Happy birthday, channel of which I'm now a recognized supporter! :) All I tend to play solo are solo-only games, because games not made expressly for solo can be awkward when played solo. First of all, they're typically too large on the table for one player. I had similar issues as you before starting to play board games solo, and forcing myself to set up a large-footprint game still makes me feel too weird. Solo-only games are designed to be nice and compact! You can play them at your desk! (I never actually do that). Something that pushed me past my initial qualms on solo gaming is considering how I enjoy single-player video games almost exclusively. Why shouldn't it be the same for board games? No reason to feel more awkward being alone in front of some cardboard than it is being alone in front of a screen.
Ahahah thanks to you for being a recognized supporter 🫶🏻 I totally understand your reasoning. And probably the same reason why I don't play solo is why I don't play video games. It makes no sense whatsoever, but I still kind of prefer my board gaming time to be social time, I like being around people for that and sharing the love. Tho I recognize it is harder to set up obviously. And that's why I really really only buy solo only games if i reaaaaally feel like I'm gonna enjoy them. It took me a couple years to buy Final Girl and now I have my eye on Warp's Edge I also have One Deck Dungeon which is not really a solo only game, but also I unfortunately didn't love that much :(
@@jucchee Warp's Edge is an honorable mention in my top 5 solo. And ROVE (the wallet game. I love a few wallet games). Also Maquis, which I loved a lot at first, but then I stumbled into a case where a rule makes your life miserable despite all your planning and there's no mitigation whatsoever for it, so now I have a love-hate relationship with it. Same with Conservas, which is a beautiful game, but waaaay too easy. The designer released an unofficial set of additional rules to make it more challenging, but I haven't tried them yet. I like One Deck Dungeon! I plan to watch your playthroughs at some point. I hope you're not too annoyed by it. :)
@@Kumagoro42 I don't know any of the games you mentioned unfortunately ahahah you have a much better knowledge! Warp's Edge is a bag builder. Give me a bag builder and I'll be happy 🤣 You can watch the OOD videos, but keep in mind they have been made around the same time as the Sleeping God PP first campaign so the quality is very bad :( sorry I also remembered I also have Gloomhaven B&B solo only from writing the previous comment, but as I said, not a huuuuge fan
@ I have watched some of your Gloomhaven vids (and some of Rob's). I find it extremely boring. It's basically the same thing every "scenario". Not as bad as One Card Dungeon, though. A friend of mine bought it once, and it was so bad he sold it right away.
Here's my top 5 solo-only games, last to first! #5: This War of Mine. I know, it's not actually solo-only, but the rules for multiplayer are very much "this is a solo game that we didn't want to market as a solo game". You basically just give another player control of the game. At that point just play it as a committee (which is a way all solo games can be played too, and I did it for a few of these). #4: Under Falling Skies. This could be the game with the more insane amount of content in a single small box. The most puzzle-y of these, but also extremely thematic. #3: Legacy of Yu. Solo-only campaign-only narrative euro! Honestly, Shem Phillips's absolute masterpiece, and all those West Kingdom/North Sea/South Tigris players don't even know it exists. #2: Eila and Something Shiny. This game just destroys you. There are two types of solo board gamers: those who have experienced Eila and Something Shiny and those who will. #1: Final Girl, of course. It amazes me how a game where you can fail a two-dice roll and die after five minutes can be so good.
As far as non-solo-only games with a solo mode, I'm not sure which ones I'd put in a top 5, mostly because as I said I prefer not to play them solo. Spirit Island for sure, though. Mage Knight would probably be there if I had ever played it (which I didn't. It looks overcomplicated and honestly ugly). I play Arkham Horror LCG two-handed, after trying it true solo for a little bit and realizing that, as you said, it just doesn't work. But if you play with two characters and decks you know well, it's not that hard.
