Top 10 Upcoming Campaigns I'm Excited For in 2026

0:01 Hey everyone, it's Alex from BoardGameCo, and today I'm going to be going over my top 10 most anticipated crowdfunding campaigns. It's been a while since I did one of these videos, and I think a big part of that is because I kind of cover a lot of these games incidentally. Between my monthly series of upcoming crowdfunding campaigns for insert month here, or between covering the Gamefound Feast and all the announced games for the upcoming 6 months, 12 months, year, it means that whenever I look at my upcoming anticipated crowdfunding campaigns, in some way or another, I'm kind of talking about a lot of them anyway. That said, my number one in this video, meaning the one I am most excited about, is the impetus for this video. It's the reason I wanted to do this video, cuz I was like, "You know what? Gosh darn it, I want to go ahead and talk about these things a little bit earlier, and tell you the games that I'm excited to see and why." And so we'll be diving into 10 upcoming crowdfunding campaigns.

0:48 Inevitably, there's going to be one that I'm really looking forward to that I forgot to mention. Um if you post in the comments, I might tell you if you're right and it's actually higher than some of the other ones on this list, and uh I guess we'll just do that when that happens. With that, let's go ahead and dive into this. Although, of course, a note, this channel is sponsored by All

1:29 Play. If you go to allplay.com, you can find a variety of things, out on this campaign, they will have a pledge manager launching at some point, and you can check that out. Just, you know, follow the page or something along those lines. I don't know if you actually can follow the page at this point. I don't know the rules and how that works if you didn't back it, but just, you know, set a reminder every morning at 8:00 a.m. and just refresh the page obnoxiously until one day the pledge manager opens. That certainly is an option. Anyways, with that, let's go ahead and start off with my number 10, which is Nemesis: Lockdown. Now, I mentioned that they talked about that some of these camp some of these games I talk about when we cover the game found feast. So, in this case, I did it when I'm covering Awakened Realms next. So, I already talked about Nemesis Legacy briefly. So, I'm not going to spend too much time on this one. But, Nemesis Legacy, I am very excited for despite not being sure if it's for me or not. And that's because Nemesis is a game system that I have loved sometimes and not loved other times. And that's always been kind of a game killer for me, not being sure if I'm about to sign up for a great game or an okay game night, especially if it's going to be a 3-hour game night, is always something that makes me hesitant to pull that game off the shelf. Which is why Nemesis did leave my collection eventually. But, I do find Legacy games get so much leeway from me as far as the gaming experience. If you give me a degree of progression, if you give me something that makes me feel like the game is unlocking, new rules are being added, things are being discovered, if you give me that in a game combined with pretty decent game play, I will play.

2:45 Like, don't get me wrong. Not every Legacy game has lasted. Not every Legacy game have I finished. But, most Legacy games I have finished. Multiple Legacy games I've gone back to and played multiple times. I've played Pandemic 1 multiple times. Pandemic 2 multiple times. Charter Stone multiple times. I've played Rise of Queens Stone multiple times. I I continuously dive back into Legacy games. I've played Aeon's End 1 multiple times. I've played Clank I played season 1 and 2, but I didn't do 1 multiple times. There are so many Legacy games I go back to. I like Legacy games as an experience. And so, I'm excited for Nemesis Legacy. I think the theme of the game makes me think that they could knock this out of the park, especially with Rob Daviau being involved. So, it's not just like, oh, Awakened Realms does a Legacy game. It's Awakened Realms takes their most popular game, the most popular Legacy game designer. Oh, Ticket to Ride. I played Ticket to Ride multiple times. The most popular Legacy game designer, mix those together. I can't not be excited about that about this. The only reason it's lower down is tempering all of that is the knowledge that Nemesis is a game system that I never loved. And will I sign up for like, how long are these games going to be? I have questions. I don't have answers. I am excited. This Nemesis Legacy, I we'll see we'll see what happens. Coming in number nine, we have Excursions.

3:51 Excursions is a new game set in the Galactic Galactic Cruise universe from Kinson Key Games. Uh this is bringing you more not Galactic Cruise, but a new game set in this universe uh bringing you a taking in this game you're going to be the active player taking control of seven actions taking one of seven actions that everyone is going to benefit from, but you'll get an extra boost from that. Which makes me think that is this a bit like Puerto Rico, a game I really like? Is this possibly a bit like what's the name Carnegie Carnegie, another game I really like? So, combine the world of a Galactic Cruise, which I think they did a great job nailing the theme, the art, the iconography, all those things in the game. They really brought a great game to your table. I don't mind another game in the same universe and then combine with you know mechanics that's shared shared action mechanics. That's almost again sounds a bit more like Puerto Rico than Carnegie, but possibly doing a little bit of both those. That has me very intrigued as far as how the game's going to develop. It's more the action system that has me pulled in than the game itself because well, I need more than just the universe itself to pull me in. That's going to be Excursions from Kinson Key Games. Coming in number eight, we have Earthborne Trailblazer. This is going to be another game in the Earthborne line of games.

