Gen Con has come and gone. All 4 days have been bought out earlier than the con even began and on Thursday, the seller corridor was PACKED. If you have been hungry, strains to the meals vans have been huge and eating places recurrently had a wait time. Avid gamers descended onto Indianapolis able to play, spend, gown up, and simply embrace all the things we love about our interest.
And as regular, the BGQ staff was on web site to offer protection. We’ve bought musings on the general conference, standout video games, and our third annual batch of our “Employees Picks.” Every of our staff members who went bought to pick their favourite factor of Gen Con and award the trophy to it. Unsurprisingly, they have been all video games once more (though they didn’t must be, they could possibly be given to something they thought was distinctive on the con). However learn on to see what stood out at this 12 months’s Gen Con.
The Gen Con Expertise:
Brian W: I don’t assume I used to be alone, however I used to be somewhat shocked how crowded Thursday was on the ICC and Exhibit Corridor. There was a stifling variety of folks, and it appeared each Exhibit Corridor aisle was packed. Even the Artwork present space of the Exhibit Corridor, which is often skinny with foot visitors, was stuffed with folks. It made attempting to navigate the ICC and Exhibit Corridor particularly irritating, and you actually needed to be affected person to get anyplace. The gang did reduce within the late afternoon on Thursday, and the next days have been nowhere close to as dangerous, however that first day was not that enjoyable and somewhat disagreeable.
Andrew: I’ve lastly discovered my lesson and simply by no means go to the meals truck space. Downtown Indy has a billion eating places inside a 5-minute stroll, and also you’ll in all probability be paying your invoice earlier than you’d even get your meals from the huge strains on South Road. Or simply get some Scorching Field Pizza delivered to the opening gaming space.
Alex & Steph: It could possibly be the gridlocked aisles, or our extra discerning eyes and wallets, or the dearth of attention-grabbing choices, or just that we’re older and extra bitter. Regardless of the purpose, we’re discovering our need to go to the Exhibit Corridor is much less and fewer yearly. We’re simply there to play video games and hold with outdated associates, and make new associates. Isn’t that what it’s actually all about?
Jeff: Thursday was the busiest day within the Exhibit Corridor this 12 months. It was unusual. On Saturday, it was a lot simpler to stroll the aisles. A whole lot of greater distributors had rooms to point out off their video games, and having time to demo them was nice. Studying new video games is what Gen Con is about, proper? It was additionally my son’s second Gen Con, with the final one being when he was 1 month outdated. He’s a aggressive Magic participant, however realized that Gen Con isn’t MagicCon, and is beginning to study to get pleasure from new video games. I used to be proud that he made that flip. Like Alex and Steph stated, Gen Con is about enjoying video games with associates (outdated and newly made).
Chris: For the primary time, I didn’t actually have any video games I used to be operating to seize when the doorways opened, so I took a special path across the exhibit corridor to begin off on Thursday morning. It did assist reduce down on a number of the early gridlock my colleagues are referring to, though they’re appropriate that Thursday was essentially the most crowded day for positive. I additionally skipped the meals vans completely this 12 months, which on the one hand is form of a bummer, however on the opposite, extra logical hand, in all probability saved 90 minutes of my life and $20 or so on general meals prices.
Different Noteworthy Video games
Cyberpunk Legends (Brian W): Tony, Brian B., and I have been in a position to demo this new card recreation that must be coming to Kickstarter in September 2025. We have been fortunate sufficient to have the precise designer, James Portnow, run the demo, and from begin to end, the sport was simply superior. It’s a co-op campaign-style recreation with a central state of affairs deck with obstacles to beat by making a cooperative poker hand. Character courses are pulled from the RPG, and the story playing cards and character decks are filled with nice Cyberpunk lore. The demo, recreation, and time with James have been a spotlight of Gen Con for me. It pulled in vibes of the Arkham Horror LCG, and even in demo kind, had us desperate to play extra of it.
Camp Grizzly: Second Version (Brian W): Trick or Deal with Studios has introduced again this lengthy out of print slasher horror favourite. The sport is focused to launch later in August on kickstarter. Demos have been out there, and it regarded nice. What I cherished about this second version is that it introduces a brand new mode that removes participant elimination. I used to be not a fan of that within the authentic, but it surely’s nonetheless there if you wish to play the traditional mode. For individuals who are unfamiliar, it is a semi-cooperative survival recreation the place gamers are camp counselors who’re being hunted by Otis, a homicidal maniac in a bear masks. The advisors are looking for objects across the camp to set off the finale (finish recreation) and survive.
