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TabletopBoard Games

What are the best co-op board games?

13

Options
Considered

27

User
Recs.

Aug 21, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

13 Options Considered

Best co-op board games	Price	# Players	Play Time
-- Pandemic	$27.69	2 to 4	45 Minutes
-- Betrayal at House on the Hill	$49.99	3 to 6	60 Minutes
-- Space Alert	$45.81	1 to 5	30 Minutes
-- Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island	$49.50	1 to 4	60 - 120 Minutes
-- Gloomhaven	$198	1 to 4	60-120 minutes (per scenario)

Pandemic

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Top Pro

Easy to learn but still provides a challenge

Learning the rules doesn't take long at all, and within a few rounds, most players will be able to pick up what's going on. Even though the general game flow and rules are quick to understand, there is still plenty of nuances to gameplay, little tricks you'll be learning along the way, and plenty of different roles to choose from which allow room for in-depth strategies. See More

Top Con

Difficult

Pandemic is a pretty difficult game, there will be a lot of losses compared to wins. Though when there is a win it does feel righteously earned. See More

Specs

# Players:2 to 4

Play Time:45 Minutes

Top Pro

One of the first games to implement full co-op gameplay, Pandemic remains one of the defining examples of the genre

When it was first released, Pandemic's co-op gameplay was a pretty unique aspect to boardgames and made for a different and fun experience where either all players won or lost as a team. As the board gaming hobby has grown over the years, fully co-operative games have become an entire genre, and yet Pandemic remains one of the defining examples of the style. With a base game that is consistently difficult--even for veteran players--and an engaging and interesting theme to draw players in, this is a game where working together to achieve victory is almost an art form. See More

Top Con

Can suffer from Alpha-gamer / quarterbacking issues

Due to the nature of co-op games like Pandemic, a strong willed or loud player can end up dictating everyone else's turns for them, especially in situations where there are clearly better decisions to be made. This can lead some people to feel like they aren't actually 'playing' so much as being told what to do. See More

Top Pro

Lots of replayability thanks to each playthrough being unique

With multiple player roles (Pilot, Scientist, Doctor, etc) to choose from and the card draw that infects areas at random, each playthrough is an entirely different experience. Pandemic also has multiple expansions adding more player roles and even a traitor mechanic which can turn the game from fully co-op to 1 vs many, adding an additional challenge for the good guys to overcome. See More

Top Con

Won't appeal to competitive PvP players

Everyone works together in Pandemic, so there is no dominating or crushing your opponents in this game. This may not appeal to some competitive gamers who would prefer to play games that allow them to best other players. See More

Top Pro

Creates a sense of urgency thanks to the Infection Deck

One of Pandemic's greatest mechanisms is the way the Infection Deck is managed. Each turn players reveal a number of city cards from this deck equal to the current infection level (2-4), this determines where new infections will appear. Players also draw 2 cards each turn from the Player Deck, which has a variable number of Epidemic Cards mixed in based on the difficulty level. The brilliance of the infection deck is how it interacts with Epidemic cards; when one is drawn from the player deck the Infection Deck's discard pile is shuffled, and then placed on top of the current Infection Deck, making it more likely that cities that have previously had outbreaks will have them again. This creates a very real sense of urgency as the first draw after an Epidemic Card can often result in outbreaks and a rapidly accelerating spread of diseases. See More

Top Pro

The different editions/expansions stay true to the Pandemic experience yet offer something fresh each time

For example, in Pandemic Iberia, your movement is much more limited therefore you have to invest in building railways and the diseases cannot be cured, only researched. They will continue to infect even after being researched. Each expansion is easy to pick up and play as it offers something new while keeping the base game familiar. See More

Betrayal at House on the Hill

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Top Pro

Well written storylines lead to very memorable gameplay experiences

Each of the 50 scenarios are unique and have a gripping story that helps pull you into the game. Whether it's demons, monsters, or rituals that need to be completed, each gameplay session will be filled with new stories and new objectives. Thanks to this, each session memorable in its own way as you won't ever be doing the same thing twice. See More

Top Con

Some Haunts are very unbalanced

Due to how the house is gradually discovered in the first phase of the game, it is possible for either the Betrayer or the Investigators to not have access to the tiles they need to win the game at the start of the second phase. Sometimes the Betrayers will be at a disadvantage, and sometimes the Investigators. It's an issue that effects both sides about the same. See More

Specs

# Players:3 to 6

Play Time:60 Minutes

Top Pro

Exciting tone shift mid-game

In the beginning, players all work together to explore and search the haunted house, but once the betrayers are revealed in the later sections, the game turns you against one another. This complete shift in tone from co-op exploration to frantic survival is often the most exciting part as everyone's goals suddenly change and your friends are trying to kill you. See More

Top Con

The mechanics aren't the best

The mechanics for things like movement and fighting occasionally break down or don't make sense in certain Haunts. For movement, there are two cases where the mechanics break down. In most cases, it's very obvious where you're supposed to go and it ends up being a simplistic point A to point B course. This takes all the fun or guesswork out of plotting the optimal path. On the other hand, sometimes reaching your goal is impossible because of layouts which makes fulfilling an objective difficult or downright impossible. In both cases, movement feels unexciting. When fighting, some abilities are rather complex, so time is taken out of the game to explain the mechanics to everyone. This ruins immersion for everyone and it can feel like there is more explaining than actual action. See More

