Words by David C. Obenour
Gen Con | August 3-6, 2023 | Indiana Convention Center & Surrounding Area
Everything’s a game; entering the housing lottery, registering for events, making that morning’s brunch reservation – and this is before the doors have even opened! Back for another four days of nonstop unplugged gaming, Gen Con asserted area control over the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, countless hotels, and most everything else in downtown Indianapolis. So throw a bottle of water in that messenger bag and try to stay close as we weave between record attendance crowds to bring you part one of our highlights from this year’s new and new-to-us games.
The Lunar Dial (Goliath Games)
Designed with the help of the hairstylist and autopsy technician who host The Morbid Network, Goliath Games return to the world of podcasting after working with The Last Podcast on the Left for The Real Truth. Creepy. Spooky. Celestial. The Lunar Dial is a light set collection and hand management game that invites players to competitively unlock the power of the zodiac and then decipher each game’s cards for a group reading.
Mass Transit (Calliope Games)
A long day at work but now it’s five o’clock and time to go home! Everyone leaves the city by hopping on a train, bus, or ferry – whatever gets them home quickest without having to hoof it. In Mass Transit, players work together to plan express routes and get everyone home in the most efficient way possible… though bureaucratic procedure limits your coordination. Deceptively easy to explain while rewardingly headscratchy in the playing.
Garden Guests (Van Ryder Games)
While the plants and flowers of the garden may look peaceful and inviting, for those looking to crawl from one side to the other the stakes are high! In Garden Guests, players face off in team-based action as they collect and play cards to silently – and hopefully, intuitively – connect paths for their multi-legged guests. Lots of puzzley fun with fast to explain rules and beautiful and vibrant collage art.
Namiji (Funforge)
Released just over a decade ago, Tokaido successfully embodied many of modern gaming’s aspirations through giving structure and play to relaxation and thoughtful enjoyment. Ten years later, Namiji explores a similar path – only a few kilometers south of the famous scenic road – as players take on the role of fishermen in the seas of Japan’s archipelago. Navigating the sequel deftly, Namiji’s gameplay enhances these themes in meaningful ways without needless complication for a voyage that proves worth the wait.
Cangaceiros (Ares Games)
At the turn of the 19th century, the people of the northeastern desert of Brazil found themselves at the mercy of a tyrannical alliance between the state and wealthy landowners. With rampant corruption and abuse, gangs of bandits were born out of opposition. These freedom fighters and fortune seekers were the Cangaceiros. Transporting the romanticized real and fictionalized ideas of the United States’ West to South America, players seek fame and infamy through hit and run attacks based in area control, hand management, asymmetric powers, and more.
Books of Time (Board & Dice)
One of humanity’s greatest triumphs is its ability to tell stories. First through oral traditions, then followed by the written word, stories allow us to pass along our myths, histories, lessons, and knowledge. In Books of Time, players use drafting and deck-building to collect sets and create their own abstracted books of achievements, discoveries, and methods for prosperity. The popularity of deck-building has led to a number of adaptations and the use of book, binder, and bookmark is a unique entry explored here.
Hunt (Gila RPGs)
Once a shining example of order, peace and prosperity, disaster has befell your order. With your fellow knights scattered across this ruined land or fallen, a small band of you have reformed to quest on one last doomed role-playing adventure past the walls of your crumbling keep. After thoroughly enjoying 2021’s cinematic releases of The Tragedy of MacBeth and The Green Knight, I feel comfortably in the excited target demographic for Hunt.
Carnegie (Pegasus)
Carnegie is a dense and elegant tapestry of gaming mechanics that immerse players in a bygone era. When the obscenely wealthy won favor from the public through endowments and massive civic construction projects and not thinly veiled (and skinned) social media takeovers. Manage your empire by recruiting skilled workers, wise investing, working the market and transportation chains, and building your legacy through philanthropy in education, equality, and public health. For all the innovation that modern gaming continues to push, it can be immensely rewarding to sit down to a more classic feeling game.
