Words by David C. Obenour
Gen Con | August 1-4, 2024 | Indiana Convention Center & Surrounding Area
Selling out of every pass available for the weekend, Gen Con is the western hemisphere’s largest dedicated celebration of tabletop fun. Aisles and aisles of publishers min-maxed every square foot of the exhibitor hall space to showcase the endless creativity of modern gaming. Themes from nearly every time and setting, immersive illustrations and design, inventive digital integration, whacky dexterity tricks, and uses of cards and dice that boggle the mind – there was no shortage of fun to be had! Over the weekend we walked more then a literal marathon to hear about and play all the games we could.
With more coming later this week, here is part one of our highlights from Gen Con 2024.
Sail (Allplay)
Set Sail for cooperative trick-taking adventure on the treacherous high seas! Creatively utilizing the well-recognized classic playing cards mechanic, Sail offers two shipmates a give-and-take approach to navigating the perils of pirating. With escalating adventures that range from introductory to insane, two-player fun with two-players specifically in mind is a welcomed site at most any gamer’s port of call.
Let’s Go! To Japan (AEG Games)
Traveling abroad is exciting! There so many new things to experience, learn, see, and yes – to eat too. However, traveling also requires a lot of strategic planning before you go. Everything takes time and your trip can’t last forever! In Let’s Go! To Japan players balance resources and draw and arrange activity cards of experiences and attractions set in Tokyo and Kyoto. After the itinerary has been set, points are added and the player with the best planned trip wins!
Burn the Fort (Indigenous Action Media)
The colonizers have arrived and now in order to expel them old divisions must be set aside. Taking place in the central North American indigenous lands during the mid-19th century, Burn the Fort is a thoughtfully researched and designed semi-cooperative game that sets players as tribal leaders. Creating an immersive experience of history from a different perspective, the wider democratization of gaming development and production is exciting not just for the creativity and inventiveness it allows for but also for the voices it can amplify.
My Life Be Like (Mizo Games)
Life is exhausting. Career, hobbies, love, family, all of it makes for a complete life but all of it takes energy and hustle… sometimes too much energy and hustle for one person to handle. In My Life Be Like players are born into their unique zodiac struggles and advantages as they fend off over exertion and try to keep up with the entitled life of those simply born into privilege. It may sound dark but it’s surprisingly fun and hilarious. Sort of like real life!
Sirens (Envy Born Games)
A fleet of foolhardy adventurers have ventured into your sacred cove. Embodying the perilous promise of adventure unknown and the guise of the finer sex, are you able to craft a call more enchanting than that of your fellow siren? A light one or two player game, over three rounds players draft song segment cards – actually playable through scanning them with the game’s app – to lure these ships to their ultimate demise.
Home (WetInkGames)
There are those houses. The ones that everyone in the neighborhood seems to have stories about. The ones who’s shadows sink little deeper as surrounding streetlights flicker out. Centered on collaborative storytelling, players assume the role of classic horror archetypes who open the doors to these houses and untangle webs of horror. Select your story’s Haunted Tale deck – with many more available outside the base game – as you venture into the prompts of the Night Deck for exploring and mapping your Haunted House.
Dodo (Kosmos)
Letting eggs just fall out of the nest in this goofy fun cooperative family game, the mystery of extinction is less elusive after an action-packed game of Dodo. Shake the egg to enable its wobbly descent down the mountain and get ready to frantically roll dice, build ramps, and pass the action in an effort to help this hopelessly helpless metaphor of a bird.
Cosmic Cowboy (Asobition)
In every reality imaginable, the grind is real. Even reaching out as far as the galactic edges of parallel universes that seem like they were sketched from some long shuttered animation studio – rent has gotta be paid. So strap on that blaster, Cosmic Cowboy and head over to the bounty board! Still in early development, the art for Japanese developer Asobition’s latest holds a lot of promise. (Hope to soon) see you Cosmic Cowboy!
Mycella (Burnt Island Games)
Mycelia is a game of cycling through the forest floor’s continual creeping expansion, clinging growth, eventual maturity, and inevitable death and decay – only from there to expand and grow and die again. With set actions limiting each turn, the rules allow for strategic decisions without letting the roots of play get overly deep or tangled. Which is also nice because it gives players more time to ogle the wild, weird, and wonderful world of mushrooms through Mycelia’s many botanical illustrations.
Sumo (Bright Eye Games)
A fast and dynamic sport, enter the ring as you square off against your fellow wrestler in Sumo. Adapting the well known trick-taking mechanic, two players push back-and-forth with every card while also keeping track of what’s been played to not allow for any of their opponent’s devastating combo sumo moves. Light and straightforward while remaining interesting and thematically fun.
Fromage (R2i Games)
Make that cheddar… in both ways! In Fromage players take on the role of aspiring cheesemakers in early 20th century France. Mixing a number of considerations from the real world process with a well-balanced assortment of pungent mid-weight gaming mechanics, games finish in a delightfully digestible 30-45 minutes. There are also a number of clever components, highlighted by a rotating board that ages the cheese while changing the actions available to players. Magnifique!
Sardegna (Crafty Games)
Sardinia may be a small island but the political intrigue and the court of influencers who affect it are anything but! Originally released as Kreta nearly two decades ago, the game’s mix of area control with initiated point scoring feel somewhat dated but classic. With the rules remaining unchanged, aside from Mediterranean island hopping in setting, this new reissue features updated illustrations and components all in welcomed compact packaging.
Survive the Island (Zygomatic)
Survive the Island is a reissued and (slightly) updated version of the beloved 1982 Parker Brothers family game, Survive. With a sinking island to escape and circling sea monsters to avoid, much has remained the same. Whales have been replaced with kaiju that wreck havoc in an (again, slightly) updated manner – and who doesn’t love a kaiju? – but most impressively on Survive the Island is a real attention to bright, fun, and intuitive components.
Spooktacular (Level 99 Games)
Horror long confined only to the canned reels of the moviehouse now comes to life as a mystical thunderstorm hits the all-night Spooktacular Film Festival. Set on Halloween Night of the perfectly campy and nostalgic year of 1986, frightfans are about to meet their favorite nightmares as players take on the roles of classic horror movie antagonists. Still in production, what we saw at Gen Con was an exciting trailer for a “coming attraction” with a release date slated for 2025.
Mezen (Arcane Wonders)
A beautiful game from box to components, Mezen takes inspiration from the traditional Russian folk art created near the northern Scandinavian border. Tiles shift on player boards as they are flipped or removed to be returned in new puzzle-based arrangements. With a limited use of color, Mezen also provides an unique insight to the experience of color blindness in gaming.
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 our other interviews and features!