4:57 Although this one there's not a lot of information released on this one quite yet, but it sounds like it's going to be a single shot standalone board game set in the world of Earthborne Rangers. Earthborne Rangers is a game system that I have managed to play, but I haven't managed to heavily dive into it yet. I keep meaning to like really relearn the game. The problem is I played it a while ago, so I need to relearn it and dive back into it, but it is one that I like the I like the game play experience I had at the time and diving me pulling me into the world is another good incentive to dive fully into the card game whether solo or cooperative. I haven't quite decided that yet, but either way Earthborne Trailblazer from from from Earthborne Games definitely has me interested to see where this one goes. From there we have Galileo's Truth from Thunder Gryph Games. This one has been delayed quite some time. In fact, by the way fun fact, one of the games that was on this list, I can't remember the name of it, Tyrant. Tyrant from from Steamforged Games almost made the cut. I am very excited about with one if or when it launches, but it's kind of been on indefinite hold. I assume that's because Steamforged Games has a bunch of outstanding campaigns. I assume they'll be delivering things. I don't know the exact plan. Tyrant, which is based on the Resident Evil system, I believe. Uh at least I should rephrase that. Tease it they teased it as if it's based on the Resident Evil system. That is has me very excited. But again, I don't know anything about when it's actually launching. So, I kind of put that in the back burner. But, going to Galileo's Truth, this one also has been delayed.

6:09 So, this one I I I still am talking about despite that. Uh but, this is from the designers of of Darwin's Journey. A game that I absolutely love. I I backed Darwin's Journey. It arrived. And then I proceeded to not play it for a year and a half. When I finally did play it, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is one of the best gaming experiences I have in my collection." I think Darwin's Journey is fantastic. I still need to play the expansion. It's on my list of things I want to do this year. But either way, Darwin's Journey is amazing. And Galileo's Truth has me very, very interested. I watched the full the full first round play-through by JonGetsGames. I highly recommend that if you want to get a general sense of it. Uh but overall, it does seem like it has that cascading linked actions while being a very different engine. And I don't know how that engine's going to deliver. It's one of those things that I managed to get a sense of seeing the way things chain and interact with each other. But, I don't fully get a sense of it until it's on my table and I'm making those decisions and thinking through the actions. But, the game looks great. The art style looks very similar. Uh the again, same designers, a great company.

7:00 Has me very interested primarily because Darwin's Journey is so darn good. Coming in number six, I think you're up to 10 9 8 7 6. Coming in number six, we have Circle of uh we have the War of the Dragons, The Wheel of Time. Coming from Dire Wolf. This is one that I know the least about from any game on the table today, from any game on the uh list of games today. Uh but, the combination of Dire Wolf has me believing more in the vision, the world of The Wheel of Time, the art style. I think they did a great job nailing all of those. This is a two-player only game, which has me intrigued, uncertain, but certainly intrigued about it. But, it's going to be coming to you. Robert Jordan's epic fantasy piece comes to table with the first ever board game based on The Wheel of Time. Again, art looks great, components look great. Color me very interested in what this is doing. I just I I don't know a lot about it. There's two ways to fight The War the hero mode and epic mode where you take control of massive armies. I know nothing about it.

7:46 I know nothing. This I know so little. It just looks good and it's a direwolf. That was enough to put this um Maybe it shouldn't have been this high on the list. You know what? I'm going to move it down a notch. We're going to bump it under Gloomhaven. Actually, I can't do that because the time stamps will be out of order. It should be behind Gloomhaven. It is what it is. War of the Dragon War War of the Dragon, The Wheel of Time from Dire Wolf. Then we have Bloodstone from Juicy City Games. This one's actually launching probably probably the soonest. I think this is the one that's launching the soonest from all the campaigns we're talking about today. Uh but Bloodstone over here uh from Juicy City Games, I had a chance to play this game 5 years ago. It feels like 5 years ago. This was a a Kickstarter campaign way back in the day. Uh they canceled and brought it back for they canceled it way back then. They brought it back for relaunch. Uh but effectively, this is a giant arena battler that I had so much fun with that I thought it was an excellent experience that was definitely a little bit on I shouldn't say lightest side. Lightest side is the wrong terminology. It was lighter compared to you know Blood Rage or whatnot, but it was a light roll dice skirmish game which had a lot of tactical maneuverability, a lot of actions as far as the uh the characters as meaning as far as action economy using the right the right abilities and then risk mitigation. And there's multiple ways to play the game from competitive to cooperative to solo. Uh all of that and they definitely made some changes. I don't know a ton about what they've done to the game. I just know looking at it, I can see some things that are different. That panel is still in the middle. I don't recall that being in the original uh prototype we played. But overall, if you like arena skirmish games uh and if you want to do do it in a variety of ways again from cooperative competitive to solo, uh this is going to give you a lot of rolling dice and taking down a variety of baddies while having fun doing so. I think it's an accessible skirmish game again that