Top Pro

Near endless replayability

The "Traitor's Tome" rulebook contains a base of 50 "haunt" scenarios to play through, but you can easily create your own or find more online if you'd like to play more unique or varied games. Even when playing the base game, the sheer amount of variety in nightmarish things (monsters, aliens, ghosts, weird portals) the game throws at you is incredible. See More

Top Con

Not appropriate for children

Some of the more complicated scenarios can be quite confusing, and the game is relatively slow paced, so it may not be fun for kids. As it's a horror game, some of the themes (monsters, cannibalism, demonic rituals) are not appropriate for young children. See More

Top Pro

Great for getting your friends into gaming

Overall, this is a great game to help get your friends into board games, even if they are bit reluctant. Each game session usually only lasts about 60 minutes, but manages to pack as much fun in as possible. The suspense of exploration combined with the excitement of the big reveal is an addicting mechanic that works well with many groups. Thanks to this short length and incredible way of drawing people in, this makes it a great game to pick up and play with friends on the spur of the moment. See More

Top Con

Players may feel disadvantaged at times

There is a huge variety in the horrors revealed, and some work better than others after a large portion of the house has been discovered. Others work best in small, enclosed quarters. For example, a creature suddenly crawling through the walls works best in the small quarters, whereas it wouldn't be so much of a threat in a larger open area. Due to things like this, the scenario can sometimes often feel unfair for one side or the other - either the Betrayer or the Investigators will have a huge disadvantage. See More

Top Pro

Not a huge time investment

You can play a whole game from start to finish in about an hour. See More

Top Con

Game relies very heavily on the players buying into the theme

This is a game that does best only if the players really buy into the theme of exploring the haunted house. Since cards are read aloud and acted out a bit (creepy voices highly encouraged), events and haunts in particular benefit from this extra bit of immersion. If this seems like a Pro to you, then great, Betrayal is your kind of game, but if not, then it can get stale quickly and its flaws are made even more apparent. See More

Top Pro

Great expansion that adds to gameplay

The Window's Walk expansion not only adds 50 new haunts, but adds new rooms, cards and opens up the roof for exploration. Overall, it's an excellent addition that expands on the base game and gives you plenty of new content to enjoy. See More

Top Pro

Builds anticipation and suspense

Perhaps one person, or even multiple people are forced to switch to Betrayers in the middle of the game. You never know who is going to be affected, what the revealed horror will be, or when it will happen. Additionally, the Betrayers and Investigators often have objectives which are kept secret from one another, so you never know what your opponent's win condition is until it happens. All of this keeps everyone guessing what's going to happen next and how things will play out. See More

Space Alert

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Top Pro

Simple rules

The very basics of the game are quite simple. Every player has a role assigned to them – the captain, the communications officer, and the security officer. The players take 12 turns in 10 minutes pre-planning actions while listening to a soundtrack that explains all incoming threats. The action phase is divided into three further parts, each of which has a separate deck of action cards. The soundtrack calls out the threats, the endings of phases, data transfers, and communication disruptions, and you must act accordingly. After the 10-minute soundtrack is over, all the actions the players planned and coordinated are resolved. If the ship is still alive after that, then the game is won. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

Space Alert is not very beginner friendly, and if you don’t properly understand how the game works when you start it up, then you’ll have visible difficulty keeping up with what’s happening in the frantic 10-minute action phase. You’ll also be dragging down the other players because there really isn’t enough time to explain rules when the game is already in progress. It’s worth reserving an hour to play through the well-designed tutorial book that slowly introduces the complex aspects, so you’ll be ready for the real deal. See More

Specs

# Players:1 to 5

Play Time:30 Minutes

Top Pro

Good components

The components of the game should hold up to multiple plays and regular wear and tear. There are a lot of good quality wooden tokens, and the cards are made of durable cardstock. The gameboard and the tracking boards are also quite thick and should endure well. See More

Top Con

Unforgiving

Every action you take highly impacts what happens to the rest of the crew, and one tiny misstep can make the whole plan fall apart, which can be frustrating to some. Teamwork and good communication is completely necessary to win. See More

Top Pro

No alpha-gamer issue

Space Alert effectively evades the popular quarterbacking issue of cooperative board games. There’s simply no way to communicate enough useful information to other players in the 10-minute timeframe, so nobody can control absolutely everything. Everyone must efficiently work together and say what they’ll be doing to take care of the looming threats. See More

Top Con

Can’t be stopped once in progress

Once you press “play” on the 10-minute soundtrack, there’s no interrupting it – no pauses, no rewinds, etc. It’s important to stay focused, not engage in casual banter, and make sure there are no distractions in the background, which can be difficult to manage sometimes. See More

Top Pro

Strong theme

Space Alert has a sci-fi theme to it, and the game executes it perfectly. From the aesthetic look of the game to the actions you take, there’s plenty of science fiction – aliens, spaceships, robots, etc. The soundtrack playing in the background during the planning phase also adds a lot to the immersion. For those that are into more of a science fiction game, Space Alert could easily fit that bill. See More

Top Con

A lot of setup

Space Alert has a lot of pieces to sort through, cards and decks to shuffle and place on the gameboard. It’s not so bad if you decide to play more than one game, but the actual games are very quick in comparison to the amount of setup/takedown time. See More

