Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2026

0:00 Hi everyone, my name is Monique. And today we're going to be discussing our top 10 most anticipated games of 2026. Yes, basically four months have gone by already. Somehow we're about to approach summer time, so good time to talk about these games that are going to be coming out.

0:16 slowly approaching the summer season, which means new releases are going to start not yet, I guess. But when Gen Con rolls around

0:23 yeah. the convention season starts. You know, Origins I think is right around the corner, then things start to games start getting released. So we figured now is a good time to talk about this topic. If you have any recommendations for us, if there are games that you are looking forward to playing this year, let us know in the comments down below. There are still some games that haven't been announced. There are plenty, a lot a lot of games that are still going to be announced in the coming months. So this list is just going to be games that we are aware of. Yeah, we tried to do some form of research, but of course there's going to be games that you know, if you tell us we'll be like, "Okay, wow, that's something that I would absolutely want to play." So it's always a good resource the comments down below. So if you have anything that we should be looking into this year, please let us know. But before we get into the list, this episode is kindly sponsored by The Op for their new waterfall spilling card game called Frenzy Falls. In Frenzy Falls, players compete to tip various pools into chaos and claim score cards before anyone else. Each turn, you'll play a card from your hand face down into one of the pools in the middle of the table. And once all players have played two cards each, you then reveal them. And if the sum of all values in a pool are greater than or equal to 10, a spillover occurs and the player with the most number of influence icons wins the score card.

1:37 However, certain cards also have actions on them, which get resolved before the spillovers and they allow you to do things such as bump adjacent cards into different pools or let you swap a card from your hand and steal the score card at the last second. So as you can see, it's a game about trying to predict what your opponents will play in these different pools and also try to outsmart them by playing your cards to ultimately try to score points. Right. Now, if this sounds interesting to you, this game is now widely available. So, if you like to learn more information about the game, we've included a link to the publisher's website in the description below. And thank you so much to The Op for helping sponsor this episode. All right, thank you so much. Now, we do have to mention that we did come together and combine our list. So, this is a 10 list of both of ours because we basically have the same taste in games, if you didn't know. Kind of.

2:21 Kind of. Yeah, give or take a couple. Yeah, so this is a 10 list of with both of our interests. The other thing is we did not include any games that we have previously covered. So, we have covered games that went on crowdfunding last year, which will be fulfilling this year, and you won't see any of those titles on this list. Now, it's not to say that we may still end up covering one or more of the games on this list in the future

2:43 yeah. cuz that's just the nature of our channel. But, as of right now, we have not played any of these games. All right, so starting us off with number 10. Now, there These games are in kind of an order, but it's like a

2:54 rough order. Yeah. So, our number 10 is actually an expansion. It's been a while since we've added an expansion to any of our lists. And this is Root: The Woodland Expansion. So, it's been a while since we've returned to Root. We've played a lot of them. We played a ton of I I think we've played with all of the different factions. I think at least once. At least once. I've like been involved in a game with every single one. But, it has been a while since we played Root itself. And this is Root is one of my favorite games of all time. If you caught our top 50, and so I'm really excited about getting to explore another expansion for it. Now, the Woodland Expansion includes three new factions. There are frogs, skunks, and bats.

3:37 I don't know how they play. I think it's just funny funny-sounding that we're going to be playing as skunks. And bats. Interesting interesting choice of of animal creatures. I don't know if it's a new vagabond in there. It's literally those three. It's those three. Yeah, I I I think it's those three uh factions, and two new maps. There's the Marsh map, as well as the Gorge map. And we're super excited to play on the Gorge map, because it was designed by Sam from Lord of the Board. So, if you are a big fan of Root, and even if you're not a fan of Root, honestly, we recommend you check out uh Sam's channel. He is a content creator here on YouTube. Um his channel is called Lord of the Board. He's fantastic, and he's also an awesome person.

4:18 Yeah. And we're really excited, cuz he is a really big fan of Root. Like day one. He knows so He knows everything about Root.