Battle 5 (Tony): Whereas ready to speak to somebody on the Chip Principle Video games sales space, I watched a recreation of Battle 5 being demoed. The shiny playing cards drew me in, even when I had no thought what was happening. After getting a demo, although, I believed it was actually intelligent. A line of playing cards is dealt out between every participant, and everybody has 5 playing cards. You could play a card face down subsequent to every card. As soon as accomplished, everybody compares their performed playing cards. Whoever performed the best card collects all 3 playing cards (so long as your excessive card was larger than the unique card). Principally, it’s the traditional card recreation Warfare, however with strategic selections to make. I at all times adore it when designers take traditional card video games and provides them their very own spin.
Kiri-ai: The Duel (Tony): When at Gen Con, I at all times make it a degree to spend additional time in “Entrapaneurs Alley”, the world within the again nook devoted to small and indie publishers. There are plenty of hidden gems there from designers who haven’t made a reputation for themselves but. This 12 months, I frolicked within the Japan Pavilion, as their sales space was known as. It was a group of various publishers from Japan, all sharing a sales space. However the recreation that caught my eye was Kira-ai: The Duel. It’s a small, 2 participant card recreation that includes solely 16 playing cards. Gamers are dueling samurai, and they should play playing cards to regulate their place, stances, and strikes. With some minimalistic type artwork and a cool cloth “pockets” to retailer the sport in, it positively one I’m trying ahead to attempting out.
Sanctuary (Andrew): Capstone Video games hosted a sneak peek on the upcoming Sanctuary. From the designer of Ark Nova (and sub-titled “An Ark Nova Recreation”), however Sanctuary is slimmed down significantly. No big deck of playing cards, you may be simply enjoying tiles for his or her results and finish recreation scoring whereas additionally attempting to finish goals. There are nonetheless animals of various sizes that may take up extra room in your zoo, and motion playing cards for enjoying several types of tiles that improve in energy the longer you wait to make use of them. It clearly isn’t as deep as Ark Nova, however nonetheless feels comparable. And we managed to study and full a three-player recreation in simply over an hour. I’ll be trying ahead to this one after its Essen launch.
Vantage (Alex & Steph): This was on the high of our listing to take a look at at Gen Con this 12 months, and we have been lucky to snag a desk and a replica on the BGG Scorching Video games Room. We didn’t know what to anticipate, however have been gripped nearly instantly as quickly as we began enjoying. We have been blown away by the narrative-building inherent within the recreation and the seemingly limitless replay worth that’s packed within the field. It instantly introduced us again to studying Select Your Personal Journey books, giving us an open world to discover time and again. Whereas we couldn’t deliver it residence from the conference, we ordered it instantly, and we’re eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Dungeon and Dragons Replace (Jeff) Isaac and I attended Wizard of the Coast’s DnD press celebration on Wednesday. And the large takeaway was Group. Dan Ayoub is the brand new World Play Lead, beginning round two weeks in the past. He stated that WOTC needs to earn again the belief of gamers and companions by being clear and constant of their communications. They are going to be creating “The Desk” – a rotating advisory panel of followers and publishers. One of many first partnerships they introduced was with Paizo. Surprising! Dan acknowledged that they might be opening up the SRD to permit extra homebrew and publishers to create content material. WOTC seems to be to be altering from solely permitting/creating in-house content material to selling/reselling others’ content material. Solely time will inform if this new path will work or be short-lived.
Tag Workforce (Spencer) This one appeared to have some hype going into the con. After Chris let me play his copy that he positively owned, I used to be bought. It’s a very neat autobattler system. You mix two fighters and construct synergies all through the combat. Each time you flip by means of your deck (conflict type, no selections concerned), you undergo the pool of your fighters’ playing cards and add a brand new one to your unshuffled deck. The place you set the cardboard is commonly depending on how the earlier spherical performed out. You could put blocks in the place your opponent has highly effective assaults, and highly effective assaults in the place they will’t defend towards them. The following thoughts video games are juicy. All that wrapped into a brief and breezy, action-packed recreation with plenty of distinctive characters to select from.
Spooktacular (Chris) This was one of many shocking hits of the conference; it bought out fairly early on Thursday, and I’m undecided anybody noticed that coming. I used to be in a position to seize a replica for my expensive good friend Andrew since I occurred to be strolling previous the shelf when he despatched out the misery sign. I performed the sport 4 instances in the course of the conference, even instructing it on three events. It’s straightforward to study, quick, and far more enjoyable than it looks like it must be. I’m going to be grabbing my very own copy down the highway (a reprint and growth are each coming quickly).
