I almost didn’t put Gloomhaven because a) I wasn’t sure that it was in the last 5 years (yes), and b) I played the living shit out of it originally but I’m pretty done with it now despite having never actually beaten the campaign and did not buy the expansions or back Frosthaven. So on the one hand, it’s still a design I really really love and think may be the best game I’ve ever played. But also, done.
My game playing has been pretty sparse in the last several years. I also like to play new games more than playing the same games repeatedly. A lot of these rankings are based off of only a couple of plays, but there aren’t many recent games I’ve played more than that.
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Villagers - Both my favorite game of recent years and the best surprise. I took a chance on the kickstarter because the premise looked appealing, the graphic design was lovely, and the price was reasonable. Ended up being a truly great middle-weight drafting card game of finding synergies in pursuit of productivity and points.
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Res Arcana - This feels to me like Race for the Galaxy rethought from the ground up. Wisely, instead of asking players to use a gajillion cards to find a few profitable synergies, it creates a gajillion (well, maybe not THAT many) synergies out of a few cards. It feels like it should stagnate or fall apart at any second, but in my half-dozen plays it hasn’t yet.
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Micro Macro: Crime City - Easily earns the “Most Delightful” prize for the last five years. This is a visual deduction game that has you scouring a giant illustrated city looking for clues to solve one of its twenty or so cases. Light and accessible and engaging for many different kinds of people, this should be that game you get your less-nerdy family members for Christmas.
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Era: Medieval Age - Roll Through the Ages is easily one of my most-played games (maybe second only to Shadow Hunters), and this was a decent high-production revival of that classic Matt Leacock dice game. Sometimes I wonder if it might actually be slightly inferior to the original, but there’s no denying that the plastic city you’ve built at the end of it looks a lot cooler than a bunch of dots on a pad of paper!
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Tiny Towns - Let me be honest: I might admire this for its elegant ruleset more than the actual experience of playing, which is sometimes punishing and frustrating. But it’s quick… and so elegant!
Other good games from this period that I’ve played:
Sakura, Treasure Island, Architects of the West Kingdom, Cartographers, Gods Love Dinosaurs
Some pandemic-era games I have on the shelf and am looking forward to playing and, who knows, could have made this list if society hadn’t shut down:
Lost Ruins of Arnak, Red Cathedral, Kabuto Sumo, King’s Dilemma (pre-pandemic, but I couldn’t get my hands on it until recently)
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Gloomhaven - Most games I consider well worth it if I get a dozen or two plays. Gloomhaven I got close to 100 thanks to its campaign and many scenarios, and still hunger for more. Both my most played and most enjoyable game of the past 5 years!
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Spacebase - In that sweet spot of challenging, competitive, and fairly fast to play
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Everdell - One of my favorite card driven tableau builders (I like TM better - but it came out in 2016 - sorry TM!)
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Decrypto - One of my favorite word games - love the tension between keeping the word secret… but also accessible! Plus you can think of clues during other players turns - so less downtime!
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Endeavor: Age of Sail - Fantastic re-release that took a great game and made it even better!
Honorable Mentions:
Just One - fantastic little group filler!
Codenames: Duet - Better than the original Codenames!
Teotihuacan: City of Gods - Just a bit too long to get regular play, but intriguing!
Beyond the Sun - intriguing 4x that I haven’t gotten to play enough of yet - may deserve a spot up there
Ruins of Arnak - everyone tells me I’ll love it… but yet to play it!
I am only choosing from games that I’ve played at least a half dozen times. Also, for context, I am bored by multiplayer solitaire games, so these are all more interactive.
- Beyond the Sun, which I think is a perfect game, like Jaws is for movies, according to some
- Gaia Project
- Brass: Birmingham
- Pulsar 2849
- Endeavor: Age of Sail
Honorable mentions:
- Troyes - Learned it this past year, but it’s a way pre-2017 release, definitely a top 5 of all time for me
- Dune: Imperium - Have only played it a handful of times, so didn’t qualify, but I think it’s probably a perfect game
- Inis - Damn, a 2016 release, otherwise definitely on my list
- Glen More 2 - So close to Endeavor, tough to choose which gets a vote
Do you think you could change this to a numbered list with a “1. (Game name)” style formatting?
Could you please number your picks?
Sorry - fixed!
Mostly going with games I’ve been able to enjoy solo during the Pandemic. I’ve actually really grown to enjoy solo gaming, partially due to the pandemic and partially because I don’t really have a game group these days that enjoys the types of games I do.
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Arkham Horror LCG Amazing game and I think the campaign is truly excellent in solo play. An expensive game to be sure, but I ended up getting the first 3 cycles and I am very much enjoying the game.
