Hello everyone! As you might have noticed the past week my blog has been a little bit more quiet than the previous three weeks. In fact it’s gone deadly silent. I even did not comment as much as I normally do, for which I apologise. This pretty much means only one thing really: my vacation is over and I’m back at work. The first week has been especially bad and very busy, also considering the fact that I had to work on saturday. But enough complaining about that, it’s now sunday, and I finally have time to write again. So I thought it would be a good idea to complete the request made by Arthifis (You all still know him right? Great guy, and he started writing a book as well: that is so awesome!). Anyways in case you missed the first part, he requested I make a list of some of my favorite solo boardgames. Here in part two I’m going into my personal top five. Not only are these games great to play alone, they really are some of my alltime favorite games period.
Just one more thing: again I would like to point out my favorite Youtube Boardgame Channel: The Vitruvian Gamer. This week he has also started a new feature on his channel as well, where in small 7-10 minute segments he talks about boardgames, the channel, and life in general. It really is a great place to visit. A few of the games listed below have been featured on his channel, and as I pointed out in part 1, he really is a great host as well. Always kind, and with very insigthful and fun to watch videos it’s a great way to spent some time on Youtube. And hey, you might even end up discovering a new game that you would like to try out as well, so how cool is that. Below is one of his videos for a game that I will talk about later on in this post. Okay, enough talking, let’s get cracking!
5: Ascension
Ascension is a deckbuilding cardgame. Yes, that sounds like a really difficult term, but it truly isn’t. A player starts out with a relatively weak basic hand of cards. During the course of the game, you can buy new cards with the weaker ones and add them to your deck of existing cards. In this way you can make your deck more powerful. Ascension takes place in a fantasy world, and when you play the game solo you are basically fighting against an unseen opponent. By defeating monsters, and aquiring new cards you have to try and gain more points then your foe before the game ends. The fun thing about Ascension is that is a really simple game to learn (about 5 minutes), and there are now a lot of expansions as well. But, each set released stands on it’s own. In other words you can combine all the sets, or just play with one set. This offers a lot of choices, while at the same time it won’t overwhelm new players which is nice too.
4: Xenoshyft: Dreadmire
This is another deckbuilding game, so it uses the same mechanics as above. But, this one comes with a neat twist. Set in a science fiction universe, and a quite horrible one at that, Xenoshyft Dreadmire allows you to play as the commander of a base from the Nortec Corporation. This company mines planets for a new and powerful energy source. However this energy source has a dangerous side effect as it turns the native animals into horrible monsters. During the course of nine rounds, that become ever more difficult, you have to defend the base from these creatures. This game is tough as nails, and very hard to win. But despite that fact it’s enormously fun to play. The artwork alone should be enough to sell you on buying it. If you like a good challenge this is the one to look into! More info on this game be found in my review.
3. Elder Sign
Elder Sign is one of the best games that I have ever played. It’s a fusion between a dice and a cardgame and it’s an absolute joy to play. You take on the role of an investigator, that tries to stop an ancient evil from awakening and plunging the world into darkness. The base game takes place in an old museum, where you are desperately trying to find the so called elder signs. Depending on which Ancient One you are trying to defeat, you have to discover a set amount of these tokens, before time runs out. Using dice, you explore rooms in the museum, where you try to overcome traps, monsters, and other unspeakable horrors. By investigating rooms, you can find new weapons, spells, clues and other stuff to make you more powerful, as well as the elder signs themselves. As the game has an enormous amount of cards, and the set up is different each time, the game has tremendous replay value. With a lot of expansions having been released for it as well, you will not get bored by this game anytime soon.
2. Legendary (Encounters)
Legendary and Legendary Encounters are all deckbuilders (yes again), but are also a blast to play. Legendary is probably best known for it’s Marvel sets. With a huge amount of available cards for these now, you put together your own superhero team in order to fight against one of the villains from the Marvel Universe. Ever wanted to have a team up between Wolverine and Iron Man? Well now you can achieve this. But Legendary has more to offer. In Legendary Encounters you can play through some of your favorite science fiction movies and television series. There are now sets for Aliens, Predator, Firefly and an upcoming one for The X-files. What differs these sets from their Legendary counterparts is that you actually play through scenarios from the movies and shows themselves, which is a lot of fun especially if you are a fan of these. Variety is the keyword here, as the normal Legendary has also games for cult movie Big Trouble in Little China as well as the television series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
1. Eldritch Horror
So why is this game my number one? Well, the simple answer would be just read my Eldritch Horror review. But that would be cheating. This game is pretty much the bigger cousin of Elder Sign. Travelling around the entire world, you have to discover enough clues to find out what kind of ancient evil is trying to take over the world. You explore cities, ancient ruins, tombs and all kinds of other places. Narrative cards explain what exactly happens to you when you enter a certain place. And this is what makes the game so much fun to play. It sometimes feels like you are starring in your own adventure/horror movie. Every game is different, and has both strategy elements to it, as well as luck in the form of dice rolls. It’s by no means an easy game to win, and it takes a bit of time to set up. But other than that it’s always been the game that I have really enjoyed the most playing solo.
