Shelf Life - October 2025 (games covered in March 2025)

0:00 Hey everybody, welcome to Shelf Life, the monthly series where I look at games I covered about half a year ago and let you know whether they're still in my collection. For this episode, I'm looking back at games covered in March of this year. Let's get to them and see which had shelf life. So, first in the crowdfunding corner, we have Companion Quest, which is a dice placement solo co-op game. I found this okay. I didn't love the dice placement puzzle of it and the gameplay felt pretty repetitive once I started playing it more and more, but there were some interesting decisions to be made and there was some tension and trying to stave off the bad guy from reaching you. So, decent game. I'm glad that it funded, but not one that I would have backed myself. That's Companion Quest. Then, next was Ozob. Another crowdfunding game. And this one is very Death May Dieish, like Zombasicide-ish. That's definitely what they were going for. It's got these different scenarios and different heroes you can play and different enemies and it was pretty good. I would not say it's as good as Death May Die for me and we already own a lot of stuff for that one. So, I might not pledge this one either, but I like the level up system. I like the scenarios. The Cyber Punk theme is pretty fun. So, I definitely give this another play. That's Ozob. Getting into the release games. First up is Hapamakus with the Pandora's Ruin expansion. Uh, this is the one that adds an alternate arena for every battle. Also has the Mercury's Boots faster play mode. And yeah, this is great. This is definitely a keep for me. Uh, Hapomakus Vtorm is already a very fun solo game, but I don't think I would ever play it without this stuff anymore, which is the good sign of an expansion or the sign of a good expansion, get that right. Uh, especially because the faster play mode

1:30 takes what is a kind of sometimes arduous full campaign if you try to get through it in just one or two days, and makes it so much more palatable and easy to get through. And, you know, the new arenas and stuff add great variety. So very happy with this one overall. That is Hoplamaka's Victorium Pandora's Ruin. Next up is War Story. And when I covered this, I think I called it my game of the year so far. It's not anymore, but it's still up there in probably the top 10 cuz it is an amazing choose your own adventure game set in a World War II theme, which is pretty unique. The battles, these cinematic battles are so crazy. Uh the tough choices and like the real emotion you get connecting to your characters is great. Now, this is a keep for me for now cuz I want to play through the entire thing another time, maybe with my family. I don't think I'll keep it, you know, after playing through it one or two more times because, you know, it does have limited branching options. Doesn't have infinite replay.

2:19 But there is a lot to explore here. Lots of fun stuff to find. Just an awesome awesome game that is War Story. Now, if you want a game that does have a shot of my number one for the year, pretty good shot, that is Unstoppable. This is an awesome deck builder, deck upgrader. Uh, tons of replay just because the combos and tactical decisions every turn are so good. Works great for solo, works great for two-player, one of my favorites of the year, and just my favorites in general. Uh, Unstoppable is awesome. I love it. And yeah, that is definitely a keep. Next is Zombicide: White to Death. This was a really solid Zombicide entry. If I was going to keep a Zombide, it might be this one. And I like the sort of anthropomorphic characters. The way the castle walls and like the guards helping you work is really cool, but I don't know if I need to keep it Zombide. I prefer other Seananish and like, you know, tactical miniature moving around scenario-based games. And yeah, but this one is a solid one if you want an entry into the Zombide franchise. I think you can't go wrong with White's Death. Next is Fields of Fire. And I'm very glad I got to play this one. It's a really cool combat system. Uh it's just a lot though, and it's definitely a call for me. Uh, it's just not something I would ever have the time to play enough to have the rules internalized, which I think is what you need to do to enjoy this one fully because it's just so much stuff to track, so much going on. But it is an awesome uh modeling of like a squad-based tactical combat game. It is a lot of fun when you're playing it.

3:40 That is Fields of Fire. Next is Heroes of Tennifer. I was very, very glad to see this one get a reprint campaign. It's been impossible to get for a while. Still one of my favorite deck builders. I do like this one better for co-op than solo. replaying it after many years. Uh just cuz the co-op kind of choices of when to push and when to stop are I think a bit more interesting than just the solo ones. But it's a solid game. It's a quick play. It's fun. I do think like things like Unstoppable and Warps Edge might have replaced it in terms of my favorite favorite games in this genre. But uh still great time with Heroes of Tennifer. That's still a keep. Next is Warcrow Adventures. And if you didn't watch the video, this is one of those rare games that I actively say I think is kind of bad. Like I think that they totally messed up the balance. The core mechanics are pretty cool, but unless like things change drastically in later scenarios. They just like totally messed up the balance of defense and offense and the grind of how long it takes to fight these enemies and for them to hurt you. It it was just an odd system. Like I feel like they were making maybe spending more time making miniatures than making a good game. But that's a little bit harsh. Anyway, if you enjoy this one, good for you. I hope some people out there do and wish the best to the team. But Warcrow Adventures was not for me. That was definitely a call. Next up was the competitive corner review for March, and that was Summoner Wars Second Edition. One of my favorite games of all time. Clearly, it's a keep.