9:16 leans into luck so that it's accessible while definitely having strategic options in play as you engage with it. And overall, solid miniatures, feeling cool, lots of fun things. Uh if you like skirmish games, Bloodstone should be on your radar. Coming in at number four, we have Alterra. Alterra from Ivy Studios. This one is set in the world of Tended and it seems most similar to Honor's End. Ivy Studios, as much as I love them, I'd say that outside of Mythic Mischief, which Mythic Mischief I think is the only exception, their games tend to follow certain themes. There's like, "Ooh, how What are all the ways we can secretly place information and lean into mind games with other players?" And then they have that and bag building slash deck building. Those are their kind of vibes that they go with. But when I look at their games, I mean, don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed a lot of the games, but they definitely lean into a lot of the same genres as I do with. I guess Tend, Tend was also very different. So Mythic Mischief is very different, Tend was very different, and then the rest are, you know, falling into categories.

10:06 Differences within those categories, but definitely categories. But to me, the world of Tend I loved. Tend itself I'm still mixed on. I still want to play it more and dive into it. But uh the world itself is beautiful. I love that. So if you have the world of Altera, the art style of Sorry, the world of Tend the art style of of Tend, and then you combine that with gameplay that is very reminiscent of Honors End from what little I can see about it. Now, I shouldn't say very reminiscent. That's That's probably not being fair to it. I would say that it makes me think the most of Honors End in a good way as far as the way you're going to be engaging in this bag building worker placement game. Lots of differences to it. Very very different so far from what I can see. Uh and by the time you watch this video, I may have played it. I think a copy is on the way to me right now as we speak. Uh but I will have more information. And maybe when I play it, I'll be like, "Eh, it's not for me." Who's to say? Uh but for right now, I'm definitely very excited about it. That is going to be Altera coming soon from IV Studios. Coming in at number three, we have Echo Bound A Adventures, a game that was totally not on my radar. Well, not my radar. A game I was not that excited for initially. See, Echo Bound Adventures is coming to you from Open Owl Studios, designed by the team behind Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I'm going to blank on this. What's the What's the team of the Funko The Funko Funko Games team designed Echo Bound Adventures. And And honestly, they reached out to me to cover the game, and I said I was like, "You know what? When it comes to these big box games, I'm kind of getting a little burnt out of them. Like I don't mind trying it on TTS and seeing if it's for me, but I don't want to say yes offhand." And then I played it on TTS, and I was like, "Okay, I'll definitely be happy to play it." Now, I always say this always, always, always, when I have a single session of an experience, a single session does not a review make.

11:37 It absolutely does not. But, it went from a game that I was prepared to say no to covering to a game I'm very excited to cover. It did seem like it was giving you a kind of exploration game, which is very accessible as far as the gameplay, very easy to dive into, definitely leaning into easier vibes over here's all these rules and intricacies and how this plays out with that. Uh, but if you like that sense of exploration with a degree of progression throughout the universe, I think Akhamani Adventures might deliver in a very solid way. More and more I've been starting to be, more impressed maybe the wrong terminology, I've been pulled in more by games that are easier to table than games that are more complicated and possibly more rewarding. I still have space for those in my collection, but I have less and less space. There's only so much so much rules I can have in my head at any given point, and I find that a game like Lands of Everlasting Shade, I am all here for, but there's only so many of those I can actually have in my collection. And Akhamani Adventures felt like it gives me accessible exploration.

