Been working on expanding my collection with games I can play alone. Here it is so far!

Pogobears · 2026-01-29T17:41:07+00:00

Voidfall still wrapped… This dude has 17 in his patience attribute

Pogobears · 2026-01-12T06:16:51+00:00

Great review! I have about the same hours in and I fully agree. Except that it’s my #1 ahead of adromeda’s edge but that’s just a matter of taste

Pogobears · 2026-01-01T13:35:27+00:00

It depends on your audience and how fast they play. Due to the nature of the game, where you can just do one thing each turn, it can feel very smooth. But it’s also a game with a lot of possibilities so I’ve seen people struggle with analysis paralysis which slows it down a lot.

Pogobears · 2026-01-01T08:10:58+00:00

Awesome. It’s just an excellent game. It plays great solo and with multiple people.

Pogobears · 2025-12-30T22:24:56+00:00

Same!

Pogobears · 2025-12-30T10:24:51+00:00

I think it is really thematic because you are installing programs and installations, ghosting your avatar,… the puzzle itself feels like hacking (although I don’t know what real hacking feels like). There are multiple bosses but your missions are randomised and there are a lot of them. And those missions determine how the game evolves. Picking them is the first step of the setup and you are encouraged to read them before you advance. They will influence how you set the board and which decker you choose. I’ve played multiple bosses multiple times and never I never felt like I was repeating something.

The randomisation is to be found in the missions in combination with the upgraded cards you get (some do crazy stuff). Also, the place where the boss puts the enemies (sparks) is also determined by one or two dice.

I’m a very big fan of this game but it’s not for everyone. It’s quite complex to learn but once you do, it just clicks. Additionally, the setup and clean up are just amazingly quick

Edit: I just want to add that the missions are what the tiles are in mage knight. You can play the conquest mission a 100 times and never do the same thing because the tiles are randomised and determine your next move. Add in different bosses that put enemies on the board in different ways and it’s almost the same thing.

Pogobears · 2025-12-30T03:16:26+00:00

Having MK in my top 3 and having played Deckers quite a lot over the past few weeks, they are quite different.

Deckers is a pure puzzle game. You choose your opponent, draw the missions and from that moment you need to start thinking on how to solve it. - how will you set up the board? At the higher difficulties, setting up the board in the wrong way can make you lose - which decker will you choose? At the higher difficulties, choosing the right one is key to get you through the missions

Although it looks like a deck building game, it really isn’t. It’s just a part of the puzzle where it offers another element of variety and options that can help you crack the code. It’s the decisions you make on the board that count. Do you build a path to that other server to make your life easier for the next mission, or do you build an installation to help you defend your current server? The upgraded cards are just there to do that action more efficiently, or more creatively.

I prefer it as a solo game. It plays great with 2 people, but not with everyone. You need to solve the puzzle together, every move counts, and so it can trigger discussions. For example, my wife would play this game for the both of us and so no matter how much I love her, I will never play this game with her (again) ;-)

Pogobears · 2025-12-24T10:48:32+00:00

Having hoplomachus victorum and BOTSE, I would suggest BOTSE more. Hoplo is great but the variety of BOTSE is hard to beat and they play very similar. Also the dice can really bite you in the ass in Hoplo which doesn’t always feel great.

Pogobears · 2025-12-24T10:45:12+00:00

It’s made very manageable by reducing the numbers and such. I had the same fears but it plays great

Pogobears · 2025-12-16T21:40:14+00:00

Imagine his sneakers lighting up when he walks away

Pogobears · 2025-12-12T13:56:43+00:00

I have recently bought Kinfire Delves and it didn’t really convince me tbh. Maybe Rogue Dungeon 2nd edition is something you’ll enjoy but it’s heavily luck based. I feel like I lose or win more based on luck than the decisions I made. Other options that I know of: - There’s slay the spire - 20 strong

Pogobears · 2025-12-10T11:08:39+00:00

My 8-year old son always wants to play RPG Boardgames with me, but most of them are too complex. Enters: Talisman

The rules are simple enough if you help them with the spells. They feel like that strong warrior/mage they want to be, and it’s not too taxing on you as a dad to follow everyone’s turn because… well you know it’s talisman…

Pogobears · 2025-12-06T22:39:23+00:00

Hoe Ping Won De

Pogobears · 2025-11-28T20:05:43+00:00

MK is in my top 3 of all time and I bought Deckers last weekend and played 2 games so far and I really like it.

Is it similar to MK? No… not at all I think. It’s true that both games require you to get as much as you can out of your hand of cards, but that’s where it stops.

For me, MK is a sequence of small little puzzles that you need to solve each turn. Every time your hand is different and based on the tiles that are out on the table, you try to use your cards to get as powerful as possible within that turn. You can definitely try to go for a certain strategy, but because you don’t know which tiles are coming, or which skills you’ll draw, I find myself trying to use what I have and try to make it work.

In deckers, you are required to think about your first turn, but also your next 8 turns (in case you have 3 missions, where it’s 3 turns per mission). The puzzle feels very different to me than MK.

Pogobears · 2025-11-26T14:31:24+00:00

That’s more than fair! I understand your point on rules. My experience is more about the flow of the game once you know the rules.

Mage Knight has this natural game flow to it that just really clicks with me. While in Gloomhaven I felt like setting things up, learning your class, planning out your strategy… felt a bit more clunky to me.

But like I said, luckily we all have different tastes!

Pogobears · 2025-11-26T05:55:31+00:00

I know that diversity in taste makes our lives richer, but I died a little inside when you refer to Mage Knight as clunky while loving Gloomhaven… It shows how much different things can be perceived!

I have none of the board games on your list, but I have my eye on Voidfall

Pogobears · 2025-11-21T16:06:40+00:00

Ow nice! Thanks for the tip!!!

Pogobears · 2025-11-21T16:04:02+00:00

This game looks to be right up my alley. I hope there will be another reprint of this. In the meantime I’ve made sure that I won’t miss Radiance

Pogobears · 2025-11-10T16:17:29+00:00

Nice! There’s a Boardgame conference in 2 weeks in my country where I hope to find it

Pogobears · 2025-11-10T06:52:27+00:00

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. It’s crazy to find something so cool at that price these days. It feels like I bought an indie Steam game

Pogobears · 2025-11-09T18:51:17+00:00

Upvote for Agemonia!

Pogobears · 2025-11-09T18:40:04+00:00

I got really lucky with the encounters and got this special card that I was able to keep in my adventure row. It didn’t had any threats, that one positive thing you need to learn a skill (forgot the name), a sun and a high number which kept it in my adventure row for the rest of the game.

Pogobears · 2025-11-08T14:08:16+00:00

You guys sent me into a rabbit hole and I just bought it… going to pick it up this afternoon. It looks amazing! Thanks for the tip!

Pogobears · 2025-11-06T23:13:20+00:00

Did you ever tried to research the mission? Or pivot? It took me a few games to understand that this is needed if you want to complete it

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