Shelf Life - July 2026 (games covered in December 2025)

0:00 Hey everybody, this is Mike with the OneStop Co-op Shop and it's time for another episode of Shelf Life, the monthly series where I look at games I covered 6 or 7 months ago and let you know if they're still in my collection. And this time I'm looking at the very end of December of last year, 2025. So let's see which of the games had Shelf Life. So starting in the crowdfunding corner, I've got Queen of Spies, a solo game of running a Belgian spy network during World War I. And this one was pretty fun, but I did find the gameplay a little bit harsh, the randomness a little bit frustrating. It's definitely a game where you're going to fail fairly often. Uh the scenarios were varied, but not in a way that excited me that much. So I did not end up asking for a final copy of this game, but it has delivered even though this is the crowdfunding part of the video. Uh so I hope others are enjoying it, but Queen of Spies didn't work that well for me.

0:51 Radiance on the other hand was super exciting. This is another solo game from the solo game of the month series, and it feels a little bit like Mage Knight meets Lord of the Rings, uh the LCG. And yeah, I thought this one was great, uh even just the limited amount of stuff I had in my copy. Uh the card play was very exciting, the variety in characters and bosses and locations and everything was really good. So I'm super excited to get this one on the table whenever it's done. That is Radiance. Moving on into released games, the first one is ROVE, not the Button Shy Pattern game, but a Gloomhaven inspired campaign combat game. And I liked parts of this one. I think the core combat system and how you manage these dice is really cool. And the scenario and enemy and terrain variety was pretty good as well.

1:37 The story was pretty well done. But these games just tend not to hold my attention that much anymore. Uh huge campaign games that are like big combat crawlers. Uh so I did not keep this one. It was a cull for me. But I think it's a solid game, and I am still interested in playing the smaller version. I think it's called Anchor Point. That's uh coming later. So we'll see if that happens, but again, that's Rove a Call. Next is Boss Fighters QR, which is an app-assisted boss battling game, and I adore this one. It's an absolute keep cuz my kids love it, too. And I'm very excited they've announced an expansion for it. Can't wait for that to come to America so I can get a copy of it and play even more bosses and characters. Although, even with the base game, the four basic classes and characters you have are very exciting and they level up in fun ways. It's an awesome game, and yeah, they've also released bonus bosses on the app and stuff. Yeah, this one is a huge hit for my entire family. I'm kind of sad it didn't win the Spiel prize, but Boss Fighter QR is definitely a keep.

2:34 Next up is another keep, which is Converge, specifically the season 2 releases of it. Although, playing this one helped me to love season 1 a lot more, too, because I'd only played a single faction in season 1, a single release, and it was a little bit limited for my taste. But, with more options to choose from and mixing and matching them, the game gets really fun. And the solo mode works pretty well. I mean, I still prefer the game for competitive, but Converge is a nice, quick, punchy solo mode. So, that's a keep, Converge. But, once again, I've got one keep and one cull, because Wild Gardens was a cull for me. This is a competitive, cozy game where you're gathering ingredients, foraging, and then making recipes with them. I found the core gameplay very nice, and the art is lovely. But, uh the solo mode has this story-based thing that didn't end up working that well for me and doesn't give it as much replay as I would like. And also, I found the gameplay just a little bit, maybe too straightforward, a little bit too obvious what I should do turn to turn.

3:25 So, Wild Gardens did not hold my interest for long. That's a cull. Next is Take Time, the limited communication game where you're trying to lay numbered cards around these clocks in different scenarios to match the requirements. And this one didn't work much for me, but I do think I'm the outlier. Even Peter in our podcast episode on this one ended up liking the game a lot more than me. I think I just wasn't kind of playing it the way they intended cuz I didn't give tons of clues and figure out tons of strategies at the beginning of each round and that was to my detriment and made us lose a lot. So, I think others will love Take Time, clearly it's a popular game, but for me it was a quick call. I really did not enjoy it and neither did my family. But, flipping right back to a keep, we've got Onward, the MOBA competitive or upcoming solo co-op game with the Twisted expansion. And even without the solo co-op, which I think is great, this game is really quick, the variety in characters is awesome, the tactical decisions are super meaty and tense. And yeah, the Twisted solo co-op mode that's coming is great, too. So, Onward is a big keep for me, definitely want to play it more, it's awesome.

4:28 And man, I'm just ping-ponging here cuz next is Micro Hero Hercules and this was a call. Uh because the game has become a little bit too mathy for me, the play is a little bit too obvious. I am curious about the upcoming ones, like I think they have an Odysseus uh Micro Hero one that's coming. I might want to play those if they aren't uh the exact same thing all over again. This is still a fun game, it's quick, but it's not as varied as I would like. And again, it feels more mathy than strategic. That's Micro Hero Hercules, a call. But, next one I kept and that is Civilution. Well, technically Peter kept it at his house cuz he likes it even more than me and I think he got the expansion. But, either way, this game is great. Uh you're rolling dice, you're performing actions to try to take territory and build up your civilization on this map. It kind of feels like a civilization game, it kind of feels like a really advanced Castles of Burgundy, but regardless of all that, it's a lot of fun and the strategies you can try are varied, the solo mode works really well and it's pretty quick to play.