So, there we have it. Now this list is by no means complete, and there are games still lurking around in my collection that I haven’t even played yet. So maybe, there are other games that are even better than these. I certainly have a number of other suggestions too, that didn’t make the cut. So if you want even more options do take a look around at the boardgame section of my blog. As always thank you for reading!
I didn’t even know that there were such things as solo board games.
I continue to learn something new every day, thanks to blogging! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Haha, there most certainly are, and they are becoming increasingly more popular as well. You can find a lot of fun boardgames these days that work just as well for one person, as the ones that have more than one player 😊
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Ascension has a great digital version for mobile too. It’s the only game I ever still play on my phone after all these years.
Same company has a cool looking Sci-fi game called Shards of Infinity now too, but it’s not a single player one.
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I actually have the Ascension digital version, and I agree: that is a really great app! Ascension is a really fun deckbuilder, and I just love the theme of the game.
As for Shards of Infinity…I have to check that one out as I haven’t heard of it 😊
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I love the Lovecraftian themed games.
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Yeah, those are great. Eldritch Horror especially is a really fun game 😊😊
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Long vacations are nice, but catching up with work can be a pain when it all ends. I feel your pain, as last week I did overtime over the weekend. That’s why I didn’t post any reviews. From the listed games the Marvel one sounds right up my alley.
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Yeah, it’s really been one of those weeks, where I came home and pretty much wasn’t able to do a single thing because I was just way too tired. Luckily I finally have some time..almost feels like I wasn’t a blogger at all this week.
Sorry to hear you have had a busy week too. Hopefully the next one will be better 😊
Yeah Marvel Legendary is really awesome. There are so many expansions for that game now, that you won’t have any trouble finding a superhero that you like 😊😊
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Ah yes, the solo board games 😁 love them, played all of them and I think the only one we played together was Xenoshyft out of these? That game is so annoying 😂 but so goooood!
Perhaps during our next boardgame meeting (next weekend, lol) we could play it again? Or this war of mine, I love that game…or mansion of madness! Technically those are solo games too of course, but sometimes it’s extra fun with more people 😊 once again great post Michel!
Also great that you’re promoting Kurt’s channel, he had quiet for a long time but his new uploads are great!
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Haha…yeah…that game is REALLY annoying, but so much fun as well! It would definitely be a good choice to play next week! The other two sound like great choices as well by the way: either way: I’m game (pun intended 😂😂).
As for Kurt, absolutely. I really love the fact that he’s doing these new short videos. It doesn’t take a long time to watch them, and they have really been interesting!. That, and his channel is just really cool! 😊😊
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Aww, it’s never fun for vacation to end and to have to head back to the daily work grind. This is a nice continuation of the previous post with some interesting games highlighted 🙂
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Thank you it was fun to write it too 😊😊 Yeah, it really was a hectic week and I have noticed it really had an impact on blogging this week too. Didn’t get to write anything really😔 But well, hope the upcoming week will be better: fingers crossed 😀
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Argh gosh darn it, you make me want to try board games even when I usually don’t care for them! 😂 You sir have a talent, truly.
I haven’t heard of any of these but I am quite curious about Eldritch Horror. I think I remember your review and it certainly made an impression! No wonder it’s number one on your list.
I will absolutely check these out in the future when I’m in the mood for some boardgames 🙂 Thank you so much for the recs!
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Haha…sorry about that lol 😂😂
Well, lately I have way too little time to play boardgames: too much stuff to do, so it’s actually nice to write a post about them again, and remember that I still have them 😊😊
Eldritch Horror really is a great game, and highly worth checking out especially if you like reading books, which you do 😊😊
Haha: and of course you are welcome, and thank you for the kind words as always 😊😊
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We definitely seem to be constantly running out of time… We need more holidays 😂😂😂
Yeah that was a point in favour of that game for sure! 😛
And no worries, always a pleasure 😊<3
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I didn’t realize there were so many versions of Legendary!
I was drawn to Elder Sign the first time I saw it, and luckily found it on sale not too long after. Now I got more games to keep in mind!