Arkham & Innsmouth Journey Guides (Brian W): I used to be trying ahead to demoing both of these, however sadly, because of the persevering with tariff-related points, just one manufacturing copy of every was out there to view. So, no demos have been out there. A staffer did stroll me by means of the manufacturing copy to see the elements, however they weren’t in a position to give me a date for when both can be out there for retail. Each video games regarded nice, and all elements are reusable with dry erase, however only a bummer not to have the ability to check out and don’t know when will probably be out there.
Employees Picks
Pink Carpet (Alex & Steph): Our alternative for our 2025 Employees Decide is the sport that we performed day-after-day of the conference: Pink Carpet by Devir. After an awesome demo within the conference corridor, we have been in a position to educate anybody and everybody the principles in about 10 minutes.
It’s bought a light-hearted really feel for whenever you’re within the temper for a fast and enjoyable recreation, however it may well additionally flip right into a take-that slugfest if you happen to’re gaming with that form of crowd. The “use your telephone digital camera” mechanic was novel to us, so we drastically loved it. A lot of the photos we took at Gen Con have been from enjoying this recreation, it’s a no brainer alternative for our decide of the weekend.
Gentle Pace Enviornment (Brian W): This was a complete shock for me. I had initially marked this down as a recreation to take a look at, however then I heard it was closely app-driven and was turned off. Tony bought a replica and we tried it out and I couldn’t have been extra fallacious. It’s a real-time shooter that comes with an app that performs out the battle and scoring. You begin the timer, then draw when the app tells you out of your stack of ships to the battlefield and attempt to eyeball your ship’s weapons and shields to destroy or block your opponents’ ships (and attempting to keep away from pleasant fireplace). In spite of everything ships are positioned, you are taking an image of the battlefield with the app, which scans and data all ships. The app then goes by means of every participant’s ship in initiative order (beginning with ship 1-8), recording hits, misses, destroyed ships, and factors. It was nice, foolish enjoyable, and simply my recreation of Gen Con.
Fliptoons (Tony): I had just a few concepts of what is perhaps my recreation of the con earlier than the conference, however Fliptoons caught me unexpectedly. It’s a fast enjoying card recreation the place you deal out a 3×2 grid of playing cards. Every card will earn you cash, which you’ll both use to cull your deck or purchase higher playing cards. Many playing cards even have powers that key off of the place within the grid they fall, making each spherical each tense and attention-grabbing.
The cutesy retro type art work is basically enjoyable (I’d like to see extra of those), and despite the fact that the theme is pasted on, I nonetheless adore it. Fliptoons is an under-the-radar recreation that positively wants extra folks enjoying it (you’ll be able to even attempt it out on BGA proper now!).
Alibis (Andrew): My final buy of the con might be the one that may find yourself getting essentially the most play. Alibis is considerably of a Codenames-meets-So Clover phrase celebration recreation. Every participant writes one phrase to attach two completely different phrases. Every participant has one pair, and there’s one leftover phrase that received’t be utilized by anybody. A lot of the progress comes from gamers accurately figuring out the phrase that didn’t get assigned (aka the suspect with out an Alibi if you’re into the entire theme factor). It’s fast, straightforward to show, performs plenty of gamers, and my children cherished it.
Guessocracy (Jacob): On this period of “truthiness,” different information, and faux information, it stands to point out {that a} recreation the place the precise reality is of much less significance than what the bulk believes to be true ought to make a splash at Gen Con. Guessocracy is a goofy recreation, extra of a social experiment than one thing that requires strategic considering, but it surely’s a surefire solution to yank some emotion and enthusiasm out of your gaming group. The idea is just: one individual rolls a dozen or so cube of various colours and shapes into the field lid of the sport, provides the opposite gamers 3 seconds to frantically depend the frequency of every die face, after which covers the field lid up with slightly offered handkerchief, obscuring the reality and now putting the duty of declaring what number of of every die face was seen to the gamers. Everybody then votes on which die face was most represented and least represented, utilizing two dials. Whichever quantity is voted for essentially the most wins, reality be damned.
HOWEVER, if a participant firmly believes that vote to be inaccurate, they will object (at nice private threat) and seize considered one of two foam batons and declare their divergence from ignorant lots. In the event that they’re proper, they reap the rewards. If fallacious, they reap a devastating drop in recognition. I imply, what recreation higher represents our present poisonous time the place the reality is what I say it’s, and if you happen to don’t imagine me, you’re [insert appropriate persona non-grata term here]. However earlier than I cowl this overview with my little opaque handkerchief, belief me once I say Guessocracy is a hoot.