Top Pro

Good humor

While slightly morbid, the humor contained in the game and gameplay is quite amusing. The resolution phase is also full of humorous moments as the players watch their actions unfold or fall apart. For example, the tutorial book states that the captain must remember to do the “C” action that represents pressing the spacebar on the ship’s computer to keep the lights on. See More

Top Con

Requires CD player with speakers

Space Alert is only playable with the included audio CD or downloadable MP3's, without them the game is impossible to play. See More

Top Pro

No analysis paralysis

Turn speed is dictated by the CD, avoiding some players procrastinating on their turns / keeping the gameplay flowing. See More

Top Pro

1 - 5 players

Can be played as a single player game, or with up to 4 friends, dividing roles accordingly. If you don’t have a full group of 5 players, then the missing characters are androids, which can be controlled by any player. See More

Top Pro

Fast gameplay

The game takes around 30 minutes to play through, 10 minutes of which is the intense planning phase with the soundtrack blasting in the background. See More

Top Pro

Cooperative

Space Alert is a cooperative based game, something that is not always the case for board games and can be a refreshing change. See More

Top Pro

Ranked highly on board game geek

With an average score of 7.5 out of 10 and a rank of 155, Space Alert is a positively reviewed board game. See More

Top Pro

Each game is unique

The combination of several CD tracks along with variant card combos and action options ensures that no two games will be the same, making the game widely replayable. If you run out of the official CD tracks, then you can also download the Space Alert Mission Generator to get some random scenarios, or you can browse the internet for custom missions. See More

Top Pro

Varying difficulty

Various options can be selected to alter the difficulty level of the game, such as the power of internal and external common threats and serious threats. This makes, for example, the monsters you encounter much stronger, adding a whole new level of required teamwork. See More

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

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Top Pro

Gameplay mechanics combine with theme for a deeply immersive experience

Whether trying to outrun a volcano, defeat tribes of cannibals, or removing a curse from the island; each scenario requires you to play the game subtly different in a way that makes the theme come alive. For example, while fleeing from the volcano players are highly encouraged to use the exploration icon to uncover more and more tiles to stay ahead of the encroaching lava, while in a different scenario gathering wood becomes the priority and players shift to using the resource gathering option more often. This leads to each scenario feeling unique and really drawing players into each one of them. See More

Top Con

Complex

While the rules aren’t necessarily difficult, there are a lot of things you must remember and keep track of when playing Robinson Crusoe. You must essentially memorize what areas provide what type of resources, what are the conditions of getting resources or creating stuff, how to resolve specific plays, how dice and event cards work, etc. While you’re struggling to survive you must constantly remind yourself of the main objective that you must achieve to win. There’s a lot of thinking about what the least worst move out of the bunch is. See More

ReceptiveIuchar's Experience

With both my wife and I loving castaway stories, this is the game we have played the most See More

Specs

# Players:1 to 4

Play Time:60 - 120 Minutes

Top Pro

Quality components

All the components featured in Robinson Crusoe should easily hold up to a lot of plays. From the smaller wooden bits and pieces to the heavy dice and durable cardstock cards, all the components are top-notch and don’t feel cheap. See More

Top Con

Quarterbacking issue

Robinson Crusoe is a prime example of a game that suffers from the alpha-gamer issue. Each round begins with players talking to each other and deciding what they’re going to do, and it’s easy for the experienced gamer to dictate what everyone must do because this is a game that has a pretty steep learning curve. See More

Top Pro

Good aesthetics

The visual look of Robinson Crusoe is very appealing and adds a lot to the thematic immersion. It follows a 17th century shipwreck theme like the popular novel and includes tribal marks, old maps, the look of aged parchment, etc. See More

Top Con

Many small components

There are a lot of tiny wooden cubes and tokens in Robinson Crusoe, and this can lead to multiple problems. Firstly, if you accidentally happen to drop something, then it might be difficult to find if it rolls in a corner or a less visible place. Secondly, the gameboard is very vulnerable to movement, so you might displace some valuable information, for example, the cube tracking your current health points. Lastly, the number of components lead to a long setup / takedown time. See More

Top Pro

Stacks well with player count

The game has a specific set of rules depending on the number of players, so it doesn’t feel better or worse when played solo or in a 4-player group. See More

Top Pro

Multiple scenarios and variable set-up lead to great replayability

With 6 scenarios included in the base game (more in expansions), and each scenario having a variable setup that can lead to very different gameplay experiences, Robinson Crusoe is a game that you will keep coming back to time and time again. Every game will be completely different, not only because you can pick a different class and different strategy, but also because of the many variables and randomness of the game. See More

Top Pro

Fully cooperative gameplay

With the game being hard enough on its own, working together with other players feels like a welcome relief from the normally competitive nature of board games. See More

Gloomhaven

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Top Pro

Intense card management

Cards in Gloomhaven represent all of your attacks and movements, as well as determine the order these actions will take place. Furthermore, every class in the game has their own unique deck of cards. Most of the cards have unique and complex mechanics, but they all follow a simple rule when brought into play: you must choose whether to play the top action (attack) or the bottom action (movement). Once a card is played, it goes into a discard pile. However, by "resting" a few turns and sitting out of the action, you can put them back in your hand. Managing your cards each round and trying to get a victory in every scenario can be a very intense experience. Knowing when and how to use an card in your hand results in some really tense play where some tough, on-the-fly decisions have to be made. Do you attack or move? Do you save this attack for a tougher enemy later? Is this card worth playing now? Is it worth resting to retrieve cards?, etc. See More