For me, I like to play Pandemic the Cure solo (well, I say my dog is player #2) since it doesn’t take up a lot of room and I can play in my usual comfy chair.
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Yeah, crazy isn’t it? I have all the sets so far, and they are all fun to play. My favorite though is probably Legendary Encounters Alien. That one for me is the most tense, and it’s a blast to play through those movies too😊
Elder Sign really is one of those fun games, that is always nice to bring to the table again every once in a while 😊😊There are a lot of expansions for the game these days as well, that turn it into a whole new experience😊
As for Pandemic: I have never played that one, but everyone keeps telling me it’s really good. I will hopefully get to try it one day: lol, and making your dog player two is not such a bad idea 😂😂
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My dog is also really good at being player 3 in games like Apples to Apples.
Pandemic was one of the first strategy games I bought. So I have an attachment to it because of that, but it’s also fun.
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Haha, that is good lol 😂😂
Well..who knows, it’s been on my list of games to try for ages, so hopefully I will get to it at some point 😊😊
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I didn’t know that solo board games were a thing either. Thanks for teaching us something new!!! 😄😄
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Well, they are becoming more popular these days that’s for sure 😊 Haha, and you are welcome Rose 😊😊
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Lol @ solo board games. How very anti-social! Though I’m crap at social ones anyway, never won monopoly ever. 😕
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First of all, thanks again for your kind words about me and my channel!
I have to admit, I never played Ascension or Xenoshift and Elder Signs only on the app a couple of times (there goes my reputation of ‘the board game guy’). 🙂
I do love the Legendary (especially the Encounters) deckbuilders and Eldritch Horror (although I have too many expansions for EH now and it is a terrible endeavour to set that game up now).
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Haha, you are very welcome!
Lol, well…no problem, your reputation is safe, and I have played the app too, so really no problem! I think Xenoshift is probably a game that you would enjoy very much, knowing the types of games that you enjoy to play: it’s one I highly recommend.
As for Eldritch Horror: that is one of the reasons I don’t play it as often either: I really do love the game, but the set up time really is murder sometimes. Stil: it is still my favorite game, and I do still play it on weekends 😊😊
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Thank you so much for doing this! 😀 I really need to get my hands on Elder Sign and Eldritch Horror… Maybe I should start hinting my boyfriend so he buys this for Christmas xD
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Haha…you totally should! Both are very good games to have, and also fun to play at christmas! Hope you will enjoy them, and of course you are very welcome 😊😊
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Was surprised to see that a game like Legendary exists, but it’s nice to hear you could go through some classic movies thanks to it! Also love that deckbuilding games are a favourite of yours hahah I have to admit that Yu-Gi-Oh was a HUGE part of my childhood, and I can definitely understand the excitement behind those kinds of games hahaha 😀
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I think Legendary is a game that is pretty much made for you: the Marvel series especially is a great game for superhero fans: and with so many expansions for it, you are likely to find many of your favorite heroes in it😊 Deckbuilders really are some of my favorite types of games. The fun part about them is that they are not collectible; in other words you have the entire set in one go😉
I have never played Yu-Gi-Oh, but I have heard a lot about it. Was more of a Magic the Gathering guy myself😊
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This might sound weird, but I really love the art work in these games, especially the ones with cards 🙂 Some very cool looking cards in this post 🙂
Out of all the games, I like the sound of Elder Sign the most. It might just be the idea of exploring a museum, fighting monsters and finding things, but it sounds really fun 🙂
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That doesn’t sound weird at all! In fact it’s one of the things that I love a lot about these games myself. Both Elder Sign and Xenoshyft have truly amazing art work.
As for Elder Sign: it’s an amazing game, and truly one of my favorites. It isn’t a tough game to learn, but it’s a lot of fun to play and has enormous replay value. If you plan on buying it, you certainly won’t be disappointed that’s for sure 😊
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I didn’t actually know solo boardgames were a thing! I’ve heard of Eldersign before and it does sound fun 🙂
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Well, they are becoming ever more popular these days: a lot more are coming out every month, and some are even more fun to play than some “multiplayer” games. Elder SIgn is really a great game: both solo and with more players, and one that I highly recommend 😊
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Elder Sign sounds SO GOOD!!I’ve never played that one before, and now I wonder how I could have missed it!! 💖💖 If you ever come visit me, you’re totally bringing that one with you. 😘
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Haha…well I promise to bring you that when I come visit you. In fact I will bring you your own copy 😘 So you can play it yourself as well. And it really is very good!! 😊😊
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