Retrograde (Resonym)
8-bit arcade action meets eraser bit pencil and paper, as players roll, write, and blast their way through rows of retro space invaders. Reveal the challenge cards and realtime rush your way through rolls of collecting matching die results. Quick, clever, and fun, Resonym is just as rapidly developing a name for themselves as curators of consistent light and inventive fun.
Big Brain Detective Game (Funko / Cranium)
We all miss trying to find Waldo… right? Staring at fun illustrations of goofy revelers and whacky situations was every bit as enjoyable as actually finding our red and white stripped runaway. Well now Cranium has brought back all the “wheredhego” enjoyment for the Big Brain Detective Game, a large scale, 800 square inch densely illustrated adventure with a deck of light – and a deck of more challenging “wheredhego” challenge cards.
Pampero (Ape Games)
As a small nation with limited natural resources, Pampero tasks players with helping to build the wind energy resources and economy for the South American country of Uruguay. And with that sentence alone I think you have an idea of what sort of game you’ve just sat down at; a classic-feeling, blended mechanics, big box board game. Centering around hand-management for card-driven action-selection, players utilize beautifully crafted components on each of their thoughtfully designed tableaus – helping to carry the weight of rules and options while making for a thoughtful and fun few hours of energy independence.
Sparks (Rabble)
More than just passing the time, party games can be a vehicle for spurring interaction and conversation. Rabble gets this in a way that cuts to the core on Sparks, a conversation game inspired by the stars. Beautifully illustrated and produced night sky cards layout a series of questions that explore players’ past, present, and future. Lunar Events add further considerations. Then the final round reveals players constellations with one final question. Everyone wins together as a more deeply connected community.
Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous (Pelgrane Press)
I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but… look at this cover! Floating teeth, gnashing canine maws, a backset table and chairs floating and dripping with something sinister? [actual shiver] Okay, alright. Getting past the cover, open up Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous to discover an anthology of live action role-playing games set in a seemingly unremarkable suburbia with horrific themes of food and consumption. Two samples of the games are available online, so indulge the wicked and weird world of Sadia Bies and Banana Chan (who you might remember from another incredible role-playing game).
General Orders: World War II (Osprey Games)
You’ve played worker placement games. You’ve played wargames. But now it’s time to play a… war-ker placement game? Maybe not, but the concept is solid none-the-less! In General Orders, two players are pitted against each other in a tactical game of conflict and logistics. On a double sided Pacific and Central European theater game board, HQs are established, battles and barrages are fought, and supply chains are established and disrupted – all in under 30 minutes! Osprey Games has established quite the track record of board games – and tabletop miniature game rulesets – and General Orders is another great title.
Oh No, Volcano! (Buffalo Games & Puzzles)
Admittedly, I’m a sucker for a lot of things. Classic gaming mechanics brought back with additional choices and considerations. Physical contraptions. Components that look as fun as they end up being. A good theme that cleverly ties it all together. For as simple as it seems, Oh No, Volcano! offers all of this as you slot your climbers up an active eruption’s Plinko-ing of marbles. Few games can inspire such delight from such a wide range of players.
Vyrmhack (Feral Indie Studio)
The world is dying, and from its corpse spill vyrmin. Vyrmhack is a concise ruleset for bands of adventurers to clash in tabletop wargaming with elements of role-playing. The concept is not new and Feral Indie Studio makes no bones about it as they revel in the nostalgic sword and sorcery aesthetic with a gritty, zine press aesthetic and production. 20 staple-bound pages make for easy to learn and teach rules for a cooperative or competitive system that’s compatible with most other systems and scenarios.
Revive (Aporta)
Resurfacing from subterranean society, Revive finds scientists, explorers, and other resources and workers-to-be-placed reintroducing habitable environments to a frozen planet. To do this, players must maximize their way through a number of classic gaming mechanics such as tech trees, engine building, exploration, and more. As thoughtfully designed in concept and components, the guiding control for all of this is the slotted player board that lays out the choices and the evolving benefits of those choices.
And that’s the first of the games that we played at this year’s Gen Con! Be sure to check back in for more coverage and head over to our gaming section to see all of our other interviews and features!