2022 People's Choice Top 200 Solo Games Pt. 2: 51–100

0:00 all right hey you Gamers this is Liz Davidson from Beyond Solitaire once again we're back with some further commentary on the People's Choice top 200 it's the best list of the Year obviously because it's the top 10 solo games and that's what we're rocking all right so this is the video that is about games 51 through 100 so we're up in the top 100 of the list um and you know we can talk about the People's Choice cream or the crop next video but I think there's a lot of really good stuff

0:31 all right indeed all right so I'm Liz and then why don't you gentlemen all introduce yourself so everybody knows who you are even though they already should Jeremy Howard Man versus Meagle uh Paul Grogan gaming rules Mike Kelly One Step Co-op shop yes and we together are the horsemen of the apocalypse I want to be pestilence all right so I just have to start off with the fact that number 100 is Navajo Wars a chunky little solo war game that climbs 22 spots to crack the top 100 again this year wow I didn't expect that you were saying earlier how war games are on the way down but this one has got the trend this one is going up yeah it had a reprint this year oh I didn't know that that makes sense then yeah so well yeah yeah I think I was waiting on my copy this time last year I'm pretty sure something in there but um but yeah Navajo Wars is a very heavy game um and it is the predecessor of the game I think is better between the two which is comancheria and it they're both games about um Native American history by Joel toppin who is like a missionary who lives with Native Americans in the United States so very interesting I'm super happy to see these kind of

2:01 thinky tough games holding their own I'm a little thrown by burn cycle and Raiders of cythia being in the top 100 at all okay is just a cleaner version of Raiders of an RC and it's not like that profound it's just renz norci was a okay solo game and then like to have a better version of it is great but I don't necessarily feel like 100 over some of the Titans that I saw on the previous list burn cycle although although a really good solo game is not a top 100. this is it's got to be a recency bias thing here because because I just once again although fun and good like good solo mode a really good solo mode doesn't along amongst the top 100 that represents a solo absolutely not absolutely not um versus some of the ones that we've had in here just it's it's a really solid game though um I'm just surprised also because of the price of it but yeah you know but uh you know it it it it rains true with chip Theory type games yeah that are going to be you know well received because they are really good solo modes I'd not 100 pushing back against I think maybe I'm pushing more against the Raiders and Cynthia finger I'm just like right away really like

3:33 I should know this but is the solo mode for burn cycle really any different from the um I was going to say because it's a Cooperative game yeah it's for one to four players there isn't like oh and if you're playing solo you now need to use all of these extra rules it's like no no no it's the same rules you're just using one bot and a that other little thing yeah yeah I was gonna say even in Solo you still have to help robot and it's not hard to two-handed either if you want to so no no burn cycle is definitely in that like Cooperative like silver plays exactly the same kind of uh mode yeah but it also fits into that category of sure you can play it solo I would never play it solo Oh no I I love it because yeah because it's it's too much for me I I need somebody there to go Paul we forgot to do that movement wrong or we forgot to roll that die or we forgot to do this so I need another person there to make sure you know I'm actually doing it right because it's a bit too much overhead for me especially I'm not a hater I mean it's right here with things right there you go I'm not a hater I'm not saying I'm a hater but you could be that's permitted on this list I could be you know yeah I could you're loud hey the coffee roaster is below that I think to myself what are we talking about I mean I think Coffee Roasters shouldn't even be in the top 200.

4:47 I think that's it that's a big like like I think it's right around burnt cycle that I think are way better than the burnt cycle and way worse it's just it's just taste and preferences a a truly great bag Builder is not going to be discussed on this video never mind uh it's even higher than that but uh but I'm glad that that's higher than coffee roaster because that's way better than coffee roaster in every way I 100 agree all right so what about uh games that are kind of old variables in this part of the list that are hanging on and you're happy to see it so I personally feel that way about baseball highlights 2045 yeah I freaking love baseball highlights I always love baseball I like I'll just carry that torch for a long time um I really love it let's see holding strong holding strong yeah yeah a little strong in the in with final girl making a charge right yes uh because of course final girl is a superior game but still like you got that's another one so like we talked about this because like you talk about last video Miss fall this would be one to pick up now because you can get maybe the entire run of that game plus the crime wave plus everything for under 100 bucks from somebody because they want to get rid of it because they got a final girl right and you would have just as much fun and you would fall in love with the system or or you wouldn't because I think people right or you wouldn't right but yeah most people who don't like one probably won't like the other although I think final girl has enough extra going on that it can draw you anyway if you don't like that core system so it's like that's that's a win to me uh but yeah I