12:28 Like, recently I've been enjoying a lot Kinfire Chronicles, not because it's the best boss battle I have, but because it takes two minutes to set up and start playing the game every single time. And you can't you can't put a price, well, you can put a price on it. You can put a price on anything. But, I I've been appreciating the ease of playing things over complexity. Although, speaking of Lands of Everlasting Shade, my number two is Scoundrels. I mentioned this as well, uh, similar to when I covered, uh, Nemesis Legacy, I might talk about Scoundrels as well. But, after unboxing, uh, Lands of Everlasting Shade, I'm even more excited to dive back into the world of Everlasting Shade. Lands of Everlasting Shade is incredible. It's a game that again, I I give it a five out of five. I absolutely loved my prototype experience. And then the big giant box from Wake the Realm showed up and I was like, "You know what? I am a little overwhelmed and a little less excited." And then I unboxed it and I got back to being excited about it again, because Lands of Everlasting Shade was such a good experience to play through, at least as far as the prototype went.

13:17 Again, final games can vary, things can vary, maybe 30 hours is not the same as 15 hours, that's always a possibility, but diving into it is something I'm looking forward to doing as soon as I'm able to knock off a few more of these, uh games out of the way. Uh and Scoundrels is set in the same universe, built on the mechanics of Stalker. How similar, how different, I don't know. That's going to be a definite determination both how much I like this game, and also as to whether it it gets added to Stalker, replaces Stalker, or alternatively of whether I don't even like it at all. Those are all questions that I don't have the answer to, but I am incredibly excited for uh for for um for for for Scoundrels, specifically because of the combination of a game system I love and a world that I love and art everything. Everything's amazing. I'm excited for this one uh and we'll see where it goes. Only 16. It's so fascinating. See, this is fascinating to me. Like Nemesis Legacy has like 41,000 followers. Scoundrels has like 12,000, 16,000, which is a decent amount, but I feel like an Awaken Realms game like this I I feel like they'd have more. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm more This is This is my most anticipated Awaken Realms game, not even a question.

14:13 We'll see. We'll see what happens. And then my number one, my number one, the very reason I made this video in the first place is because I wanted to talk about Rolling Deep over here. Rolling Deep from Bitewing Games is an ultimate roguelike adventure, kind of inspired by Balatro as far as giving you a a a a roll and write. Not roll and write. I don't know why I said that. A rolling dice game that has you cascading and building up your dice, replacing the pips on your dice, which I will say has the one thing that makes me a little uncertain is I've never really played a game where you replace the pips on the dice that wasn't somewhat irritating to do so and eventually caused a degree of friction with the gaming experience. I I've enjoyed games that do it. It's always been a point of friction as opposed to a selling point for me. So, that has me a little hesitant over here. Like I'd almost rather a deck builder, but hey, I'm happy to give them a try and see where this one goes. But again, Balatro-inspired, roll your dice, build up your dice faces, try to go for infinite combos. Uh I was watching a podcast recently actually with Peter Haywood, the designer of this game, and with um uh the the the the Joe from All Play. And I was watching a podcast talking about how right now everyone's trying to do these Balatro games, and as soon enough it's going to be old, and that's fine. I am here. Any Balatro-adjacent game you try, I want to see if I love it. I might. I might not.

15:19 Who knows? But I am I am here for anything that pitches itself as if you love Gloomhaven, you should play our board game. I mean, until it becomes clear that that's not even remotely true and you're just using it as a sales pitch. That's a different story. But, if it genuinely is inspired by Gloomhaven, I I like Gloomhaven quite a bit. I am skeptical that you can replicate that in a board game, but you might be able to replicate the feeling of it in a board game and that should be good enough. That's all I need over there. And so, call me very excited for Rolling Deep and Eureka Dice Adventures, another game as well. I'm excited for both of them. Artifice looks amazing. The game play hook sounds amazing. Peter Hayward is one of my favorite designers, definitely my favorite designer with a blue beard. So, um we shall see. We shall see what happens to it. Anyways, that is everything for me today. These are my most anticipated top 10 most anticipated crowdfunding campaigns, at least as of right now. And until next time, I'm Alex from Board Game Co.

16:08 I hope you enjoyed this video. Until next time, I hope you have a good one. So, the last time I did one of these um jokes, I did a pirate joke last time, but I had another pirate joke I was going to tell, but I decided to do the the last one I told for context. I'll just do it here in case you missed it. I was like um how much did the pi- the the Oh my gosh, I can't remember exactly what I wanted to say. It was like, how much did the pirate's earrings cost? A buck and a near. That was the joke. It was I liked it. I liked it. But, then I was telling somebody else the joke I was going to say and they were like, that's a better joke. So, we're going to go with that one, okay? Today, for today's video.

17:01 What did the pirate crew see when they looked in the toilet? The captain's log.