Top Con

Takes a long time to set up

Setting up the board between each scenario is very time consuming as pieces have to be carefully arranged according to diagrams, cards have to be shuffled and placed into multiple piles, and character boards have to be configured. This process tends to take much longer than other similar board games. See More

Specs

# Players:1 to 4

Play Time:60-120 minutes (per scenario)

Top Pro

Character classes are distinctly unique

Each and every class represented in-game has their own deck of cards. These cards feature skills and abilities that are entirely unique to that specific class. Whether you're attacking, moving, or looting - each class carries out these actions with their own distinct style. Thanks to the sheer amount of variety offered between the classes, no two ever feel alike, and you're guaranteed to get a unique game experience based on the class you select. See More

Top Con

Cumbersome game box

The game box is huge and all the pieces don't always fit neatly back inside. This could make transporting the game a hassle. It's heavy, large, and has many various parts and pieces. See More

Top Pro

Exciting enemy encounter variations

There are a whopping 45 different enemies and 12 bosses. Each enemy in the game has their own unique stats along with combat modifiers such as additional damage. As such, each enemy acts and performs differently. Additionally, monsters can be set to various difficulty levels and scale based on how many players are in the encounter. All of this combined allows for a huge amount of variation, and keeps each encounter feeling fresh and exciting throughout numerous game sessions. See More

Top Con

Expensive due to being out of print

This game, while popular, is no longer in print. If you're looking to add it to your collection, you should be able to find it on Amazon or various board game hobby sites, but it normally carries a high price tag. See More

Top Pro

Heavy immersion in the world thanks to events

Outside of the dungeon crawling, there are Road Events and City Events that can occur. Road Events take place when traveling to a new location, whereas City Events happen when you visit the city of Gloomhaven. These events present players with unique and interesting situations and choices, such as meeting a traveler, running into monsters, or finding a new quest. The choices you make during events also influence the course of the story and may provide you with a buff (or debuff) for your upcoming dungeon crawl. These additional story elements help the world-building along, as they take place during what would be otherwise mundane things (such as traveling a road, or visiting town) and make it easy to stay connected and feel like you're a part of the game world at all times. See More

Top Con

Not good for short gaming sessions

While it's possible to play one scenario at a time, the story and encounters are best appreciated and experienced as a full campaign which will play out over several long sessions. Additionally, the board takes quite a while to set up between scenarios, which isn't great when you only have limited time to play. See More

Top Pro

Easy to understand

Although the sheer size of the board, tons of cards, and numerous game pieces/tokens make the game appear intimidating, it is quite easy to understand the basics after a short amount of time spent playing. This is due to its clearly defined rules, detailed cards/iconography, and the clean visual presentation of the game board. See More

Top Pro

Players can join and leave at will

A game can still run at maximum efficiency, even with a "revolving door" of players. Monsters can be set to scale based on the number of players, so if your friend suddenly has to leave mid-game, it won't be a huge detriment to the group. Players can also drop in or leave the game at any point, as it's easy to add or subtract players to the party between scenarios. It's all the little details like this that make it a great game to play with a group of friends who all have varying amounts of availability. See More

Top Pro

Can play solo

Even if you can't find anyone to play with, the game is able to be played solo. You can still tackle events and dungeons solo, progress your character, and enjoy the story without the need for a game master or even a group to play with. This makes it a great choice when the the urge to dungeon crawl strikes, but nobody is available for a long play session. See More

Forbidden Island

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Top Pro

Very accessible

Forbidden Island can be taught within a few minutes to absolutely anyone. It starts off slow and progressively leads into more complicated situations, so there’s time to get into the feel of the game. You only need to know how to do four actions, and the result of them is instantly visible, there’s pretty much nothing to micromanage. See More

Top Con

Quarterbacking / alpha-gamer issue

Forbidden Island suffers from the same issue as many cooperative games – a dominant player might make decisions for everyone. Table talk is absolutely necessary in this game to win, and the fact that everyone’s cards are visible, and the discard pile can be looked through doesn’t help the problem. See More

Specs

# Players:2 to 4

Play Time:30 Minutes

Top Pro

Cheap

The game retails for around $15, which is very cheap for the replay value and quality of the components that this game packs. See More

Top Con

Many luck elements

Pretty much everything that happens in this game revolves around the cards that are drawn. The map itself is set up by drawing tiles, so you can get very unlucky with the placement of the “Fool’s Landing” tile and the distance to the treasure locations you need to reach in order to win. You can also get unlucky with the treasure card deck that has some “Water Rising” cards shuffled in between – if you draw a few of these in quick succession, you might make important locations sink and lose straightaway. See More

Top Pro

Great physical components

The components of Forbidden Island are not only visually beautiful, but also durable, so they should hold up to wear and tear just fine. The game comes in a high-quality tin box and is full of thick and sturdy island tiles, durable cardstock cards, and eight treasure figures made of soft plastic. See More

Top Con

Possibly too light for experienced gamers

The game is very similar to Pandemic, but much easier in the sense that it sacrifices many concepts in favor of accessibility. Due to this Forbidden Island might feel repetitive, simplistic, and not very complex to a more experienced gamer because there are not as many strategic possibilities. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful artwork