6:19 just thought like oh that's a very interesting then it's still in there that's good yeah we're talking about uh you know recency bias yeah when I first dipped my toe into solo gaming I don't know four or five years ago now maybe hostage negotiator was the one that I kept hearing everybody talking about as like the solo game to play yeah so it's come before a lot of the other you know more recent solo games obviously um so it is good to see it's still in there in the top 100 because yeah I heard I've still not managed to try it myself but I have heard good things I do recommend it I think that career was an inspired addition to like already a fantastic system I'm a big huskyo shooter fan uh but you know some people don't like the theme too I think final girl is ultimately gonna be the more palatable one I do think it's it runs a little better yeah which is maybe a weird thing because neither one is really a nice happy Thief no but like fake horror movie violence yes or culturally acceptable right like so my favorite hostage negotiator scenario is still the teacher one because it makes me yeah it's still the teacher always ridiculous yeah like I've played that one on my channel because like I'm a teacher and I can't imagine but also like I would watch that movie yeah speaking of a game that has like you know uh like career kind of added a campaign um I see that Imperial settlers empires of the north is 93 on here and I enjoy that solo I have the lighthouse but haven't played it yet which is the new

7:50 expansion it's like a solo campaign have you played it uh Jeremy that's what I I'm looking at it right here so it's on my my very recent list to play so I'm very excited to get that to the table yeah I mean I like it a lot so I wonder if it's gonna be like an our next situation where it takes a pretty good solo mode it makes it like real good you know that'd be awesome if it does I've heard there's some errors in there and there's small things in there that bug it up a little bit but because I think because they tried to get it printed by by Essen and I think they just really didn't once over it enough uh which is unfortunate because I don't like Rush products but I mean this probably was a rush job but also the gameplay is good that's what I'm thinking interesting trend on here so what are what do all these games have in common you ready you ready what uh here we go starting at the top halito moving on to was it I thought was Agricola was in there and then at the gates of uh loyang yeah oh and glass Road right on glass road yeah glass ones in here too yeah yeah isn't that crazy like isn't that interesting like especially because I've offloaded all those that's an interesting little Trend in there like in that 50 yeah it's all like the exact same and they may be more in the next video right maybe but but it's interesting that that they're like in that compact yeah and I just like I was like oh okay so then there's still the strongest for the dry hero yeah

9:21 they're in this part of the list because everybody has a different favorite but all those favorites are strong enough to make it into the top 100. I like this though because it really says like this designer you know like when people say when they recommend a designer that's what you you also are looking for it's like which ones are the best ones and now we're getting to that point where someone has has started to divide those Fister is starting to show up yeah yeah you know like T the T games are starting to show up you know um so those are the types of things or um you know Garfield games is starting to show up so you you I mean there's some strong titles man uh so yeah I mean once you get to these parts it's the strong titles but one I want to highlight is another one within Arm's Reach Renegade uh which which is not going to be called Renegade soon right yeah but I will always keep the original in my closet stand with me uh uh this game if you can find it will be one of your best solo games now 100 themeless to me 100 themeless it is literally it's just a puzzle that you're trying to figure out for each one yeah but if you're into that sort of thing if you can admit that some games are just puzzles really just car puzzles then you'll be okay with this game uh so yeah I I can't recommend this game enough it is truly one of the Hidden

10:52 gems on this list uh people barely talk about it people are barely aware of it is what it really boils down to I think uh I mean clearly not not seriously unaware since it's 54. well I'm just saying for the people who have it that's another thing for the people who happy they will Champion it to the to that to the day's end yeah yeah but uh you know if you want to support your also your Community member uh Richard Wilkins you can do that as well uh so yeah oh I mean I'm friends with Ricky um I would say Hang Fire because there's a new version coming out and it's going to be renamed um and it was supposed to be out last year and then we're supposed to be out the year before um but it's on its way uh okay it's effectively a second edition of that game there's a tabletop okay cool or is he doing it on his own I think it's through tabletop Tycoon okay or or one of their companies yeah yeah so um yeah no yeah Ricky's a solo gamer so it's good when he puts his you know game designing talents he does design a very popular solo game um and yeah it is it is very good so looking forward to the new version whatever it's going to be called I think he told me once but I'm not allowed to say I can't remember very interesting one Roots a very interesting title to be in the top 100 yeah yeah he was just talking about how yeah I think this is one I'm actually surprised it says hi but I think rude is