5:23 Well, quick for a big civilization game. So, Civilution, definitely enjoy it. Next is Adventureous, where you're laying cards down and trying to build the best path forward to overcome challenges and earn the most victory points you can. Hey, this again feels like the Odyssey, these are kind of appropriate for right now. This is another button shy one that I'm keeping cuz it's tiny and it's quick and it's pretty fun, but it's definitely not a favorite for me. It's not one I would strongly recommend like Rove, but it's a good time that's adventurous and yet to keep cuz it's small. Next is Peak Team, a cooperative game where you're moving around a map as park rangers trying to deal with animals and crises that are there. And this one didn't work that well for my family. We didn't enjoy it a lot. It was very swingy which missions came out when, which cards you got when. There was some cool stuff in traversal and how you move around the map and deal with crises, but compared to other crisis management games and this is not one of my favorite types of games in general, we found this one a little bit lacking. And that is Peak Team, a call.

6:26 Next up is Aberration, a cooperative town defense game where you're pulling these tokens out of a bag to activate your actions with varied characters. And I like parts of this game. I think the design is pretty cool, but I found the actual play of it super punishing even on easier difficulty settings. If you made one mistake or the wrong enemy came out at just the right time, you would suddenly lose unexpectedly. Maybe it was a scenario design, maybe it was a player balance, I don't know. But either way, yes, my family and I did not end up enjoying this one much just cuz it felt like such a kick in the face every time we tried to play it. So Aberration was another call. But Dragons of game from Chip Theory that's kind of like a mini Mage Knight in a way. This one's a keep. Again, mainly because it's small. I will say I like Radiance more than this and I expect to really like Radiance a lot more when I get to play the final version. And also it's funny to have covered the 20 strong Awaken Realms sets recently because I'd kind of been going away from 20 strong and liking maybe Dragons of Etchin Stone more, but those were so awesome, they pulled me right back. So I'm not sure how often I'll actually pull this out, but it's really solid game. The tactical choices of how to combine your spells to get the best progress you can and how you're leveling up your deck and taking damage. All the core mechanics here work really well. So it's a cool game and it is a keep, Dragon to Vecna's Stone.

7:46 And we've got two games left. First is Beast, which is a cooperative limited communication game where you're trying to play cards in the central pile and not add them up to a high three-digit value too quickly. This one was a little bit meh for me. My family didn't like it that much either. There isn't much variety to the play and again bad luck can kind of tank your chances. I mean, I liked it enough to make a solo variant just cuz it seemed pretty obvious but not I guess cuz I actually like the game that much. But anyway, there it is. Beast is fine. It's small. The cards are pretty but yeah, it did get boring for us pretty quickly. That's a call. And finally, Valheim is also a call because my family and I got bored with this one as well. This one actually was pretty exciting at first. My kids really liked it. And why wouldn't they? It's fun to craft stuff and build your house, get cool armor, get cool weapons. But the game just in my opinion barely changes in different scenarios. You're doing the same stuff over and over again. Yes, the terrain is a little bit different and the map can be a little bit different. But other stuff like the boss combat especially feels really under baked to me. So, yeah, just did not hold my attention past four or five plays. And it's huge and expensive. So, it was a quick one to get rid of once I could. That is Valheim, my last call for this episode.

8:58 So, not a bad month. Six games kept, almost half of them. And there were quite a few games to guess on here. So, let's see how close people got in the contest. So, starting with group one, Boss Monster QR was the correct answer and almost half of you got it right. The Neithers voted 23%, both got 18% and Rogue only got 11%. For group two, Neither got 71%. This is going to be a trend for this one as you'll see. Converge, the correct answer only got 20% Wildgardens only 7% and both only 2%. For group three onward, the correct answer got 38% Neither was close behind there with 32. Take time 15 and both also 15%. Group four, Neither again, a big majority 58%. Civilisation the correct answer only got 23, Microhero Hercules 11, and both eight. For group five, neither got 64%. Adventure Time only got 17%, Peak Team 12, both seven.

9:51 Dragons of Legend Stone though did come way ahead with 64% in group six. Neither got 24, Aberration six, and both six. And in group seven, neither the correct answer finally got 78%. Valheim 13, B 7, and both only two. And the contest is a little bit easier this time. Jason Lauder, a Patreon supporter, got six out of seven. Matthew Mendonca, a Patreon supporter, six out of seven. Daniel Yenser, six out of seven. Chris Weimer is the only non-Patreon supporter who is in this top list, also six out of seven. Justin Guzman, six out of seven. And Ryan Pickelsimer, I feel like you've won several times, Ryan. You're always in my head. Got a perfect seven out of seven, only person, and you are our contest winner. So, I'll be in touch about your free game. Everybody else, check the video description, you can enter for August contest, and we'll see you next month for another episode of Shelf Life.