The game looks amazing, it’s full of colorful high-quality artwork that really enhances the theme of treasure hunting on a mysterious island. The game’s box already gives a great first impression, featuring a big copy of the “Lighthouse” location tile. These locations that form the island have a huge variety of detailed and great-looking art on them. On a design note, it is also very well done in the sense that it’s easy to distinguish which tiles are sinking, even in the blue-ish looking locations. See More

Top Pro

Uncomplicated

The rules of Forbidden Island are straightforward. After setting up the map and choosing the difficulty, you are randomly assigned one of the six different classes. During your turn you can take up to three actions in total. All actions cost 1 point, you can move, shore up a drowning tile, give a treasure card to another player on the same tile, or collect a treasure. After that you draw two cards from the treasure card deck and take a number of flood cards equivalent to the water level. The game is won when you play a “Helicopter lift” card on the “Fool’s Landing” tile while you have all players on it and you’ve uncovered all the treasures. There are many lose conditions – you can lose if the water level reaches the highest mark, if both the tiles housing the same treasure drown before you manage to get it, if the “Fool’s Landing” tile drowns, or if a player drowns. See More

Top Pro

Varying difficulty

Forbidden Island lets you adjust the difficulty, which is great because you can adjust to the group you’re playing, be it a group of experienced gamers or your family. This is done by moving the slider on the water level meter to one of the four sections. Basically, you start with a higher initial water level. See More

Top Pro

Good replayability

There are many variables to Forbidden Island that keeps it replayable. The cards you draw and the map you create will always vary and the fact that you get a random class makes the game feel different every time. The six classes have highly different abilities, for example, the pilot can use an action point to fly to any tile on the island, the messenger can give treasure cards to another player anywhere on the map, and the engineer can shore up two tiles on the same turn for one action point. See More

Shadowrun: Crossfire

Top Pro

Constant player interaction

Crossfire is very cooperative, it’s basically impossible to go solo and win only by fighting your own threats; everyone must rely on each other because otherwise the game is lost. There’s an absolute ton of planning, micromanaging, and socializing as players try to beat the looming threats in front of themselves and each other. See More

Top Con

Sticker feature

As your character gains “karma” (levels) when you win or successfully abort missions, you can get permanent upgrades. They are represented by stickers you put on your Runner sheet. There’s no way to do a complete reset and just start a new game if, for example, you want to play with a new group. It can be a hassle to physically remove the stickers off the Runner sheet, and it might ruin it in the process. Obviously, you won’t be able to re-use the sticker either, and there’s a limited amount of them available. See More

Specs

# Players:1 to 4

Play Time:30 - 60 Minutes

Top Pro

Minimal “quarterbacking”

A player can’t take the reins and control everything in Shadowrun: Crossfire because the players can’t show their cards and can only communicate what they’ll be doing. See More

Top Con

Repetitive

The base, expansionless game of Shadowrun: Crossfire includes only three missions, so it can get boring to play the same stuff with the only thing that varies being the cards and obstacles you draw. Moreover, getting levels to progress your character is a really long process – you get 3 points per win and 1 point if you successfully abort the mission. The cheapest upgrades cost 5 karma, whereas the most expensive ones cost 50, so it can take many hours of “grinding” to get something if you don’t introduce house rules that allow you to level up faster. See More

Top Pro

Satisfying character progression

A big part of the game revolves around the players’ characters and it’s nice to see their level increase and new abilities unlock. There are characters of multiple races you can choose from – humans, elves, trolls, dwarves, and orks. After that you pick one of four classes – face, decker, mage, and street samurai. You keep developing your character’s skills via “karma” from either winning or successfully aborting missions. You use “karma” to purchase stickers which you apply on your Runner sheet. See More

Top Con

Dependant of the luck of the draw

Even if you’ve planned everything out perfectly, an unlucky draw of a very strong obstacle or an unfortunate Crossfire card can literally make the game unwinnable. This can be especially frustrating if it’s the last wave of obstacles and you’ve already got far. Furthermore, you are susceptible to luck even if it’s your first time playing the game because the “normal difficulty” deck you draw from includes some enemies that are as strong as the ones in the harder difficulty decks. See More

Top Pro

Thematic

The Shadowrun universe is quite vast, and it’s implemented into Crossfire well. The aesthetic design of the components coupled with the gameplay provides a thematic experience that’s just right - it suits both fans of the Shadowrun world and people unfamiliar with it. The character aspect of the game is immersive - players get attached to their evolving characters over the course of many games. The fact that players can’t just reveal their cards to everyone and must find ways to communicate what they’ll do also adds a lot to the immersion. See More

Top Con

Not very accessible

Shadowrun: Crossfire is very unforgiving and challenging. While the basic mechanics aren’t difficult, there’s a lot of stuff to micromanage, strategize, and communicate to others, which might be hard for a beginner. There’s little room for error and you can lose simply because you didn’t play completely perfectly. See More

Top Pro

Simple rules

The basics of Crossfire are quite easy and the rules are uncomplicated. Before you begin playing, players set up their characters and starting decks and draw cards from the obstacle deck. The win condition varies per mission, but, for example, in the Crossfire mission you must defeat three waves of obstacles to win. In your turn you play cards, apply damage to obstacles, take damage, draw cards, and buy cards before the next player takes their turn. In the second turn of the game a Crossfire card is drawn that basically causes either continuous, enhancing, or triggered effects that make each round different. After every player has taken their turn, the Crossfire card is replaced with a new one. See More