12:22 such a juggernaut in terms of General popularity I I think my love of the solo because I do love root solo I I don't see most people loving it as much as I do because it is a bear especially when you're uh fighting against if you're only playing against one enemy faction it's not a big of a deal you're doing like two or three and keeping all of their rules in check and making sure you go through all the little steps of like the flow chart and everything like that's it's not easy for me sometimes and again I live for that stuff so I'm sort of surprised at its size as it is I I do think though that it kind of hard comes back to what we talked about in the previous video right which is that games that people love that happen have solo make it on their solo list even if it's not one of their actual primarily blade solo games anyone else it is though and this is something else we need to talk about for this list the computer game exactly when do you rate a game that is an app and you're like I love the Solo in the app because Roots app is super easy to play love the app yeah and if I don't do that personally I don't rate like that's a little different to me like playing it on the app but if somebody's doing that then I can totally understand rupee and not uh yeah what is it but if that was the case where's Through the Ages and this is the thing so through the 80s has a solo mode on the app but because there is no actual solo mode for the board game it's not on this list by the way great app oh I know I was playing it 4 30 this morning when I couldn't sleep ever great app I think though that if it says one on the box but you can cheat by playing it on the computer I don't consider

13:52 changing at all um that maybe you feel like you're getting plays in of your board game even if it's not on the table for sure for sure I don't mind people rating it that way I'm just I'm just trying to figure out yeah I think that would be interesting if if it was only the solo that's in the box and it's not even in the bass box you have to buy the Clockwork expansions if it was only that as much as I adore it I do not think it would be it would be this High interest yeah yeah is anybody else surprised that Journey's in well no not I mean spacehog death angel is still hanging out I know I've heard that's really good as well I've never played it but I've heard it really good I mean it's really good it's really good if you have the right mindset Paul like that I I like it okay but you know you can just die after 45 minutes of playing from a single die roll so it's not gonna be everyone's uh taste that's where I'm at with the same thing with Shadow on CrossFire like you can just not complete the game oh my god well shatter on CrossFire I have problems with the entire structure but it's just slow you level up that's a very high number 57 yeah that's surprising well that's that's sometimes just not finishable and people will not understand that okay so here's two biggest losses okay very very interesting uh uh losses I was like whoa that's a big loss biggest one is Manchester Madness 39 spots should be 390. I don't I don't like the game I don't like the game at all so so I don't like the game yeah it is one of the highest regardless app driven I know yeah and I'm glad very surprised that

15:24 it's it's that low um I'm glad journey I think Journeys is better I don't I love either of them but I like Journeys a lot more than men so I did a whole podcast with somebody about four years ago and it was 45 minutes long and it was 45 minutes of me saying why I love Lord of the Rings Journeys in Middle Earth and hate Mansions of Badness oh yes I won't I won't cover the whole topic one of them I think is absolutely awful and the other game is one of my favorite games and I absolutely love it and that's not just down to the theme so I came up to the Hobby I saved a lot of I saved money to get Mansions of Madness right and uh yeah because it was like the next game out of my just like okay now I'm gonna purchase another 100 game this is yeah uh who would know and I would continue to spend hundreds of dollars on these big campaign boxes but I just remember uh trying to app and I'm I was down for the app stuff early because I was like oh you get narration you get this and that uh and that one in particular I was like what do we even have this board for it at first and then I was like oh I get it but I'm not feeling the the theme and then I realized like maybe I wasn't a big Cthulhu themed person I would later find out that could do death may die is one of the best games ever yes it is but I just played that yesterday what how dare you shake your head at us are you kidding me I mean I just didn't have a good first teaching play and like if that happens to me like I just don't go back actually uh truecarion almost got

16:54 ruined for me that way um somebody that I love dearly as a friend bought it at a game store and we were all kind of newish to the Hobby and you know I've been gaming but I hadn't played a lot of heavy Years yet and he was like oh let's just open it and see how it is here and I didn't touch it again until let me hit you all with these are all within they're all within the same five block all right not quite the same game but a lot of things to discuss oh sworn first here on the list 83. yeah that's surprising as heck KDM Falls to 85 so it's two below what's one and then two below KDM is Ascent Journeys in the dark second edition and you know it's not on the list at all I just checked the scent Legends of the dark is literally not on the list unless I don't know if Kevin combined them so yeah I think he did actually yeah think about the wealth of content for the first two that we're talking about here so king of Death monster was also the second biggest fall off so yes minus 32. uh if you didn't know king of Death monster is still in my top five games of all time it's the most thematic game I've ever played uh it is so deep entrenched in its theme but I also understand it's that it's highly inaccessible to game like as far as you know upkeep and all that stuff and then price range so I understand how it's kind of falling out and the kickstarter hasn't delivered yet

