Jessica's New Solo Games: January 2026

0:00 Hey everyone, I'm Jessica and this is a video about a lot of solo games that came out or are coming out as of around January 2026. Things that interest me from a solo perspective and kind of lean into cozy, lightweight to midweight. I have preferences that are all over the place and I play a lot of different games. But I wanted to go through what is exciting me about this hobby right now. Especially because recently I went through and I organized my whole collection. Kind of consolidated boxes down. Got everything on shelves. Everything's organized. And now there's a lot of just possibilities in terms of I can just get a game to the table and start playing. So first up, what arrived during the month? It wasn't that much, which I appreciate because a lot of times if you crowdfund, you know that things seem to arrive all at once and suddenly you've got a lot of new games.

0:58 So, I don't have that many, which I appreciate, but I can kind of get them to the table hopefully soon. And one of those is an expansion for Role Player Adventures. Uh, the Silver Threads of Fate, I believe it's called, which right now I actually have Role Player Adventures on my table, which I'm playing through the original campaign, and I want to go through some of that other expansion content before I try this out. But it is an exciting sort of game, even though I don't play it as intended. I actually am not a big fan of the dice puzzles in there. I get why they're there. very appreciate that. But I'm really there for the storytelling and I enjoy that part of it. So, I'm leaning into that, seeing what happens with my character. And I pulled the best character arguably in one of the newer packs uh that came with Silver Threads of Fate. I have Riy who is going through that adventure now. So, I'll be trying that out hopefully kind of playing everything all at once. And I'm just interested to see how that world evolves because it is a very robust world. There's a lot of things going on.

2:03 There's different factions. So, there's a lot of stories to tell there. And I'm interested to see what else is going to happen there. What else arrived? Pile of stuff here. [snorts] Um, I got Darwin's Journey, the Oceanania expansion. So, I've been playing the base game with some of the expansions, multiplayer with a group, and this arrived at the perfect time. I haven't actually played this one yet, and I actually want to play it solo, but that time will come soon enough. I'm excited about this though because they did add, you know, there's all new modules, but there are also some nice sort of improvements to how things work in terms of tracking the different species and whether they've been delivered or not, which makes it easier.

2:50 You have different colored kind of tokens now instead of just the clear ones, which is kind of nice. So, this one is kind of brand new in terms of I haven't played it solo yet. I've seen it multiplayer and I'm really excited. So there's a lot of content there and a lot of modules to kind of mix and match and try out. So there's going to be some sort of very indepth experience I'm sure as I go on this journey with Darwin. So another one that arrived that's a little bit different just see if we can get everything together here is Cloud Empress which is an RPG that does have a solo mode that you can play. As you know, I play both board games and RPGs. And Cloud Empress is described, I believe, as an ecological science fantasy RPG. So, I went through and I read the rules for this, and I read a little bit about the world, but this is more of a hex crawl type adventure. So, I'm not reading all of those because you're supposed to have some surprises along the way. And it seems like a very different, and I say this with when I say a weird sort of world. It's not an expected sort of thing. There are giant insects and cicas and there's a lot of mysteries that seem to be involved in this world and it's one that I'm interested in at least stepping into especially in terms of how the solo works with um with party members actually where you're not actually creating the exact character that you

4:23 want but you roll on a table and you kind of have this wheel of emotions. if you will, to determine what is the probability of how this person is going to respond. Are they aggressive? Are they timid? Are they nervous? So, all these different words. And I really like that system for a solo sort of character or group. And I just want to play with that both to explore the world and also see how that works because that feels like a really interesting tool for playing solo RPGs. So, I'm excited about that one, even though it's very different. Uh, let's see. Let's get this giant box out of the way. It's the next one to talk about. I have Ultra and I have had the base game for a while, but I tracked down some of the expansions for it that were not readily available.