T.I.M.E. Stories

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Top Pro

Innovative

T.I.M.E. Stories is unique both idea-wise and gameplay-wise. You could consider it a game system rather than a game itself – you basically play through multiple different scenarios based on the same rules and mechanics. It’s reminiscent of a point-and-click adventure game where players solve a huge puzzle together, except T.I.M.E. is a co-op board game. A loss is considered a reset, and you can use the valuable information you learned in your playthrough in your next runs. There’s also an interesting “save-game” feature that you can use to stop the game and continue from where you left off the next time you come around. It’s done by placing the components in the box in a specific way – there are compartments that represent inventories, “time points”, health points, and the current room you’re in. See More

Top Con

Not replayable

Once you’ve finished a scenario, there’s little real reason to return to it and play the game again because you will have already experienced the unique stories and solved the puzzles. See More

Specs

# Players:2 to 4

Play Time:90 - 240 Minutes

Top Pro

Great artwork

T.I.M.E. Stories looks very impressive. The box, the gameboard, and all the components (apart from cards) feature a white, minimalistic, and sci-fi-ish design, but the really striking stuff is in the scenarios. Most of the art comes in the form of panorama location cards and characters cards. Each of the official scenarios is designed by a different team of artists, which creates huge variety in the aesthetics. See More

Top Con

Requires a dedicated group

Similarly to many co-op board games, it can be hard to gather the same people to see a game of T.I.M.E. Stories through. The fact that the first couple of runs will probably be unsuccessful don’t really help the situation. See More

Top Pro

Mechanically simple

The basics of the game are quite easy to understand. After setting up the gameboard, choosing characters, and mission briefing, players arrive in the first location and the panorama view of the room is revealed. When you arrive, you choose which card you wish to examine and read the information on the back of the card. After that, you can spend your “time points” to take one of three actions – move to a different card, roll for something, or do nothing. When your time points reach zero, the scenario is over. If you didn’t manage to beat it, then you must restart it from scratch and keep doing that until you win. See More

Top Con

Not very accessible

While the game isn’t necessarily difficult, chances that someone will finish the scenario on their first run are very slim, which could turn away many newcomers. It can also take approximately two hours to finish a run and five to six hours to finish the scenario. See More

Top Pro

Official scenarios still developed

The creators of T.I.M.E. Stories are still working on future expansions for the game and play testing fan-made content for potential printings. See More

Top Con

Very pricey

The base game retails for around $50, which is a big investment for only one scenario and the components. Moreover, each official scenario goes for an extra $20 - $30, so you should know if you’ll make the most of your purchase. See More

Top Pro

Custom scenario possibilities

The official site of the board game features a downloadable scenario designer’s kit. It includes all elements you’d need – layouts, icons, etc. There are also multiple fan-made scenarios on board game geek that you can download. See More

Top Con

Can get repetitive

Once you run out of “time points” you must re-run the entire scenario. While you will have the knowledge of ways to solve many puzzles, it can be irritating to blast through the same situations you’ve been in. See More

Top Pro

Immersive

T.I.M.E. Stories really pulls players in because of the gameplay design and the thematic nature. It’s like a point-and-click adventure game that requires you to solve puzzles by interacting with your surroundings, but in co-op board game format. Throughout the game you’ll visit many locations and encounter all kinds of interesting stories and characters. Since you are not allowed to show others the event cards you get when you interact with objects or characters, players are constantly thinking along, communicating what they’ve found, and taking note of things to remember. See More

Top Con

Luck-based elements

The game requires you to roll dice to finish some encounters, which can be a huge turn-off to a game that basically requires you to solve a puzzle in a limited amount of time. The dice-rolling mechanic makes the overall gameplay much slower and can lead to some frustrating moments when you crack the puzzle but just keep getting unlucky rolls. See More

Top Pro

Good components

The components of T.I.M.E. Stories are both fine-looking and durable. The gameboard itself is a big, sci-fi-looking surface with dedicated spaces for components. There are many types of cards – character cards, locations, maps, items, etc. They are all made of thick cardstock. The player markers are quite unique – they are wooden cylinders with colored stickers. The box also includes a variety of small cardboard tokens and special dice. See More

Mysterium

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A fun way to get to know how people think

Mysterium is a deduction game, which helps to reveal the subtleties of how the other players think. The person playing as the Ghost is not allowed to speak, so the psychic investigators have to try and find any connection between the vision cards they've been handed and the correct choice from a multitude of options. For example, the ghost can give a vision card that has a red river, a clock, and fields of wheat on it. The investigator then has to deduce that the red river represents the ball of red yarn on one of the choices. But there might be red elements on other cards as well. Or the investigator could choose to focus on the clock, or something else that the ghost didn't mean or notice. Getting things wrong might not advance the team of investigators toward victory, but it is balanced by the often comedic misunderstandings between the investigators and the ghost. See More

Top Con

Takes a lot of time and space to set up

There are many components to this game that need to be set up beforehand. The majority of the table is occupied by the three levels psychics have to advance on. A number of options is laid out for the psychics going from finding the culprit, to room, to murder weapon. The cards are large, so they quickly fill up the space. There is also the cardboard clock that you have to put together each time, and the board that the ghost sits behind. On average, set up can take about 20 minutes, and require a large dining table if you're playing with 6 players. See More

Specs

# Players:2 to 7

Play Time:42 minutes

Weight:1.93 / 5

Top Pro

Beautiful artwork

An excellent example of the heights this medium has reached. All the components and cards look like miniature paintings that are a joy to observe. See More