18:26 so I can see how it falls from Grace's just from Graces you know for people uh as well and it's randomized it's very random once you get it you're like wait all I'm doing was Chuck and dice live or die you know like that kind of thing so it it can be a surprising game but for me uh you know but for me osorn is going to be a prime example of a game that's going to go from 84 to like top 10. yeah like I I think that's going to be a lot I was one is people are only just playing it now right yeah and they have a whole new Kickstarter going yeah and a little bit like OSS Vanguard has come in at number 131 I thought out Swan would be higher because more people have got it more people have been playing it right and the way that it allows you to play because one of the differences between oath Swan and a lot of other solo games is in oath one you play Four characters you always play four characters there is no compared to say gloomhaven where you you play two to four characters every single scenario in that game is designed for four characters and if you're playing solo you have to play four characters but they've they've got these rules in there that allow you to play three of the characters as these cut down easier to run versions so you're not having to forehand the whole thing um some people do if they really want to but you can just play one character the proper way uh or you know the main way and then you play the other three with this sort of you know smaller version so the way that they've done that is really cool uh and I know quite a few people that are playing it

19:57 um solo yeah yeah I mean I really like the what I've what I did to kind of vary it up because I get bored with the same character in these endless uh Campaign games I've been uh switching which one's my main character right each Mission so I'll be like the Rogue for a few missions then I'll be my Archer like it's the same crew yeah but it's like it's kind of like I'm highlighting a different one each time okay that works I thought I think I'm working on a video for this between this and and gloomhaven and one of the things that I I think the game doesn't do well is like what the level up system is is a good progression of the game but it doesn't feel like this thematic thing of like oh my Warrior's getting you know better and all that stuff like that it's quite like a more paced my person is like it's paced out and it's like okay now oh now I get these cards so now I feel thematic now I feel awesome and now I feel you know grown but until then it's like oh I get another chip oh I get another thing but I think that's super similar to glue Maven but it works but it works in that favorite way you always get cards though every time and it adds to your character it makes you it gives you life every time versus like the the cool part about that that does work in its favor is the fact that you can you can switch characters so it's like you know like you don't have to worry about five things to upkeep when you switch to characters it actually is like give that guy an extra piece and now you're good to go so they've they've kind of traded in accessibility versus then staring at three cards and going like oh my God how am I going to add this to my deck is this going to change

21:28 the flow of my character uh you know like that kind of thing like that but for me with gloomhaven there's so much difference by taking that one card that you're like I could change my whole decks you know strategy and that in turn since every character's thematic to whatever deck it is it gives a little bit more theme to me so I I just thought that was really interesting uh yeah but old sword is going to be higher way higher oh yeah yeah another another game that uh I'm really happy to see on this list this is the 51 to 100 list and it is I think the one that's jumped the second to most number of places and that's Concordia yeah because I haven't played Solitaire yet it's great yeah really I love it yeah really really good solo mode so to have Concord here on this list I and I don't think there was an unofficial solo mode before there may have been apologies okay I think there was but of course everybody was waiting for that access to that release so yeah I think there was somebody I kind of made up something that was pretty decent you know another and it's the sign of the times right uh Great Western Trail 155. so it went up 155 because now it has an addition with the solo mode yeah yeah and that also had a well regarded I believe that one had a ride yeah no it was pretty popular yeah you know like brass would be another one like they had like a well-regarded solo mode but this one you know once it's official yes you know yeah well hey that happened for literally me for undaunted there you go yeah actually let's talk

22:59 about it okay so I'm gonna say I mean I I really love on Dante I think it's a fantastic game um I'm assuming this is I mean as we talked about undaunted Normandy itself does not come with a solo mode in that box you have to get of all the games associated with David Thompson that can be played solo not the one at the top of the list at all I put Pavlov's house yeah take it I think it's telling and I think good job with undaunted uh reinforcements it's actually pretty similar to like my unofficial solo mode that I did first in a lot of ways the true standard for goodness no no I'm not saying that my mode is really weighty and takes a while it's definitely like the kind of thing Paul would not want to play basically we said in the last episode um but yeah I think uh David Digby who was at the lead designer on reinforcements and David tertsey who who helped out um I think I think they have a very different solo sensibility for better or worse than David Thompson does you know and I I tend to gravitate more toward the David Thompson school for most things unless it's a mind clash and that I really love David Churchill's stuff a lot of the time can you play okay can you take I don't own a doctor and the reason why I don't is because I wanted to play it solo so I need that so you if you get undaunted Normandy my solo Mode's still up on PGG it was super popular and I think it's still some people still prefer to reinforcements but clearly reinforcements took all the air out of