5:18 Um, there's one specifically that was not actually published in English yet. Hopefully, at some point. Um, but it doesn't look like it. And I believe it translates into mounts and steeds. So, I now have the Spanish expansion or Spanish edition, I should say. Um, thanks to a friend helpfully tracking it down and being wonderful. Um, but it's really hard to find. And this one, I really like Ultria. This is a narrative storytelling type of game, but it is also about kind of defending. It's like a tower defense sort of lots of trouble happens all around this castle and you sort of have to deal with all of these different elements and there's a story book that kind of progresses as you go through adding surprises and different objectives that you're trying to work towards and I really really like it. Um, I got this one because this is illustrated by Vincent Duty, but the horses themselves, the the cards are not actually by Vincent Duterte. So, there's a different art style that I was a little surprised by it. It's It's clearly listed on the back of the box, but it does not quite match the rest of the style. And I was a little I was like, "Oh, okay. That's where we're going with this." That's fine. I'm really here for the added mechanics of it. Um, but what am I trying to say? I'm excited for it. I was just a little bit surprised that it didn't quite match in with the rest of

6:48 the game, but who knows? That will be something that I'll be exploring in the near future, trying to add everything in there. And then finally, the last thing that arrived very recently is the Wingspan America's vision friendly cards. So, I have Wingspan. Great game. I don't play it as much as I would like to and there are so many different birds as you pick up these different expansions and they add on new mechanics in some of them. However, I have found that the vision friendly cards I get these for two reasons. First, they are vision friendly. So, the text is larger and I prefer that. So, I lose out on the flavor text and some of the information about the birds, but I can see the cards easier and they're clearer. So, I like having that in terms of I still get the birds illustration. You don't lose out on those. I don't think Well, I haven't even opened them, but you can you can see them peering out of there a little bit. Um, but also getting these vision friendly cards means that I'm just picking up the cards, so I don't get everything that comes out with the expansion. However, I still get that card variety, which I enjoy. So, it's almost like I kind of get all of the Wingspan expansions, but not quite. And I think there's only one the the one that uses nectar. There's a few cards bird cards that won't work with the game that I have. But otherwise, I have tons and tons of birds and I can sort of decide which area I want to focus on

8:19 when I play. So, I really enjoy those. Even though it's just cards, they also fit inside the box. And I am one who is kind of trying to consolidate space. And boxes are not my favorite at this time. If I can fit everything in a base game box, that is ideal. So, what have I played this month? This was kind of a lighter game. Lighter game, a lighter month for playing games. I didn't play that many, but I've been just kind of taking it slowly and enjoying whatever does come to my table and playing more often if I can. So, the only one that didn't really work for me this month was Guilds of London. And this is a nice kind of you create this map of these different guilds and they have different abilities. As you kind of move your meeples around and sort of gain majorities in these and trigger them for scoring, they flip over and they have these really nice interesting patterns.

9:23 I like the core mechanics of the game and can see why it would work really well, but the play area was just visually there's a lot going on. There's a lot of iconography and unfortunately those are not really well defined in the rule book. You can get some player aids, but they they still don't quite it's not my favorite. Um there are some icons that are very similar but slightly different. This is a dark gray and this is a slightly lighter gray which means completely different things. And even when I thought I understood what I was looking at, I didn't. And I kind of talk about how there's like a language that you learn with a lot of games, whatever that may be, the rules, but also how you are interpreting the information that the game is trying to convey to you. And I felt like I didn't have the tools to learn that well enough. And it was it was a struggle to play. I didn't enjoy myself because it really felt like I was just trying to translate what I was seeing into terms that made sense for me. So, unfortunately, that one didn't work. But at least I tried it again and now know that that game is not for me. Another one that I played was Poppers Ladder.

10:38 Love this one. And I actually switched over to playing a new scenario. I usually play the Goliums tournament. This time I played the Saltash Necromancer, which is very different, and I decided to play on the very hard difficulty setting because I was like, I know what I'm doing. I've been playing this for years. I played it twice and lost in 15 minutes both times. But I feel like that was still a really good experience because sometimes losing at your favorite game does not diminish the fact that it's your favorite. you just find other ways to appreciate those times that you have one or you might find out that now there's something very different about it that you have to adjust your strategy and try that out.