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Legacy of Dragonholt Really cool open world style choose your own adventure game. I hesitate to call it a “game”, but it is a truly excellent interactive experience.
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Arkahm Horror 3rd Edition Has a lot of feel of the LCG, but in board form. I like it almost as much as the LCG.
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Nemesis It’s Alien. In a box. (With a dash of Aliens for good measure).
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Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion I’ve barely played this if I’m honest, but it seems a much more user friendly version of Gloomhaven. I’m hoping they do a streamlined version of Frosthaven too. I think for me this smaller version is a better fit than big daddy Gloomy.
I also played a decent amount of Robinson Crusoe (2nd Ed) and Descent 2E, but both of those released well before the window and unlike AH:LCG are not really currently running games.
I do wish I had backed Tainted Grail, as I suspect that would have been fun for me during the shut down. Alas, I did not. Hopefully they will do a new version of Tainted Grail that focuses the game more and removes the bloat. I did back ISS Vanguard and I think that looks terrific. Looking forward to it showing up in a few years.
- Beyond the Sun
- Dune Imperium
- Gentes
- Wingspan
- The Quest for El Dorado
Solo gamer chiming in. Pretty sure they were all released in the last five years.
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Pavlov’s House - A great siege game, part of the Valiant Defense series. Dice heavy, so that may be a negative for some, but I love the history and it’s unique setting.
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Castle Itter - Another Valiant Defense game, this one has less going on, but still fun. Nice, large map, sturdy tokens. Lots of dice rolls, but enough strategy to keep it interesting.
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Gloomhaven - Played 3 characters solo (quite a chore), and had a lot of fun with it. Gave it away when the digital version added the original campaign. Knew I’d never set it up again.
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Nemo’s War - Great theme, lots of replay value, with many different goals to choose from. Draws from the original source (20,000 Leagues Under the Seas*) and portrays a serious, conflicted captain Nemo.
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The Lost Expedition - Quick, easy to learn, small footprint survival card game. The opposite of Gloomhaven. Gruesome and brutal. A Judge Dredd version is also fun. A good road game.
*from the QT3 podcast
Oooooh, never heard of this. I’ll have to check it out! Do you know how it plays with multiple players?
Really good game. I never came remotely close to filling all those signal battalion spaces!
I played it with 2 and it works really well. The artwork is fantastic, think of Tin Tin
I don’t feel like I’ve played much released 2017+. But, I played enough to have a top 5.
- Spirit Island - Competitive-feeling co-operative play that’s been great for multiple groups.
- High Frontier 4 All - I haven’t gotten to the “game” part, but my few plays inflamed old fascination for space travel.
- Dune Imperium - Only played once and it seemed so good for what I want a Dune game to be about. I worry that only a single play means I didn’t have the chance to see downsides like in the last two.
- Too Many Bones - Satisfying components and good discovery of how to play the characters I found interesting.
- Gloomhaven - The setup for the physical game wore me out. Digital solves that but introduces an ease of making mistakes without recourse to quickly correct them. Digital wins out. It’s just too bad it’s not a panacea.
It’s great. It made my honourable mentions too.
I like it better 2 player than solo, but it’s great both ways. With multiple players, each player puts down a card in turn to create the path. And you pretty much only have painful options. And then you all get to groan together as you walk the path you created.
Sometimes, not often, you make it all the way:
Reminder that if you want to vote for the beast games of the last 5 years and have it part of the tally, do so today before midnight Pacific time!
OK, here’s my top 5:
Honorable Mention. Nevsky: Teutons and Rus in Collision 1240–1242: I really admire Volko Ruhnke and his game designs.
5. 1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties: Mainly for the audacity of creating a solo mode for an 18XX game…and it being excellent.
4. Renegade: Picked this up after Tom’s videos on the game and love it.
3. Kanban EV: My first Vital Lacerda game and the first game in a long time where I wanted to start another game as soon as the previous one ended.
2. Pax Pamir 2nd Edition: My second Pax game (after Transhumanity) and it’s beautiful and cleverly designed. I’ve been playing quite a bit lately against the Wakhan solo bot, which is very satisfying.
1. Arkham Horror LCG: Apparently, it counts, so it’s my #1.
Edited to include Arkham Horror.
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I did edit my list to include it. BUT there’s no way that Kanban beats Pax Pamir @B_Dog :) You obviously weren’t playing with mean Sandra.
Ok, ok, I edited my post to include Arkham Horror.
And @Matt_W, I have Pax Pamir ranked above Kanban EV already. ;)