24:29 the room as it should because it's an official thing um but yeah so my my solo mode is only for Normandy you got to print out nine cards um for to play the other one you gotta buy the reinforcements expansion and then it works for either Normandy or North Africa or like to even combine them some so it kind of lets you do a bunch of stuff with it so it's it's the system for both of those correct although I have I've been talking to David some he's saying Stalingrad which is the next one coming for the system is like by far the best in the system I'm not sure where solo stands for it there's no several remote I've covered it on the channel I've played it a few times it is by far the best of the undaunted series of games normally it was so good yes but this this is wow oh it's so good you play scenario one and then at the end of scenario one you're like okay so because in this whenever a card goes to the killed pile it's not killed he's wounded and then at the end of the scenario you go through your wounded pile and you shuffle them and you take out a couple and you go those soldiers died oh shoot they died from their wounds so those cards go in that component that compartment and they're gone um for everyone that died you've got to take a random reserves card and it's basically some guy with a shovel who's just turned up and gone what do I do what do I do it's a weaker version and then at the end of each scenario two of your soldiers upgrade so you remove them and you get these random improvements and he's like oh this one's better at this and this one's and suddenly you then play scenario two it's like

26:00 well it's you know a lot of games when you add a campaign element onto them suddenly go a lot better and an undaunted Stalingrad adds this you know this campaign system it's not legacy you are not destroying anything you're not stickering you're not writing or anything it's all just moving cards from one compartment to another suddenly the game which was you know I'm a fan of the undaunted series suddenly playing Stalingrad was like wow this is really good so anyway I love that I mean Jeremy I think you're a fan of the XCOM video games too right anything that's like here's your squads some of them get better and your best people can die like the second you say that like even eyes has Vanguard had a little bit of that victorum had a little bit of that like all I'm like and give me that give me more yeah somebody compared to I says Vanguard to XCOM a week ago I think and I went no no no no it's completely wrong and then I went oh no wait a minute yes was that me no no no no no because Ace copies two games in one you've got the Tactical oh sure sure right but then whatever happens at the base yeah that's like always has fun card and I went oh yeah you're right yeah yeah when I hear that and then I hear like it's like Mass Effect 2 like ISS vanguards oh yeah yeah it sounds like next level stuff oh yeah yeah well I mean the big time out for that the big thing Jeremy will be how much you like the planets because I like them but some people don't yeah and like that's not awesome tactical combat like x-com that's not freewheeling you know first

27:31 person shooter like Mass Effect that's its own thing and I think it's really fun but yeah just because you love the bass side doesn't mean you'll definitely love ISS you might but at least the rule book will be good so you should be you should be all right learning it also the the one game that seems to be losing steam but you know it's still a good one to suggest and you know I'm looking for ones that are a little bit on the cheaper side and it's probably the cheapest one in this one here and that's um what was it I'm looking at what was I looking for uh Marquee I mean right next to it right next to it losing steam a little bit is one deck dungeon yep yeah so that one that dungeon really good uh you know really good dice game and the cool part about this one is is that if you get into it you have a lot of extra content different themes uh that you can go into because I one deck Galaxy is that out yet like officially uh I think it's finally close I think it's shipping now yeah you know like get your hands on one of those that kind of suits you um and and give it a go but I'm that that's kind of what I'm looking for I'm like oh that's a little bit like a you know on the orchards in there nothing the other really good yeah like I actually want to point out all of those little side room games are actually in this segment of the list you've got my key which is a lovely little quick work replacement you've got Orchard Grove was further down but Orchards the the first of the series like a nice little it's like 18 cars you only play like nine at a time super quick little scoring thing

29:03 I really like it and then black Sonata is still on here which is solo um hidden movement so Mucky has gone up 60 places wow that's probably the new because they had like an official nicer Edition didn't they yeah okay that was newer this year that got the Packers hey search for Planet X yeah man I'm happy to see that yeah that's a good game so this game is going to continue to rise because it's now way more in print right it is that game suffered so much from the pandemic because it came out like right when it when it started like so yeah I don't even know that's it was that it was that it was the it would have been the Gen Con game like it would have been the one that were like oh my God search for Planet X search for Planet X and it didn't get that and most people didn't know about it but it sold out of its print run and even when the new print run came out it just didn't have like the the wide buzz but everybody who played it loves it I mean it's it's a really good game there's actually a new sequel version with animals or something like that and I just hope people really adore it because it's a really good game to play by yourself it just it doesn't matter what player account you play it at honestly um because it's really fun it's a really fun exercise let's just say introduction another app driven game though too so if you are you're not really into Apps you're definitely not going to be something that's up to because it is relying on that um