Top Con

Can get stale if overplayed

Mysterium is built for one story only- finding the culprit of a murderer using visions from a ghost with amnesia. Though there are expansion packs that provide a larger variety of choices, they don't change the story or add any new mechanics. You would have to give plenty of time in between games, in order to keep it from getting repetitive, boring and stale. See More

Top Pro

Incredibly thematic

All pieces and mechanics of this game work together in favor of a unified theme, and it works really well. The ghost is not allowed to give any verbal or non-verbal clues apart from the intended Dream cards. The psychic investigators have to get in to the mind of the the ghost in order to guess correctly, so it does feel like mind-reading in a sense. The time limit for each turn promotes a feeling of high stakes, and keeps you on edge- as you would be, if you really were in a manor communicating with a ghost. See More

Top Pro

Excellent value for money

You get a lot of high quality components in the box. Various cards, two sets of tokens, sleeves, cardboard templates, a sand timer, and other bits and pieces. The design fits in to the mysterious theme, and nothing looks out of place. This can easily be a game around which you can center an intimate party with friends. See More

Pandemic Legacy

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A persistent campaign means that your descisions have consequences, both good and bad, in future games

Pandemic Legacy is the latest in the Legacy line of games where things that happen in one game can, and often do, have affects in later games. The characters you use can gain new abilities and or flaws, components can be added and/or destroyed and rules can be added, amended, or removed, all based on the things that you do from game to game. This helps players feel invested in the game and makes their decisions even more meaningful than they already were. This ongoing change also means that your experiences may very well be unique to your group and that other campaigns of the same game will go drastically different, with only main plot points in common. See More

Top Con

Requires a commited group to play and experience the full extent of the game

Pandemic: Legacy games are meant to be experienced over 12-24 games with the same players so that everyone involved can share in the overarching story of the game. Unfortunately, many gamers may struggle to find 2-4 players that can regularly meet up to play the game, making it difficult to finish the main story. See More

Specs

# Players:2 to 4

Play Time:~60 min

Top Pro

Very high short-term replayability due to the persistent story in the game

With individual plays regularly ending in teasers and cliffhangers players will be eager to play the next round in order to move the story forward and find out what happens next. See More

Top Con

No long-term replayability

After the main campaign is finished (12-24 games) the game is mostly finished. Technically you can play the final mission over and over, but permanent changes made over the course of the playthrough, such as stickers added to the rules, board, and player sheets as well as components that are physically destroyed make the game less fun to replay after the main story concludes. See More

Freedom - The Underground Railroad

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Implements historical education into the gameplay well

The game can be used as a great educational tool and it features plenty of historical moments, locations, and iconic people. Some games can be a bit preachy when they have historical aspects, luckily Freedom finds the right balance, making for a fun game that has plenty of historical components. See More

Top Con

Theme may not appeal to everyone

Since the theme is about slavery and escaping through the underground railroad, some people may not want to play as it is a bit on the heavy side. Moreover, it doesn’t really encourage light-hearted socializing between the players. See More

Specs

# Players:1 to 4

Play Time:60 - 120 Minutes

Top Pro

Nice aesthetics

The looks of Freedom enhance the gameplay experience a lot. The gameboard is a huge, vintage-looking map of the United States with a newspaper look on the left side where cards and tokens are placed. The event cards feature black and white photos of historical characters, events, and places, as well as some history facts. See More

Top Con

Big gameboard

The map takes up a lot of space, and you need some extra room for the player sheets, so you must either have a big table or spot on the floor. The map is 37.4x18.9 inches (950x480 mm) in size. See More

Top Pro

Stacks well

Freedom has specific rules and setups for each player count, so it’s going to be a balanced, albeit a little different game for any number of players in the 1 to 4 player amplitude. See More

Top Con

Quarterbacking issue

A popular issue in cooperative games – the more experienced player might take the reins and tell everyone what the best moves would be. In Freedom nothing is hidden, everyone controls the same units and knows what each other’s special abilities are, so this is particularly prevalent. See More

Top Pro

Good quality components

The pieces should hold up to multiple plays and they can easily be stored in the game’s box. The components don’t feel cheap. The gameboard itself is huge, quite thick, and foldable, the cubes representing slaves are wooden, all the tokens are made of thick cardboard, and the cards are made of nice and durable cardstock. See More

Top Con

Quite long

A full game takes roughly 90 minutes, which can be quite difficult to sit through. It’s even more frustrating if you lose at the end. It’s also much too long if you want to, say, use the game as an educational tool in a classroom. See More

Top Pro

The basics are simple

The gameplay gets progressively more difficult as the game progresses, but the basic rules are easy. The game takes part over 8 rounds, each divided in 5 different phases – slave catcher phase, planning phase, action phase, slave market phase, and lantern phase. The players must move the slaves, raise money to purchase abolition and movement tokens, all while evading slave catchers that move both randomly (by dice roll in the first phase) and in the direction of the slaves if they happen to walk on the path. To add to this, there are also event cards you can purchase, some of which can help, and others that provide de-buffs. Some cards can be used upon purchase, whereas others provide an effect until removed. See More

Top Con

Difficult

Freedom is a complex puzzle that can easily drain the players trying to balance movement, money income, purchases, etc. Every action you take can have a lasting effect on the game, and you might not even notice. There’s a limited number of actions you can do before you simply run out of options, so you’ll be trying to figure out what the best move is, while, in fact, none of the moves are good, you’re often looking for the best of the worst. See More