4:25 He uh deep dives like uh his channel is mostly like he really focuses in on a particular game, or like a system of games. And so, Root is one of his favorites. So, he actually designed uh one of the maps. We have not experienced it at all, uh but we are looking forward to it. Uh if you are interested in Lord of the Board, that channel, I'll leave a link in the description, as well. Yeah, I have We have a very fun memory of playing a Root with him at a convention. I don't quite remember when it

4:48 West. Dice Tower West. It was like 2:00 in the morning, and he was so nice. He did help us through our factions.

4:55 down to play that game, no matter what time it is.

4:57 like so kind about it. So, please go show him some love, because he is awesome. So, that is our number 10, Root: The Homeland Expansion. And this game, by the way, is published by Leder Games. And I believe the expansion itself is designed by Sam Smith and Joshua Yearsley. All right, number nine. This is a game called Wine and Cheese. Uh this is designed by Scott Almes, and published in the US by what we believe is Pegasus Spiele North America. Uh this is a two-player only game. Uh it looks like it's a hand management, worker placement style game uh that is on our list, because it's kind of what seems to be a spiritual successor to another game by the same designer called Beer and Bread.

5:35 We actually, yeah, covered that on the channel. So, uh I don't think it probably plays the exact same, but it's in that kind of very heady two-player um back and forth kind of style game, where

5:45 Yeah. apparently, you're trying to make wine and cheese and the goal of the game is to have both equal. So it's like one of those games where you always have to probably pull up the rear in order to score well from what we understand.

5:56 we understand. Beer and Bread was sort of like that, but it was more hand management I think than anything else. Um and that was one we had covered it on our channel, we have a play through of it, but I quite enjoyed it. So it's a I I really enjoy two-player only games when they're done well. So I hear this one might be like slightly heavier and very different mechanics. So I'm really curious to see what this one's going to be about.

6:17 Same. That's our number nine, Wine and Cheese. All right, moving on to number eight. We have another spiritual successor. This is a game called Things on Strings. Things in Strings? Things on Strings.

6:28 Things on Strings. So this is a game that is a sequel of sorts to Things in a Rings, which is an All Play game. Um the original designed by Peter C. Hayward. I believe this one is dually designed by Peter C. Hayward and Alex Cutler. And they both also worked on Critter Kitchen. Yes. So same design duo and Things in Rings was originally released last year and that game was a big hit for us.

6:52 We liked that one a lot.

6:53 We liked that one a lot. That game is all about uh it's a logic uh word game.

6:57 It's like a Venn diagram and you're and there's three different categories in each Venn diagram and so you're trying One person is like the knower of the information and you're going to play out cards and these cards are supposed to meet in these intersections in a Venn diagram if you're familiar with it.

7:13 Made out of string.

7:14 Made out of string. So it's a it's like a word association party game I would say.

7:18 Yeah. Yeah. Deduction.

7:20 Deduction style. style game with Dr. Seuss theme. Yes. Ridiculous. But this one is instead of they did away with the Venn diagram and instead of that it's a flow chart. So how it's going to play out, no idea.

7:33 Not sure. Uh but I'm I'm definitely on board. So I believe this one if it's not on Kickstarter now then it's going to be coming to Kickstarter or something like that.

7:40 an active campaign right now and All Play does for historically a pretty good job about getting these games into people's hands. I don't know Yeah, I don't know if it'll be technically this year. It says 2026 on It says 2026 on BGG.

7:55 That is why we considered it for this list. So, that is our number eight things on strings. Okay, very good. Moving on to our number seven. Another spiritual successor. I don't think we realized it until we actually sitting here now.

8:08 year of the sequels. I think there's a lot of nostalgia that we're all looking for, right, in life? Well, anyway, this one is another version of the crew. This is The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth. And I think I got that right. This is the third installment in this trick-taking style cooperative trick-taking style game where the first one was you're searching for a lost planet. The second one was you're in the sea. And now this one you're going across Earth basically trying to find Charlemagne's treasures. Yes. The themes in this game Oh, it's still a part of the game. It carries along and again I I don't know. I like I like the theme. I like the little story you read.

8:46 have You have like a logbook. You know, you have several missions that you're going on and each each mission brings you closer and closer to the the thing that the the story is aiming to get you to, right?