30:34 that's one of those ones like some people say like you could look at uh you know you could do Journeys in Middle Earth without the app it would be cumbersome you'd have all these books and things oh yeah yeah yeah you could it would just be a little bit frustrating but search reply at X is one of those games that I think even the app deniers tend to maybe not mine so much there's literally like no way to do that you know like this you know simultaneous well maybe solo you could but like the simultaneous competitive kind of like clue Style game like guessing all these things it's it's genius I think it's great how they did it okay while we're at it let's just add in this thing you can play overstorm without the app don't you dare okay that narration is so good this is basically due to the narration being brilliant yeah the narration is too good you've not heard me Jeremy you've not heard me doing my narration no I'm seriously okay way too good it's yeah I mean it's just too much I also do not play the short version of the scenarios you're gonna have completely different experiences I I I've done both based on who I'm playing with I've done I've done both like I did both so I could get a round idea of like what it felt like and it's amazing that the the the why difference of what's going on what's going on by the story they're telling you like Oh I thought they would give you the full experience like okay you just do the dice rolls no no no it's a very shortened experience of like what happened here it's like hey do three dice checks okay hit miss all right get these two

32:05 cards now you're fighting which is fine like if you want to get through the just to the battles but man you are missing out on some very big story elements if you do and they are fun they're fun and engaging so yeah that game it is definitely gonna it's gonna fly up this chart well going back to Great Western Trail Great Western Trail he's currently 58th on the list or 155 places wow yeah so how high is that I'm I'm really curious to see what this list is going to be like next year for all of these ones and we touched on this but I think and somebody will correct me if I'm wrong the Great Western Trail the second edition that's come out which has the solo mode included in it the solo mode that is included in it was The Unofficial fan made one yes that was so good they just went well we'll just use that because it is really good so I don't think there was any changes to it and somebody will correct me if I'm wrong well I remember the same uh root is the same thing you know we should say the the root came from a fan made uh right where they call it well I guess they they made an official solo mode in the first expansion that I understand is widely panned and broken and then uh to be fair the the fan worked with what they had in the official solo mode but just made it like a billion times better and worked for every faction instead of just the uh the cats yeah so yeah that's definitely cool when that happens and just going back again to was one thing that I suddenly remembered that I wanted to say about the Concordia solo mode the reason why

33:36 Concordia solitaires is uh is so good is you can play it with any map and any expansion in any combination so you know it isn't just oh here's a solo mode but it's only for the base game it's like no no no this solo mode will do you for whatever flavor or version of Concord you you want to play um right it completely goes on to any of them um and it's clean it's flipper card tiny little bit of AI enough that I can I can manage it without my hair exploding uh and it was it was really good yeah all right all right because I love to play it multiple times so

34:18 are you mentioning too much of it anymore in the future so these modular deck games two which are from the saddlers so we've got um Street Masters in this segment of the list we've also got lower down uh Ultra Quest and then of course kind of in the middle Sentinel is the Multiverse which is like the the older school like let's put a bunch of decks together game so they're all kind of still hanging in but you know the saddlers are you know Brady is no longer designing games he's gonna go write novels and I completely support his creative Journey but also like you know they made some really cool games and had some cool ideas are these the two designers that did um uh Warhammer Adventure Quest which then became Heroes of turinoff yeah pretty amazing game I saw that on the list way lower down but that's that's great game right what talent you have like I can shift from game design to like I'm just writing novels baby like yeah what what talent I love when people have this like especially in the industry but it's like it takes a lot to design a game it's not just you know yeah yeah you know I'm trying I'm trying it and it's just like just to even take an idea and put it down on paper and cut out cards that's a lot but to have these games like the sellers have done which are not small you know like they're not small they require a lot of thought process and then to take that talent and turn it into something that's deep in lore is is quite uh Quite a feat so I'm really excited about their Journey yeah for sure his journey with that as well that's you know I just want to give a shout out to that because uh yeah

35:50 um yeah here's one here's a big one also Central is the Multiverse yes I don't I've never played that so what Jeremy yeah I haven't played that or altar Quest I play Street Master Street Master is one of my favorite Soul games at one time but I wanted to play altar Quest because it it's it's basically isn't it like Street Masters but just in a in a fantasy Universe I mean there's a lot of differences but yeah a lot of I mean a lot of differences that will be based on fantasy right yeah but well but also like yeah I mean Street Masters is a straight up kill the boss like they're on the board from the beginning altercrest the boss comes out later stream uh Ultra Quest has this whole like exploring room Mechanic Street Masters you just have like this one set four yeah everything's right there in the beginning uh they're better they're both good now there's like a top game for me um Sentinels is a top game for me especially the news yeah so I'd rather play Sentinels and some of it is streamlining like uh I'd rather play Sentinels than Street Masters Ultra Quest all of those because it's just cards but it still achieves I think as much theme and even more like Combos and interactions and then another one that's not like necessarily said as a MDS like modular deck system game but it kinda is is that cthulhath may die you can swap out different episodes swap out different Elder ones swap out different Heroes um but they did it in a way that's a lot uh more streamlined but still gets a lot of theme across than like Street Masters did because stream messages you got a bunch of different decks and a lot of like effects just hang out and you got to keep on remembering to check them for