4:58 Uh, this is not a game that I'm obsessive with. I don't buy every faction cuz I don't play with my kids as often as I might. But it also has a great online implementation. Has like solo modes and solo campaigns online. And yeah, it's just an awesome awesome game. Man, I wish they had a solo co-op mode like they did for Ash's uh reward. That would be so amazing if they did something like that. But even without it, Summoner Wars is still one of the best designs, one of my favorite games out there. It's definitely a keep. Next up is A Message from the Stars, a cooperative deduction word game. And this is one of those ones that I liked a lot. I liked this form of deduction. I really had a fun time with the logic kind of puzzle of the game, but my family didn't and my main game group didn't. And that means that it's a call like no matter what because this is doesn't have a solo vote. It is only cooperative. So yeah, like I think this one's pretty fun. I think if you're into word puzzles and logical deduction, you might enjoy this one a lot, but just make sure your group is into it, too. Or it's going to be a fall flat kind of negative experience. That's a message from the stars, a call. Next is Purple Haze. Man, I forgot what a great month March randomly was for narrative war games, which is not something I've almost ever played. Not something that really exists that often. Uh, so yeah, this is a really cool game mixing overland sort of choose your own adventure play that is really engaging.

6:11 set on the Vietnam War with a lot of harsh kind of graphic depictions of that conflict combined with a somewhat crunchy but very satisfying combat system. Although uh you know putting the two together doesn't always flow as smoothly as I'd like. It is a really cool system and for now kind of like War Story there's a keep. I want to play through and make some different like narrative choices. At least theoretically. I don't know. I can see myself keeping this one for several months and then culling it anyway. Especially if like I can't really play this with my kids. That doesn't make it tough. Uh but anyway, Purple Haze for now to keep. Great game. I really recommend it if you are a narrative or war game lover. Next is Escape from the Moon. This is from Salt and Pepper and some of their games are hits for me, some of them are misses. This one's more a miss. It's a deck builder kind of survival game with a sort of tactical card play, movement, action puzzle. And I I like the core play pretty well, but I found even with some of the modules and difficulty lovers that this one got way too repetitive too quickly and that there were often pretty obvious like best moves and best cards again and stuff, which is unfortunate cuz I think the core mechanics are good. So, I think with like a little bit more rebalancing, this might have been a more of a keep for me, but as it is, it is definitely a call. That is Escape from the Moon. And finally is the latest full Arkham Horror the card game campaign, The Drowned City. Uh, this was one that I was on the record as not enjoying very much. I definitely liked Hemlock Veil way more.

7:27 This was pretty low in like my sort of unofficial ranking of Arkham campaigns, but other people absolutely loved it. So, your results may vary. Uh, I think I found the people who like just kind of getting into things and not as much narrative and not as much like character interaction seem to enjoy this one better. Those are the exact things that fell flat for me. Uh, but you know, I'm keeping it. It's Darkham. Of course, I'm keeping it. Will I play through it again? I don't know. I definitely won't be in a hurry anytime soon. I kind of got what I wanted from it. But yeah, that is the Drown City a keep. So, Holy Crud, seven games kept out of 12. Although some of these were like favorites. They got reprints or, you know, competitive coverage of my favorite games ever or expansions for some of my favorite games ever. So, only a few of these are really surprising, I would say. But let's go to the contest and see which of you guess what I would keep. So, starting with group one, Pandora's Ruin got 42%, which is one of the ones I kept. But then neither got the next highest vote with 22. Both the correct answer only got 21%. And War Story was clearly the one people doubted more here. Only 15% voted for that by itself. into group two. Unstoppable. By far the most confident guess of the entire contest. 85% of you thought I would keep it. 8% said both. 6% said neither. And I think a single person said I would keep Zombide White to death and not unstoppable. And for group three, here's a tennifer was the winner and the correct answer, but not by a lot. Only 46%. Neither game was 29%, Fields of Fire was 14 and both was only 11. And for group four, Summoner War is another confident one. 74% neither 21.

8:57 both 3% and Warcrow Adventures. I think just a couple of you. Group five, neither was 54% but it's wrong. Purple Haze, another big spoiler in the contest with only 33% getting it right. Message from the Stars got 9% and both got only 4%. And the last one was Drowned City. Confident answer was 70%. Some people said neither at 15, both at 14. And then a single person picked Escape from the Moon. And we had a bunch of people who got 11 out of 12 correct. Austin, Harry, Ingga, Jackson, Carl, Matthew, and David. Great job. But we also had some people who got every single one right, which is really impressive. Frank Dow, Keith Fricken, and Keith has two chances to win because of being a Patreon supporter. Kyle Bruner, also a Patreon supporter, and Ty Clinard. So, I'm going to roll a d6 and see which of the four comes away with a prize. And we've got a three, which means Keith, you are the big winner for this month. I'll be in touch about your free game. Everybody else, thanks for entering. Don't forget to check the video description. You can enter next month's contest right now so you don't forget later. And we'll see you next time for more Shelf Life.