9:00 when you're on the quest for the lost planet planet nine, you're like, "Okay, you're now deeper." And then all this happens and so Yeah, so this wrinkle this now you have to do this when you play but it it is truly a trick-taking game. They're all trick-taking games. virtually devoid of theme, but But there's a story.

9:16 There's a story and it's actually kind of nice to actually read it the first time around. I do. I I agree. And it's it is interesting how they they use the story to now like, "Oh, you know, the To try to make it a little more thematic, yeah.

9:28 the mechanics that are going to be in this mission make sense in a way. But it is at the core of it it is just like it's a cooperative taking game. It's actually the cooperative trick-taking game over the past several years.

9:39 Yeah. The crew has become a very, very popular system of sorts because it does it really, really well. It does. So, the two-player version of it is also okay, but this is definitely one of those games that I like playing three, four, and five. Yeah. So, obviously, we don't know much about the story and like kind of what is the wrinkle of this one? You know, is it just a reskin of something else with a new story? Who knows? Yeah, there's got to be something else in there. So, that is our number seven, The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth designed by Thomas Sing and published by Kosmos. All right, moving on to our number six. This is not a successor, but this is like this is a two-player spin-off of another game that's already been made. Uh this is a two-player game version of a game called Bunny Kingdom and it's called Bunny Kingdom Town.

10:23 Yep. So, this is a game designed by Richard Garfield and published by Iello. And I I really enjoyed the original Bunny Kingdom. It's one that we played sort of getting into the hobby.

10:34 Early Early on in the hobby, it was our one of our other than Seven Wonders, it was one of the first drafting games I think that we played I want to say.

10:42 Yeah, the original Bunny Kingdom, it's a it's a drafting game through and through. And you have this map where you're just trying to put out your bunnies. There's some area control. It's a really interesting take on drafting and area control. Yeah. Because each card is like a different coordinate on the map. And if you take that card, then only you can place your bunnies on that coordinate and you're trying to string together. It's kind of difficult to explain.

11:04 Yeah. But um you know, it it's not the perfect game because it has issues with visibility and like the bunnies are really tiny, but I've always really enjoyed playing that game. It's one of those games you want to play it at the full complement just because of the drafting aspect and the area control. So, now this is uh two-player only, uh but it looks like the mechanisms are different. So, it's not It doesn't look like it's a drafting game.

11:25 It doesn't seem like it's a drafting game. It seems like it's a You're building buildings on your turn. Uh still on a shared map, but it's not drafting. Right. So, that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge. I'm just really interested in seeing what they what they're doing with a two-player version. There have been a lot of two-player sort of spin-offs

11:42 Yeah. that have come out in recent years, and we have pretty much have played all of them. We we tried to play

11:46 a quest to play all of them. We like I mean, it's our most common player count, you know, two then three then four. So, you know, it's definitely something we want to try. Yeah. Um and then Bunny Kingdom came out originally in like 2017. So, they have, you know, 9 years Yeah.

12:00 almost 10 years to you know, bring out this like dual version of it. So, I'm very very interested to see like what exactly is different now. So, that's our number six, Bunny Kingdom Town. Okay, halfway through the list. Now, this number five, bear with me on this one. So, this is designed by three different designers and published by Albi this year, and it's called Prague Unseen. Yes. Uh okay, the theme of this Well, first of all, the box art looks amazing. So, like instantly got me in there. Any Any game that has Prague, by the way, on it instantly gets me to play like what what what what is it? Like Really?

12:31 Yeah, I don't know what it is about it.

12:33 to me. Praga Caput Regni What else, Naveen?

12:38 Prague Unseen You got to defend yourself.

12:41 There's a I'll come back to you on that one, but so this one

12:45 Orlog Orlog, yes, there That's It doesn't have the word Prague in it, but it has a Prague theme. There you go. That was the one, yeah. Okay. This one, apparently it's like an 19th century like alternate like fantasy reality of what it was like in Prague. And you're going to be encountering these different like creatures and beasts. And you're also going to be creating your own It's a Euro-style game. And you're going to be trying to create your own action spaces. How exactly this all plays out I'm not sure.

13:13 things that Yeah. got this game on our list. I guess the fact that it's in Prague.