11:24 So I will need to get back into that one. I love the stories it creates. Not necessarily when I lose that quickly. Although it is kind of funny when I get trapped on the beach by sand and that is that was the end of my popper. He just fell into a trap and that was it. Poor Alf. As I mentioned before, I've been playing roleplayer adventures, going back to the original campaign and going through that. That's been interesting. Again, I don't play it as intended because I don't use the dice puzzles. I don't use a lot of the mechanics. And yes, that means that I am sort of auto succeeding at everything and moving forward, but it still gives a fun experience for me. And that's how I tailor that to work for myself sometimes. That's what you got to do. I used to dislike house rules and I was always like, you have to play exactly by the rules. That is designed that way for a reason. And obviously that is the intended way to play. I am not saying that my way is at all good.

12:31 It's just how I play and it's how I have fun and come up with additional stories and get to get into that. So, I continue to play roleplayer adventures. Playing through campaign games is sometimes hard for me because if I put it away, I will never come back to it. So, I'm sort of playing at a slow pace but consistently. And that's what's out on my table right now. And I am coming up on the last few chapters to see what happens with my delightful character of Riby Pixie Crunch. [gasps and sighs] And then finally, I also played the 100 Tori this month. And I should note I work for Pencil First Games, so just getting that out there. Although this copy is my own along with the expansions, but still transparency. But anyway, I got into this because I haven't played the 100 Tori in a while and I hadn't really played with the expansions that much. It was mostly early on um in finalizing the product that I did a lot of play testing, but haven't really gotten back to it since.

13:33 And this was really nice just to see how the base game works and then how those different shrines add on to it in the diverging paths expansion. And I had a great time. Onu is my nemesis. It has taken me a while to get to a point where I can actually defeat her pretty consistently, but I like the variety with adding in those different shrines. I am just looking at adding on a few more options in terms of kind of having like requirements for myself to meet so that I add a little bit more of a challenge because I feel like I have Onatsu figured out. But who knows? We'll see. I say that now. the next time I play, probably gonna lose.

14:19 And then the upcoming releases that I'm excited about, these are sometimes harder to come by because I often do a lot of crowdfunding. So, they're not necessarily it's more like they go into the these arrived, but there are some that either go to retail or that I missed and that are coming out soon that I'm excited about for different reasons. So, I looked this up and through various channels, which again, sifting through all the information can sometimes be difficult. There's just two that I was interested in. Again, I'm in that phase of I'm not buying everything out there, but things that interest me do interest me for some reason. And the first one of these is Cozy Stickerville, which seems like a very different sort of gaming experience where you are sort of playing through uh choosing, making these decisions, and adding stickers and kind of going through uh a puzzly sort of world that feels like it's going to be very calm and very cozy. Cozy Stickerville.

15:21 And this one just feels very different from what I've seen. And I know it's a legacy type product. I believe you can play each copy just twice, but at the same time, I'm okay with that because I don't have to keep a game around forever. And I'm more interested in what that experiences and what that's going to entail. So, I'm excited to see what happens with this and how these stickers are incorporated and how the story evolves and how many different choices there are. That will be an interesting and very different sort of thing that I will be exploring hopefully soon. And then the only other one that got my attention is one called Daydream. I don't know that much about this one, but the art style is so nice and sort of pastely if you will, and it really just feels like a cozy sort of game. We believe it's a a roll and write where you're just trying to fill in these different areas and obviously kind of doing the the roll and write type of mechanics, but it feels like it seems like there's also the play pads or the play sheets.

16:28 You can fold them in different ways and uncover different I think there's eight different play styles that have different challenges and different difficulty levels. So, I'm interested just to see how that is incorporated. Mostly though it was drawn in by the art and just the idea of creating this cozy sort of daydream literally. And I will note on a funny sort of note that I went to my local game store just to check out everything that was there. And although these are listed as upcoming and I figured they would not be available yet, let's just say that somebody found them. So So I do have Daydream. This is I think the only game in my house that's still in shrink wrap. I keep trying to keep up with everything. And then of course at the same time, let me grab this cozy sticker bill, which interestingly they are using stickers. Uh you may see this in some newer games where they're not using all shrink wrap to try to reduce that. It feels fitting for this one. And then I also got a promo I think with upgraded bits.