#5 Don't know it but really sounds like a Sleeping Gods kind of escamotage to not market a game as a solo only game #4 Well now that you mention it, I realize I lied ahahah I actually only ever played ONE game solo before starting the channel and it was this one! I'm sorry to say but yes, it is a little bit too puzzly for my taste. Just like Gloomhaven B&B sometimes it is really forcing you to overthink your moves. The problem was also that I think I was flipping two or three tiles to the hard side so if I left it a little looser I would've probably enjoyed it more. I left it in Italy since a couple of years cause that's where I tend to play solo only more. Will probably come to the channel at some point. #3 I watched the whole campaign done by @slickerdrips and really enjoyed the series! Probably not my style of game because of the resource management but I found it very clever! #2 Don't know it unfortunately :( so maybe I will. If you know anyone good who has made videos for it, let me know #1 This one I heard of :)
About the non-solo games, I think Spirit Island would work pretty well! Mage Knight I was very close to buying it just looking at the art on the cover. Then I watched I think a tutorial from GettingGames ( previously JonGetsGames, I think you mentioned him at some point) and I realize it indeed looks ugly 🤣 and I don't know, cumbersome. So I actively decided to never buy it. I can try it, but not buy it. For the rest, I think Castles Of Burgundy and Welcome To The Moon really gave me two different gaming experiences in solo or multiplayer so I will say some multiplayer games are worth trying in solo mode! Also, for games like Marvel Champions which are best at two, I also tend to play them solo cause I almost never play at two players.
@@jucchee #5 Precisely. #4 If you revisit it, go straight to the campaign. There are HUNDREDS of hidden customizations in there. And don't flip any tile over! (One at most). It makes it super-hard and not really enjoyable. #2 Crimsonboardgames has one. But the issue with showing or even talking about Eila (she's my new YT avatar, btw!) is that it's an incredibly spoiler-adverse game. Even just telling you that it looks like a kids game, but many argue that it should have trigger warnings on the cover, is telling you too much. So you should look into it without looking too much into it. :) The mechanics are also unique, and you don't really realize where they're going to take them while playing the tutorial chapter. #1 You have five playthroughs on the channel... which are still way too few! :) Btw, I had to fight tooth and nails to post the top 5 comment, YT kept deleting it (ultimately I posted it bit by bit through multiple edits). It never happened to me elsewhere, is it possible you are enforcing some very strict anti-spam rules on the channel?
@ I honestly never heard of Welcome to the Moon, I'll look into it, but I'm not a fan of using pens and pencils ON my games. :) (I know they're usually draw-erase, but still). That thing about picking one number for the suit, one for the value and then leave a third one: that's how Fliptown also works. It's different designers and publisher, so I wonder if it's a new mechanic that's being developed? In Fliptown it's more linked to the setting, though. That's the one write game I'd buy because I watched a lot of playthrough of it and it always looks very clever and fun.
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Happy birthday, channel of which I'm now a recognized supporter! :)
All I tend to play solo are solo-only games, because games not made expressly for solo can be awkward when played solo. First of all, they're typically too large on the table for one player. I had similar issues as you before starting to play board games solo, and forcing myself to set up a large-footprint game still makes me feel too weird. Solo-only games are designed to be nice and compact! You can play them at your desk! (I never actually do that). Something that pushed me past my initial qualms on solo gaming is considering how I enjoy single-player video games almost exclusively. Why shouldn't it be the same for board games? No reason to feel more awkward being alone in front of some cardboard than it is being alone in front of a screen.
Ahahah thanks to you for being a recognized supporter 🫶🏻
I totally understand your reasoning. And probably the same reason why I don't play solo is why I don't play video games. It makes no sense whatsoever, but I still kind of prefer my board gaming time to be social time, I like being around people for that and sharing the love. Tho I recognize it is harder to set up obviously.
And that's why I really really only buy solo only games if i reaaaaally feel like I'm gonna enjoy them. It took me a couple years to buy Final Girl and now I have my eye on Warp's Edge
I also have One Deck Dungeon which is not really a solo only game, but also I unfortunately didn't love that much :(
@@jucchee Warp's Edge is an honorable mention in my top 5 solo. And ROVE (the wallet game. I love a few wallet games).
Also Maquis, which I loved a lot at first, but then I stumbled into a case where a rule makes your life miserable despite all your planning and there's no mitigation whatsoever for it, so now I have a love-hate relationship with it. Same with Conservas, which is a beautiful game, but waaaay too easy. The designer released an unofficial set of additional rules to make it more challenging, but I haven't tried them yet.
I like One Deck Dungeon! I plan to watch your playthroughs at some point. I hope you're not too annoyed by it. :)
@@Kumagoro42 I don't know any of the games you mentioned unfortunately ahahah you have a much better knowledge!
Warp's Edge is a bag builder. Give me a bag builder and I'll be happy 🤣
You can watch the OOD videos, but keep in mind they have been made around the same time as the Sleeping God PP first campaign so the quality is very bad :( sorry
I also remembered I also have Gloomhaven B&B solo only from writing the previous comment, but as I said, not a huuuuge fan
@ I have watched some of your Gloomhaven vids (and some of Rob's). I find it extremely boring. It's basically the same thing every "scenario". Not as bad as One Card Dungeon, though. A friend of mine bought it once, and it was so bad he sold it right away.