13:17 Yes. That's I guess that's what got Naveen interested. The Euro-style worker placement, of course, but also the fact that you're building out your own action spaces.

13:26 Yep. And the art looks really cool.

13:27 Oh, yeah. The The 120-minute play time does have me a little bit concerned, but some really good games at that that that time, though, you know.

13:34 It's true. It's true. It's true. But

13:36 can really get into it and like, you know,

13:38 I'm very curious to see what this game is going to be about. And one of the three designers is Michael Pika. Yes.

13:44 Who designed Forestry.

13:44 Forestry, which was one of our favorites from last year.

13:46 Yes, that was a big hit for us. So, very curious to see what this one's about.

13:50 Yep. And also, this game, from my understanding, is broken down into a series of mini games, which you probably have to put it all together at some point. Um I'm a big fan of Eurogames that have like these things that you have to go and piece them all together. No, they they like like Tekhenu is like a game that I really really enjoy, which has like these several different mini games where you're trying to do the cards, you're trying to get the the dice in this. So, I'm not sure how it's implemented, but that's another check box for me.

14:16 Yeah, some people might not like that, I guess, to be fair, because it's it I maybe for some people it might feel disjointed, but bring it on. We don't know how it's implemented. We're okay with it.

14:26 Yeah. So, anyway, that is our number five. That is Prague Unseen. All right, moving on to our number four. This is a game designed by Andrea Roviani and published by Board & Dice, and it is called Maestro. So, this is another game that we sort of went based on theme. Publisher.

14:41 And the publisher, because Board & Dice tends to make games that are um weighted in our wheelhouse, like the you know, the heavier Eurogames. So, the thing that's interesting sounding about this game is that you either play as Michelangelo's workshop or Leonardo da Vinci's workshop. So, I guess in a two-player game, it's 1v1.

15:00 1v1, yeah.

15:01 Obviously. But in like higher player counts, it's a team game. Yeah. So, just that alone sounded really interesting, plus the theme. If you look at the pictures online, uh the board looks extremely Euro. Like a like a modern-day like That is true. a little bit more saturation, but you know, it's not like it's not like the brown, but it even has a map of Italy. It does have a map of Italy.

15:23 it has a map of Italy, you know it's good. It's got to be good.

15:26 it's going to be Something. Yeah.

15:28 Definitely. It's going to be a Euro. So, I guess Naveen was enticed by the map, but I really like the idea of that dueling workshops. And you know, in this game you're making the art, and I believe you're like showcasing the art. Don't know about the execution of the game, but

15:44 You know I like my dry Euros and like art distribution in

15:48 Yeah. the Renaissance. I mean, come on. You Naveen just really likes that time period for Italy.

15:53 for board game themes.

15:55 So, there you go. That is our number four, Maestro. Okay, very good. Moving on to our number three. This is actually another Board & Dice game. I actually heard about this one a few months ago when I saw it on BGG and it definitely was peaking my interest. It's called Entropy. It's designed by three different designers, again by Board & Dice. And the theme of this one is it's in some like distant future, I think, the humans had the ability to control entropy, which is a form of energy, thermal energy. And basically you're able to shape and kind of form the solar system, planets, asteroids, things like that. And then once you've done that, you're trying to create and foster life on these different bodies that you're creating. Other than that, obviously

16:40 By playing cards, yes. Of course, of course. Yes. It's the only thing I knew. Yeah. So, other than that, not exactly sure. I really do enjoy the games of the three different designers that are part of this. So, instantly it kind of put it on my radar when I saw that this is a Luciani and Mangone game. And I don't know. I just want to play it. This is not a Renaissance theme.

17:00 So, but it is science. I guess Naveen is a science science kind of person.

17:05 guy. So, but the box art is also pretty. Yeah, it looks nice. Yeah. So, it does not give anything away as to what the game is going to be about.

17:12 Yeah. Very little information out there right now. So, that is our number three, Entropy. All right. Moving on to the last two games on our list. Our number two is another game designed by Mikolaj Piskorski. And it's published by Pink Troubadour. It is called Carl Linnaeus. So, this is a game that is about natural history, natural historians in this 18th century. You mean like the scientific method, I think.

