Top 10 Games We Are Most Excited to Try (2024)

[@RollsInTheFamily]

👇What games on your wishlist are you most excited to try?

[@eduardodtb]

Clank Catacombs

[@analog_arnie]

Arcs is my favorite, but its design philosphy is very polarizing. Food Chain is an experience i love. I don't blame you for wanting to try it for many years. I am in exactly the same boat with Hegemony.

[@RollsInTheFamily]

I'm so intrigued by Arcs and looking forward to exploring more now that I have my copy! And I should get FCM sometime next year, so I'm excited to finally form an opinion on it. -Ryan

[@zaneygames1]

Great lists, and video as always! The top few on my wish list are The Castles of Burgundy, Viticulture and El Grande😅

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Some nice classics on that wishlist! With both CoB and El Grande getting some nice refreshed editions. -Ryan

[@picklebuckeye]

Quick notes haha: Slay the Spire is great, but only if you want to play it co-op (which I imagine you will). Solo is basically the same as the video game. Sky Team is great, super fun on BGA as well. I *really* want to try Nemesis, and Retaliation would likely be my preferred option. I actually have Andromeda’s Edge and Clank! Catacombs both in shrink that I’m looking to sell (we just would never get them played). Great video!

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Yeah definitely interested in Slay the Spire for the co-op! We will see where we land on Retaliation, fingers crossed. Thanks for watching! -Ryan

[@approximately.normal]

It's not out yet, but I'm most excited to try The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game. I'm excited for you to try Hegemony, Clank! Catacombs, and Planet Unknown. They're all great!

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Very intrigued by the Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-taking Game as well! The art looks really great. Good chance of trying Clank! Catacombs and Planet Unknown within the next year, Hegemony is much harder to say if I'll ever get the chance... 😅 -Ryan

[@WhereMyMeepsAt]

Another GREAT list! Slay The Spire just shipped and I can't wait to get it to the table!!

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Jealous! 😉 -Ryan

[@JasonBrown-us9yv]

I'm finishing Oathsworn now and I will say the minis are very cool looking. I'm loving it. Not sure what I'm doing with it, don't know that I'll play it again.

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Yeah, in a world of so many highly rated campaign games, it can feel hard to commit a ton of time to replaying one versus trying something new. Good to hear you enjoyed it though! -Ryan

[@johnpsanchez]

Great list. I do recommend playing a game first before investing. I was just at BGG con and played Black Forest. It's a great game, but not something I need to own despite the rave reviews. Also saw everyone playing Civolution everywhere. I sat down to play it Saturday night and was pretty disappointed. Glad I didn't buy that without a playthrough. One of my game groups always has winners and I end up buying games I play there first. Hegemony looks interesting, because I love asymmetric games like Root. Mentioning SkyTeam and Slay the Spire back to back is funny. The easiest to one of the more complex. I've played both of them. Sky Team was shockingly fun the first time. Slay the Spire might have been a bit too much for me, but was definitely a good time as a co-op game. And I do think Sky Team would be more fun in person vs BGA. If you like the Clank series, I think Catacombs is the best version with the variable maps. There are also the asymmetric player powers that spice it up (again, asymmetric!). That might be an expansion though. Planet Unknown is a great game. So easy to get to the table because it's so nice. The puzzly tile laying game makes my Tetris-addicted brain happy. This is a definitely a buy, even if you haven't played it before. The only minor annoyance is fixed when they release the expansion. The lazy susan doesn't have a lid so if you stand it up, the pieces just fall out. You never know what condition it's going to be when you open the box. No one wants to spend 15 minutes sorting pieces into slots before you even start playing. They are releasing a lid when the expansion drops. Oh... And the different planets and companies add some assymetry to the game. I am realizing a theme in my favorite mechanics.

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Thanks for the detailed response! It is always hard with the try-before-buy philosophy... On one hand, it makes perfect sense because it allows you to make more informed purchasing decisions and avoid spending money on games you won't like. But on the other hand, often times the opportunities to "try" a game are less conducive to giving the best experience, whether that is due to a digital implementation or playing with a different group than a core group of friends. So often times I find myself purchasing a game knowing there is a risk it won't be a keeper, but accepting that risk to give the game the best opportunity to shine. And it usually isn't too hard to sell used games these days, so the stakes aren't super high. -Ryan

[@ryanlohman4922]

Terrorscape is on my wishlist for sure!