Top Pro

Two difficulties

The “normal mode” of Freedom is already quite hard, but if you’re looking for an extra challenge then you can flip the “slaves lost” card for more difficult requirements – more slaves to free and less room for error. See More

Top Con

Not very varied

Every game of Freedom can feel kind of alike – the starting scenario is always the same, so the first few turns will usually play out similarly, except for the luck-based elements, such as event cards and slave catcher dice rolls. See More

Top Pro

Abstract components that allow for imagination

The components for the game are somewhat abstract, as there are cubes instead of characters. But this allows for imagination to be used and gives the game a refined look. See More

Escape: The Curse of the Temple

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Engaging

Since Escape: The Curse of the Temple is played in real-time and the players are taking actions simultaneously, there’s never a dull moment. You’re constantly doing something - rolling dice, moving, placing gems, talking with your teammates, trying to rescue each other, etc. The game is played while listening to a 10-minute soundtrack that includes atmospheric sound effects for extra immersion. Every three minutes a gong sound plays, which means you have to run for the starting chamber. If you don’t reach it before a door-shutting sound plays, you lose one die for the rest of the game, so this always leads to some gripping moments where players are frantically rolling and re-rolling dice. See More

Top Con

Luck-based

The whole game is based around rolling dice, so, obviously, you can simply get unlucky with your rolls and create complicated and annoying situations where your teammates have to come and save you by rolling golden masks. See More

Specs

# Players:1 to 5

Play Time:10 Minutes

Top Pro

Extendable

Not only does Escape have three purchasable expansions - Illusions, Quests, and Traps, but there are also two expansion modules in the base edition - Treasures and Curses. These expansions make the game more challenging and add to the replayability of it. If you’re playing with the treasures, then some rooms have treasure in them that you can claim by rolling the correct symbols. For example, a treasure can be a key that lets you teleport to any tile, or a door tile that lets you connect chambers that don’t have direct connections. If you’re using the curse module, then you must draw a curse card when you enter a chamber with a purple mask. A curse can, for example, make you play the game with one hand on your head, or permit you to speak until you break the curse by rolling the right symbols. See More

Top Con

Audio can be misheard

It can sometimes be difficult to discern audio while listening to the soundtrack, which can lead to players missing a gong sound and losing dice because of it. This is because there is a lot of ambient noise that blends in well and players are engaged and focused on the gameplay instead of the audio. See More

Top Pro

Adjustable difficulty

There are some ways to make the game a little easier or harder, which is great for adjusting Escape for the group you’re playing with. You can add or remove gems - they determine how easy it is to escape the temple from the final chamber, the bigger the gem pool, the more difficult it is. The content in both the purchasable expansions and the included expansion modules can also be used to make the game more challenging. They add more elements to the game - things you can find in chambers, things you must do, etc. For example, the “Curses” module can lead to you finding a curse that makes you play the game with one hand on your head until you manage to cancel the curse. See More

Top Con

Requires something to play audio from

While Escape does come with an hourglass, it loses a lot of its charm and suspense when played this way. The game is supposed to be played with a 10-minute audio track in the background, so you need something to play it from - a CD player, a computer, or a mobile app. See More

Top Pro

Short playtime

Escape is played while listening to a 10-minute soundtrack that marks the beginning and the end of the game. Due to this it’s easy to grab and quickly play through because you can know for sure that it won’t drag on for too long. See More

Top Con

Pricey

Escape is not cheap, and the price can be quite steep for a 10-minute game. The price of the base game starts at $40 and only goes up from there. The expansions cost around $25 each. See More

Top Pro

Lots of engaging cooperation

The game has a lot of fun, social, and cooperative interactions between players. It can only be won if all players manage to escape, which encourages you to work together and help your fellow adventurers. The biggest cooperative aspect of Escape is saving “locked out” players. A player can get locked out of actions if they have rolled five black masks. A black mask makes you set the die aside until someone on your tile rolls a golden mask to counteract two black ones. Basically you will be racing against the clock, exploring, and placing gems until someone next to you locks themselves out, which then forces you to go save them. See More

Top Con

Not very deep

Escape: The Curse of the Temple doesn’t really have a lot of strategic depth, so it might not appeal to more experienced gamers. You’re mostly going to be making decisions on the spot, and you usually only have two or three actions to choose from after a dice roll - keep exploring, place gems, or go help a teammate. The expansions help alleviate this issue a little bit by introducing more concepts - treasures, curses, other objectives to work towards, etc. See More

Top Pro

Not complex

The rules of Escape: The Curse of the Temple are very straightforward - the whole game consists of rolling dice to perform actions, making the game very easy and accessible to people of all ages and gaming backgrounds. The game takes place in real time, players receive five dice and play while listening to a 10-minute soundtrack. They simultaneously roll dice to move, explore, activate gems, and assist other players. Each action requires rolling specific symbols. You keep exploring tiles until you discover the exit chamber, which requires you to roll a specific amount of keys to exit. The amount of keys required can be reduced by placing gems in “chamber” tiles. If a player rolls a black mask, then he must set that die aside until he rolls a golden mask that can counteract two black masks. If a player gets in a situation where they have rolled five black masks, then they are “locked out” and must wait for another player to come around to their tile and roll a golden mask to unlock their dice. See More

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