Warlord Chess (Marcus) – This recreation was not new at Gen Con because it debuted on Kickstarter just a few years in the past, but it surely was new to me. I occurred to run right into a good friend whereas they have been on the sales space, having Warlord Chess defined to them. It immediately had my consideration as a result of it appeared like a easy twist on the traditional recreation. A lot of the guidelines are the identical as common chess. Your items transfer the way in which you’d count on. Bishops, diagonally; rooks, orthogonally; and so forth. Not like regular chess, nonetheless, you’ve gotten 3 opponents, and every participant is ready up in a nook.
The primary rule modifications are some particular areas that give highly effective strikes. The middle of the board is the chaos image, which lets pawns, knights, and kings begin their transfer from any of the 4 central areas (for knights, this leads to a “donut of loss of life” because of the huge number of areas it might full its transfer on). Every nook has a fort consisting of three nook areas, which equally grant expansive motion choices to bishops, rooks, and queens. A bishop within the fort can swap its areas from white to black! It’s a chaotic recreation finest performed with 4 gamers. Nevertheless, in response to the designers, when enjoying with 3 gamers, it makes for a busy recreation if you happen to depart the 4th participant on the board, and have every participant take turns taking their flip when it comes round. This little gem is one I used to be very completely happy to come across.
The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Period (Brian B.) Whereas Elder Scrolls was not a brand new launch at Gen Con, it was the primary Gen Con it was out there on the market. For those who like journey video games basically, or Too Many Bones particularly, that is the sport for you. The cube system has been improved from TMB, not solely in the way you purchase new cube, however in the way you spend and get well them as properly. The story has, IMO, been improved as properly, as you discover maps and have random encounters, a few of that are tailor-made on your quest, whereas others are tailor-made to your location. Whereas the worth tag is hefty ($225 on the CTG web site), the replay worth is insane, given the variety of guilds, lands, courses, races and talent strains there are to expertise.
Vantage (Brian B.) Since Brandon was unable to affix us this 12 months, I gleefully solemnly took his BGQ 2025 Employees Decide trophy and awarded it to Vantage. Vantage has been considered one of my favourite open-world board recreation experiences ever. The tales you create are insane. I can’t bear in mind the final time I hacked a pc to realize entry to a tool that offered my mouse companion sufficient of a reward that it could stay loyal to me without end… or no less than till the sport ended. You’ll be able to observe the missions you might be given, or simply wander the land. Taking part in multiplier is a blast, from describing the cardboard you see in entrance of you however that you just can not share, to attempting to finest resolve talent exams collectively. Solo is superb as properly, particularly with the brand new web site that may allow you to entry the narrative with out flipping manually by means of a ebook. For those who like open-world adventures, that is the proper recreation for you. It’s REALLY good!
Kinfire Council (Spencer) All indicators pointed to this one being proper up my alley. Tight useful resource administration, aggressive employee placement, and a enjoyable coverage voting mechanic (ala Twilight Imperium). That is primarily based on a properly developed IP that Unbelievable Dream Studios has poured a ton of labor into. Gamers act as councilors, working to rebuild town, constructing lighthouses, and thwarting the Cult of Altan. As the sport goes on, the cult will achieve energy. In the event that they find yourself outscoring the gamers, the participant who was most aligned with the cult, wins the sport. That is all accomplished by means of intelligent employee placement. Employee placement spots are tiered, and you will need to pay taxes for the upper spots. There are some spots that solely sure employee varieties can go to. Did I point out upgrading your employees with 6 completely different particular skills? Such an awesome added layer of technique. There are fairly just a few paths to victory out there. General, this hits that medium-heavy interactive Euro candy spot for me.
Mystic Curling Membership (Chris) I noticed plenty of enjoyable stuff at Gen Con, however the factor that I discovered essentially the most charming was the dexterity-esque demo for this upcoming recreation. Gamers can be bodily flicking a die down a curling board (area? enviornment? court docket? who is aware of what one curls on?) as they attempt to land it closest to the middle. They can even must make selections about whether or not they need the die faces to remain on one facet or if rolling is a greater technique. Every roller also can unlock powers that may alter the cube. As somebody who performs a good quantity of sports activities simulation video games once I’m not pushing Eurolicious cubes, this one seems to be like a ton of enjoyable. The distinctive theme and stellar elements don’t harm both.
