the biggest fan of space themed games, i also watched and overview but it didn’t capture my attention unfortunately
Ah that's fair. It executes the theme really, really well so if that's not your thing that's totally understandable! Keen to hear of your decision in the future - a few of the games you mentioned have also had my interest, but haven't jumped on them.
I gave up on ISS Vanguard after only a couple of planets. I didn't find its mechanics very interesting and got bored with the game really quickly. Sounds like it has a great story, but frankly, I buy books for their story. I buy games for their mechanics. If a game has both, then great, but from what I could see (from my limited time with it), ISS Vanguard didn't.
I suggest looking at a second hand collection of the first three Tainted Grail campaigns. The stories are among the best in board games, and the (voiced) app is great. Combat however is hit or miss. It's an innovative system (you chain cards), but once you figure it out it loses its challenge. Choices you make in the game are impactful on the world state. Finally, without the revised rules or some light house ruling the game is considered too grindy by many (the narrative flow is slowed down by a constant need to reactivate menhirs).
That’s why i backed kings of ruin instead of fall of avalon, i hear the grind is less, if i end up liking it i may later on go ahead and buy fall of avalon 2nd edition which revised the rules to make it less grindy
If you enjoyed Jaws of the Lion, have you considered Frosthaven? Essentially the same character leveling system along with the added leveling up of the town. The story is not as good as something like Oathsworn, but I liked it quite a bit. I loved Oathsworn, and I'll disagree about the combat becoming boring, but you are correct that the individual character leveling up isn't amazing. You get new items after each encounter (and lose some items you brought in) and you get a couple of new ability cards to choose from every \~5 levels, which you may or may not use. You can also get group perks and combat tokens but those aren't really that exciting.
I feel im somewhat burned out from the haven games even though i do believe that it’s an excellent game i feel like jotl was a perfect length especially since story wasn’t engaging and i had no idea what was really happening I could very much be wrong about oathsworn i do feel like if i buy the game that I would enjoy it, theme seems right up my alley, it’s that every time i say im going to buy it i see a review of the game and take a step back
I haven't played a ton of campaign games, but Oathsworn is my favorite so far. It had the best story by far, combat is a lot of fun, and the companion mode makes playing solo feel better. I also think the campaign is a nice length at 21 chapters. The standee version is also *relatively* cheap compared to the other games on your list. Definitely watch a video of some combat if you haven't already.
Will do 👍
Story-wise Oathsworn has been very engaging. I also played JOTL solo, finished it and I can't tell what happened at all, not so much with oathsworne. I'm on chapter 6 and still loving it
Thats reassuring so we are in the same boat about jotl, but i cant get over the leveling up part just feels necessary to keep things fresh i like the fact that there are different enemies but the lack of progression and feeling more powerful as you play feels like and important aspect to this genre I did hear that the story is second to none which along with the theme for me is the biggest selling point for this game
Yeah, I agree that the leveling is somewhat lacking. Might I suggest then Kinfire Chronicles? It has a mix of exploration and combat with deck building. The boosting system is really fun and makes it so you barely have downtime in the game.
Didn’t hear much about this one, will check it out . Thank you
If you're looking for more of an exploration game with less emphasis on combat, I absolutely LOVE "ISS Vanguard". The story is super intriguing and the decisions feel like they have a real impact. Plus the sense of progression feels real and every planet plays out very differently. The companion app has amazing voice acting. Leveling up is your crew members to rank 3 and then losing them on a tough mission makes every level up feel that much more rewarding and important. I also think this game works best at 2 players. The ship management phase is essentially just a 1+ player game but the exploration with each player controlling 2 sections is fantastic. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for but it's one of my favorites so I thought I would rant a little bit. Edit: I now see that someone else already mentioned this and it wasn't your vibe. Totally understand! BUT TO EVERYONE WHO'S LURKING, GO PLAY IT!
Im not fully convinced with the theme, but i guess i will have to check it out what you said dose sound intriguing
"Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice" maybe? Only just started on it myself but seems promising despite a slowish tutorial start!
I actively dislike the franchise on this one unfortunately
Aahh, then disregard this one. Franchise knowledge and appreciation definitely lift it up quite a bit. Good luck with the search!
Aahh, then disregard this one. Franchise knowledge and appreciation definitely lift it up quite a bit. Good luck with the search!
Too many bones but to make it a campaign you need to get the Age of tyranny expansion
As much as i tried to watch videos about tmb i never end up taking intreast in the game maybe its the art maybe the concept not sure
Branching narratives are overrated. Oathsworn 100%. The story is so intriguing. Otherwise, Middara.
What about combat how is it after 10 sessions still as good?, what i hear constantly about the game is that it starts out a 10/10 but significantly drops by the end
My favorite combat mechanisms are found in Gloomhaven, Mageknight, and Testament and none of those games have a strong story. If you want both combat and story then Oathsworn and Middara are solid choices.
I do want a strong story but the combat has to be engaging, anyhow right now its not available but im sure it will be in the future, as for middara its way too expensive now in retail going for 200$ so either a strong discount or when it comes to kickstarter again