[@RollsInTheFamily]

It looks really intriguing! I think I was initially put off by the gruesome cover but I keep hearing good things about it. -Ryan

[@ryanlohman4922]

@ I’m also not into the theme but I’ve heard so much positive reviews on it and the hidden movement is something I’m lacking in my collection

[@lostfanatic6]

I've been wanting to play Dwellings of Eldervale for years now and never had the opportunity. Now that's been replaced with Andromeda's Edge 😅 Some others I've wanted to try for years has been Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy, Cthulhu: Death May Die, and Undaunted. Newer games I'm intrigued by are SETI, Lord of the Rings Duel, and Unconscious Mind.

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Hey jury is still out on Andromeda's Edge vs. Eldervale! Undaunted and SETI in particular look pretty intriguing to me... -Ryan

[@eduardodtb]

Hour long RitF video and house chores (national holiday in Brazil) = perfect match.

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Glad we could accompany you! 🤝😂 -Ryan

[@petergross7235]

You guys raised an interesting question about whether or not you can keep two games that share 90% of the same DNA. To save space and money I would choose one over the other. Do you have any games in your collection that are very similar but just different enough to keep both?

[@paigel6630]

For me it depends on how much you like said DNA (and also the size of the box on some level). For example, I own Wing and Wyrm span because I love the system and I think Wingspan + expansions added complexity to the game in a very different way than Wyrmspan so I find myself in the mood for either or at different times. I also love birding so even if I may slightly prefer Wyrmspan, I also appreciate the art and facts of real birds which adds to my enjoyment. That said, if somebody just liked those games just okay, it would make sense to only keep one if they wanted either. I also hold onto both if they work for different player counts (Blokus and Blokus Duo) On the flipside, I don't own very many drafting games because for me Sushi Go gets the job done in a small box and do consider culling games that are too similar to others if I only rate them as good (the only reason I still own Forbidden Island is that it fits in the Forbidden Desert box. Same with King of New York/Tokyo, Dixit/Stella, and Codenames/Duet.

[@RollsInTheFamily]

It's a good question! I think ultimately it boils down to whether we feel we want to still be playing both and don't prefer one in almost any situation. For most games that share that much in common, there is usually one that edges the other out for our preferences. Some possible examples of similar games we have kept are Dixit and Stella: Dixit Universe which share a core concept but we enjoy the different takes on the system. Daniel has Splendor and Splendor Duel which is maybe an example of when a preference based on play count keeps both around. -Ryan

[@jalinstockdale9625]

My list of games that I’m excited to try are all of my kickstarters that I haven’t received. (There may or may not be a lot I won’t say haha.). But a few are some of the same games. Planet unknown ThunderRoad Shogun Ra

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Nice, we've got some overlap there. I've really enjoyed my copy of Ra! -Ryan

[@danasimpson1275]

Have you tried Manhattan project 2 minutes til midnight very thematic and worth trying

[@RollsInTheFamily]

We haven't! I've heard good things about Manhattan Project Energy Empire but haven't played any entries in that series, thanks for the recommendation! -Ryan

[@HeyImBode]

Food chain scoring philosophy is a measure of opportunity, not efficiency. Unfortunately, sometimes the winning opportunity is taken and there is still 1h30 left to play😅 Edit: just got to arcs segment. 2p works, tts works, buuuuut they're for me two downsides that weakens the pace and feel of the game. 2p is decided off fewer interactions. TTS slows down the card play DRASTICALLY. This is a quick pace game with a table of people who can follow their guts. Also another fantastic example of the "points as opportunity" philosophy. Luke skywalker didnt bring down the death star because he had a +10% dmg tech upgrade hehehe. I hope it hits for you

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Haha that matches what I've heard for Food Chain Magnate, we will see! And I did get the chance for a 3 player in-person game of Arcs since filming this and had a much better experience, though it ended up not being very close with the other players being completely new. But I am definitely excited to keep exploring it. -Ryan

[@HeyImBode]

@@RollsInTheFamily here's my tip without giving a clear goal : Answer situations holisticaly. The sum of multiple mechanics added together is the best answer to the various incentives brewing

[@jankogo]

It´s funny that most euros of old had a middle aged man with a frown on the cover. The King of Caylus is displeased! Maybe constipated as well, who knows?

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Modern games just don't have the same mysterious allure! 😐 -Ryan

[@tzgardner]

Istanbul Ready Set Bet Res Arcana Coffee Roaster Caverna Downforce That's Pretty Clever Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy Pulsar 2849 A Feast for Odin

[@RollsInTheFamily]

Pulsar 2849 is probably the one there I am most interested in trying, it's so hard to know which medium dice euros will just be good and which will really separate themselves and be great. -Ryan