17:36 So we'll see how that works. But I I am excited for both of those because again, I'm at that stage where I'm not looking to pick up everything that's out there, but just kind of focus on games that are exciting to me. I'm excited for these games, and sometimes when I get a cavalcade of arrivals or when I pick a b up a bunch of new games, it feels overwhelming and there's too much. So, that's it. So, those are the only ones. Um, I also looked at some crowdfunding campaigns throughout the month, but I ultimately I did not back anything. So, I I'm I'm excited for that. Uh, only because I used to back almost everything possible and I have sort of eased up on that over the years and that kind of controls how much is coming into the house and also allows me to get older games to the table finally and focus in on those. I don't know if it's I'm trying to think of what did not interest me. Some of these I have very particular tastes, but the motion on some of these pages was just too much for me. For instance, I think it was Enchanted Ivy. Uh, this is a a solo game that seemed interesting, but I one of the reasons why I just I I couldn't get a good idea of it with all the different motion that was going on in the crowdfunding page of, you know, you scroll down slightly

19:08 and it's zooming in and then it's it's quickly transitioning through all these different cards. It was a lot to take in and I felt like it was supposed to be in that cozier realm, but it wasn't presented in a cozy way for me personally. And again, I'm I'm one person. That's I have very odd reasons that I sometimes don't back something. Um, but between that and just thinking about how many other games I have, that one just didn't quite it didn't didn't make the list. But that's okay. It looked interesting from what I could tell from the the few glances I could handle with all the the motion and everything. Um, a couple of other ones that I looked at, there's was an expansion for Arboria. Arboria. Um, and the only reason that one it didn't quite work for me because I bought the retail version of the base game, which is it's an excellent game. No complaints. really like that game, but I don't have the upgraded components and there's additional other things, I think, and there's no way to pick those up. But then this expansion was kind of a deluxe edition and I wasn't and it just seemed like it was adding a lot to an already big game. So, I was like, you know what, I'm okay with just the base game. That's fine. I think other ones that I kind of glanced through but didn't back were Red Leaf University, Spirited, and Lodge for various reasons.

20:36 They either felt like games that I already have or it was just a lot of game for what I'm looking for right now and I just have a lot of other games to explore. So, I feel like crowdfunding is getting it's harder and harder for me to say yes. Uh, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think sometimes being able to say no is helpful. And also, like for instance with Spirited, I was reminded of Imperium, and I haven't played that in a while. And I have so many different civilizations that I still haven't even played. So, that one sort of got me focused on something I already have and appreciating that and hopefully getting that to my table. So, that's everything from this month. I am excited for Daydream and Coy Stickerville. I'm looking at them right now along with my new arrivals. Will I actually play them in the near future? We will see.

21:43 I'm notorious for not doing that. But I am just enjoying this hobby at a very slow calm pace right now. As a a side note, I used to think, hey, I have the weekend and like I have this 6 to 8 hour block of time where I don't have anything else to do. I'm going to play so many solo games. I'm just going to go through and like play five or six. It's going to be great. that that can be great. But I found that I have shifted over to more like, okay, I can play this at my, you know, whatever pace that I want to go at. I don't need to sit at my table for eight hours trying to fly through games and hurry up and learn rules so that I can be like, "Yeah, look how much I did on this day." Sometimes when I have all that extra time now, I'm just slowly going through. Again, it's roleplayer adventures, but I'm not racing through anything. I'm just enjoying the moments, enjoying the experience, and hopefully that will continue to be fun as I explore more and more games. So, I will be back in another month to talk about how things are going, more stuff that's coming out, but hopefully keeping it in this sort of focused, you know, small section, if you will, of what is interesting to me so that there's not so much to go through because there's a lot out there, but a lot of great games are out there to discover. So,

23:15 thanks so much for watching and I hope you get some great solo games to your table soon. Thanks again. Bye.