37:22 better or worse uh death may die you shove those you know uh the Elder one and the episode cards together so you're just drawing a single card each turn those cards don't stay in play they do something and they're gone I don't know it's at least for me like when I'm trying to play a quick like kind of fun dice chucking game I'd probably gravitate toward death may die before any of them honestly play time is on point I mean we're talking like 70 when it's like when people say like 75 to 90 like this is right in there yeah it's not long you got if you have season one and two you have so many characters to choose from so many when we just did um we just did a play with the new expansion stuff they have for our extra life stream yesterday yeah uh hey donate to Children's Hospitals everybody but uh yeah so we played with the the relics which uh Power you up more and the like extra Monsters the extra monsters we're fine the relics are freaking awesome yeah like I want to play with those every game now it was it made your character more unique it gave you more like fun things to play around with it's gonna make each game feel more different I was really into those that's that's the thing it's like the game already has so much baked into it uh just by the characters like the characters have different styles they have their different things but of course it's just the thematics of how they but I you know you really get a chance to like feel this epicness rise in the game you know like uh so for example like Atlantis Rising always has

38:53 that final that final push that final tension uh Cthulhu that definitely die you can make it happen early you can just go crazy you just go mad you're like I'm I'm going in and that's that's a president for like dude you are walking the line right now but at the same time you may want to because your character does that and it's like that that right there that tension there and it could people can die right away you know and that's fine because the game is not that long and there's a reason to stay in it you know like and I just it's a very unique game that way um but at the same time it's not it's just a very high um intense experience with quick fails quick fails and and intense wins and I love that about that game a lot of emotion very swingy but swingy swinging in a thematic way like yeah it's very swinging you know you never know what will happen when you open that door or when you have certain tasks and it's not just beat the boss you know it doesn't feel like just beat the boss you got to do certain things teamwork wise so yeah oh sorry go ahead Liz that's

40:06 is um kind of on our slow downward run which is o'neira that was number nine uh a matter of years ago wow and it used to be a steady favored top 10 solo game and it's amazing to see like I'm glad that it's still there I also do like I wanted to pose the question to y'all since we play a lot of solo games it's still is solo gaming just kind of leaving these sorts of games behind old and outdated now or you know once this fall from Greece so I probably do less so low gaming than out of the four of us I probably do the less solo gaming because I do a lot of multiplayer gaming but my thinking is there's nothing wrong with the near him yes it's a few years old but we're getting all of these other games and other games which are probably more known for being multiplayer are having solo modes added to like the Great Western Trails like the concordia's and things like this and that is making solo gaming is growing which is amazing and solo game is getting more and more popular and it's nice that we're having solo modes added to already existing great games but that does mean that some other games which are you know predominantly solo games are kind of dropping down a little bit just I mean I I would argue I like that yeah I would argue a different point I think I think like the button shy games that have done super well like even this year final girl having like a meteor

41:38 meteoric rise making tons of money on Kickstarter I think and I think especially with covet I think there was a huge like Blossom of love for even games that are Solo only because I hear you Paul and I think sometimes it's it's a tougher pill to swallow to buy a game that's solo only over one that's like I can place with my friends and play itself their value you know like I totally see that but I think solo only is doing very well yeah I just didn't go near him um I bet a lot of people even when it was like as high as it was we're playing it on the app and not the actual game you know what I mean and I just think it's even even for me I'd rather play some of the other Universe games like natillian or Arion instead of o'nearium at this point so yeah I just think a lot of people move on and uh and especially like a quick game like I have a whole shelf of little games like this I think O'Neil's even on it and I just don't look at it that often because it's just like kind of sitting there you know so unless it's a new like little quick game sometimes I just won't pull it out um although I do have Rove on my bedside table right now and I played it the last like three nights in a row just like busted out a 10 minute game before I went to bed yeah so I I think solo only is still alive I just think o'nearam's uh you know it's not getting the attention it once did I just think there's more solo only games yeah that's true that's another thing there's just more solo only games and people are preferring those on the other like there's more rolling right games than ever that can be played solo so like if you just prefer those you may prefer something that's newer you know what I'm saying so it's like just as a whole like if you told me it's between honor them and