17:37 Yes, it's it's what they did. It's how they did their job. Basically, they collected specimens, they wrote

17:45 Wrote books. articles uh articles

17:47 Who knows? Stuff like that. That's the theme. Outside of that, I believe it's an action point allowance game. Uh so is Forestry, which is what we're basing all of these uh interests off of because it's the same designer. But other than that, there are no other images of it. I think it's really interesting that a lot of games are being made about these people in history Yeah. in different fields, right? It's like they're doing the scientific method can be considered boring, but playing the game about the scientific method could be fun.

18:17 Hey, there was Darwin's Journey.

18:19 There was, yeah. People really loved that game. And I believe in the end, the winner is the player who contributed the most to taxonomy, which is not to be confused with taxidermy, Naveen has learned today. I know the difference, but it's just funny. But that's it. That's all That's all we have.

18:36 brain thought taxidermy when you said taxonomy. I didn't say it out loud. Not taxidermy. Taxonomy. So, that is our number two. We'll see how it plays. It is called Carl Linnaeus. Okay, here we are. Our number one. Uh this is kind of a interesting situation here because

18:53 is a different This is a unique situation.

18:55 Unique because there's not much information on it. We don't even have a thumbnail.

19:00 have a picture to show you. We don't even have a title. Yeah, frankly, there's no title. Um I don't even know who's the true designer, if it's multiple designers or just one person. But this game has been announced.

19:10 Yes. had we known the title and all that, we would have we would have said it, but clearly it's not available. So, what we do know is this is a game that is going to be published by Stonemaier Games later on in the year. And it is a Scythe versus Expeditions dueling game.

19:28 Mhm. So, if you caught our top 50, Scythe is Was it my number We're not going to spoil it. It's one of my favorite games of all time.

19:35 One of our favorites.

19:36 One of my one of my all-time favorite games of all time. I love I love and adore Scythe. And this is a one or two-player game that is It's actually an expansion to both Scythe and and Expeditions. Yeah, so it it's it from our understanding, it's a dueling game. One player will play as Scythe while the other player will play as Expeditions. These are both really popular Stonemaier titles. Mhm. Um Different games.

20:01 Different games. Apparently, you can use the components It is a standalone game it this one that we're talking about, but you can use the components of Scythe to make this standalone game more lucrative or not lucrative, but more um robust, I guess.

20:16 can play Scythe versus Scythe.

20:17 Yes, exactly.

20:18 But it was intended to be a dueling game for Scythe versus Expeditions. You can use mechs and factions from Scythe And mechs and factions. Yeah. And I believe I believe it's going to come with a new faction, but same thing with Expeditions. You can use You can play units from Expeditions as the Expedition side.

20:34 what I understand also, the new components that are part of this standalone can then be used in their original games, which would be like if you have a new faction in this Scythe versus Expedition game, then that Scythe character can be used in the game of Scythe.

20:48 And I think that's what the expansion aspect of it is all about. But that's I mean

20:52 Pretty much all we know. That sounds super interesting. I'm really I'm definitely going to want to play that. Um but we don't know what the title is. I doubt I doubt it's called Scythe versus Expeditions. It could be, but that's pretty much all we know about it, and I'm sure more information that will come out as the year goes on. Yep. So, there you go. That is our number one choice for today's video, the game that we are calling Sidereal Versus Expeditions, that but we don't truly know the title of yet.

21:16 know yet. Yes. Well, that is our top 10 of 2026 most anticipated games. Thank you all so much for watching the video. If you have your ear to the ground or if there's any major games that we should be taking a look at, please let us know in the comments down below. Very helpful for us. We tried to do a deep dive when we were making this list, but you never know, things slip through the cracks. We're also hoping that every game we talked about will actually come out by the end of December, but you never know.

21:41 And there will be plenty more games that are going to be announced.

21:43 Gen Con's coming, Essen, so a ton more will be coming out. Thank you all so much for watching the video. We hope you enjoyed it. Also, thank you to the Op for helping sponsor this video. If you like these kind of videos and you want to see more in the future, please consider subscribing.

21:56 Thank you.

21:57 Thanks. Bye.