@ Conservas is a bag builder. It's by Scott Almes, same guy as Warp's Edge.
Here's my top 5 solo-only games, last to first!
#5: This War of Mine. I know, it's not actually solo-only, but the rules for multiplayer are very much "this is a solo game that we didn't want to market as a solo game". You basically just give another player control of the game. At that point just play it as a committee (which is a way all solo games can be played too, and I did it for a few of these).
#4: Under Falling Skies. This could be the game with the more insane amount of content in a single small box. The most puzzle-y of these, but also extremely thematic.
#3: Legacy of Yu. Solo-only campaign-only narrative euro! Honestly, Shem Phillips's absolute masterpiece, and all those West Kingdom/North Sea/South Tigris players don't even know it exists.
#2: Eila and Something Shiny. This game just destroys you. There are two types of solo board gamers: those who have experienced Eila and Something Shiny and those who will.
#1: Final Girl, of course. It amazes me how a game where you can fail a two-dice roll and die after five minutes can be so good.
As far as non-solo-only games with a solo mode, I'm not sure which ones I'd put in a top 5, mostly because as I said I prefer not to play them solo. Spirit Island for sure, though. Mage Knight would probably be there if I had ever played it (which I didn't. It looks overcomplicated and honestly ugly). I play Arkham Horror LCG two-handed, after trying it true solo for a little bit and realizing that, as you said, it just doesn't work. But if you play with two characters and decks you know well, it's not that hard.
#5 Don't know it but really sounds like a Sleeping Gods kind of escamotage to not market a game as a solo only game
#4 Well now that you mention it, I realize I lied ahahah I actually only ever played ONE game solo before starting the channel and it was this one! I'm sorry to say but yes, it is a little bit too puzzly for my taste. Just like Gloomhaven B&B sometimes it is really forcing you to overthink your moves. The problem was also that I think I was flipping two or three tiles to the hard side so if I left it a little looser I would've probably enjoyed it more. I left it in Italy since a couple of years cause that's where I tend to play solo only more. Will probably come to the channel at some point.
#3 I watched the whole campaign done by @slickerdrips and really enjoyed the series! Probably not my style of game because of the resource management but I found it very clever!
#2 Don't know it unfortunately :( so maybe I will. If you know anyone good who has made videos for it, let me know
#1 This one I heard of :)
About the non-solo games, I think Spirit Island would work pretty well!
Mage Knight I was very close to buying it just looking at the art on the cover. Then I watched I think a tutorial from GettingGames ( previously JonGetsGames, I think you mentioned him at some point) and I realize it indeed looks ugly 🤣 and I don't know, cumbersome. So I actively decided to never buy it. I can try it, but not buy it.
For the rest, I think Castles Of Burgundy and Welcome To The Moon really gave me two different gaming experiences in solo or multiplayer so I will say some multiplayer games are worth trying in solo mode! Also, for games like Marvel Champions which are best at two, I also tend to play them solo cause I almost never play at two players.
@@jucchee #5 Precisely.
#4 If you revisit it, go straight to the campaign. There are HUNDREDS of hidden customizations in there. And don't flip any tile over! (One at most). It makes it super-hard and not really enjoyable.
#2 Crimsonboardgames has one. But the issue with showing or even talking about Eila (she's my new YT avatar, btw!) is that it's an incredibly spoiler-adverse game. Even just telling you that it looks like a kids game, but many argue that it should have trigger warnings on the cover, is telling you too much. So you should look into it without looking too much into it. :)
The mechanics are also unique, and you don't really realize where they're going to take them while playing the tutorial chapter.
#1 You have five playthroughs on the channel... which are still way too few! :)
Btw, I had to fight tooth and nails to post the top 5 comment, YT kept deleting it (ultimately I posted it bit by bit through multiple edits). It never happened to me elsewhere, is it possible you are enforcing some very strict anti-spam rules on the channel?
@ I honestly never heard of Welcome to the Moon, I'll look into it, but I'm not a fan of using pens and pencils ON my games. :) (I know they're usually draw-erase, but still).
That thing about picking one number for the suit, one for the value and then leave a third one: that's how Fliptown also works. It's different designers and publisher, so I wonder if it's a new mechanic that's being developed? In Fliptown it's more linked to the setting, though. That's the one write game I'd buy because I watched a lot of playthrough of it and it always looks very clever and fun.