43:08 resist like I might play resist more now it's newer and it's solo only you know and you know like yeah I think I think resist is better than it is more Mindless I will give him like a chest yeah but like we just talked about this beforehand like you just have or we were talking about last episode there's just a whole bunch of you know button shy games that could move all of these around but here here's a here's an overarching thing I I haven't looked at the last 50 I just kind of do it as we go along but the weight of a game can shift a lot of things because now like Paul said there's more of these there's also Euros that are played multiplayer with the solo mode and I've found that more hobbyist Gamers they're going to be a little bit further into the hobby they're going to start picking those games that are bigger bigger presentation bigger uh you know like bigger Euros that have solo modes because they want this crunchier thing and they may not be looking for portable small as much as well so there's like two factors working against a game like that this just shows you the staying power this shows you more of the staying power more so than like the slow progression I'm like like even pandemic I'm like looking I'm like that is staying power that is flat out staying power so that just goes to show you how strong people think about these games like that that that's staying power to me like yeah both of those games is like a testament to how great they are for people you know the fact that it's

44:40 dropped a few places it's still in the top 100 right and it's still higher than loads of other great games that we've spoken about yep and I I do wonder if it's emotional attached versus whether it's still actually that good but a time will tell and the people's voice will tell So speaking of moving on to bigger things it's time to wrap this so we can talk about the top 50 but does anybody have any uh final thoughts before we break and there will be another video soon everyone yeah let me jump in let me jump in cool uh I think nobody talked about one of my favorite games and I'm surprised it's as high as it is it's 69 which is a bullet um level 99 I adore that game but I still kind of feel like I'm like one of the only champions of it but apparently I'm wrong maybe yeah I've not played it I've not heard of it but it's 60 69 on the list so yeah it must be getting quite a few times oh you gotta play you do have to play that game I absolutely love that game Mike we still need to play it I want to yeah after this recording we can play and I'd be happy and something else I was just looking at because I totally forgot about but we haven't mentioned it at all but it is an interesting one so for you all I don't know if Kevin puts out like the detailed things but all of all four of us can see them uh it's like for you if you're you guys if you're in the uh thing it's like the fifth column over is average vote that's very interesting to look at because the lower number means fewer people ranked it but they ranked it higher higher numbers mean it was more widely placed right with a lower rank so for example uh medara is 77 that's a 5.8 yeah not that many people

46:12 have it it's so huge and expensive but it's incredibly highly ranked by those who do um osworn's the exact same way where'd it go uh LS4 is 5.2 so that's that's the lowest average vote in this section of the list which means the fewest people have it but that that speaks to us thinking it's gonna rock it up the charts because if more people own it and again like that kind of ranking whereas something gets really low um Jeremy to want you to mention uh one deck dungeon a ton of people rated it but they only rated on average 12.8 out of 20. yeah so they're not loving it like a lot of people still like it enough but and Agricola was the same agrical is 12.7 so like it's interesting to look at like the higher and lower rankings yeah one thing that we didn't talk about Star Wars outer rim is on their 70th on the list but he's up 38 places now Star Wars out to Rim came out I don't know X number of years ago and it had a solo mode included in it which I thought was quite good but then when the the expansion finally came out unfinished business aptly name expansion um that expansion came out last year with a tweaked solo mode it wasn't a completely different solo mode it was just tweaked a little bit but it was a better solo mode and I think that's why I mean I enjoyed the original solo mode I enjoyed it more uh with the new solo mode but yeah that's I mean I love Star Wars outer rim as a game and I love it as a solo game so yeah glad to see that on there in 38 places it's rised uh Rose and then it's it's currently at 70. so that might that might break into the top 50 next year

47:43 I love to see a lot of these love to see a lot of these staples these are Staples these are Staples and it also shows you like hey this designer especially UE Rosenberry uh definitely you know just shows you like that's a core favorite amongst people and they probably will have more stuff and higher on the list you know just kind of pay attention to those designer that Designer specifically if you're looking for a nice little list of you know something to pay attention to yeah it's interesting because uve does a lot of games with Lookout games and Lookout games have a kind of a company policy that all of their games have solo modes therefore all the vuvet games that come out from Lookout games have a solo mode included um and there's a lot of people that like a lot of these games I like pretty much all of his games uh and I've liked all of the solo modes that I've tried so for me if I was voting on this list I would be voting for all of those games as well roughly as to where they are in in the list so yeah

48:45 right like this list is a celebration of how many options we have and how beautiful our branch of the hobby really is and it just brings me a lot of Joy so I hope it brings everybody else a lot of Joy too um but for now uh we will be back uh in a few days once Kevin Erskine also I want to thank Heavener skin again dude we love you you put together an amazing spreadsheet this is a labor of love I feel in the warmth here um but um you know we'll be back with a commentary on tops once those run uh over the next few days so thanks so much for watching Everybody um you know comment ask questions have opinions uh politely but we like them and most of all happy gaming see you later