Everyone is talking about this game! It’s no wonder: the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. And it features absolutely gorgeous art and production! The game’s unique theme has been matched so harmoniously with the game mechanics, in such an impressive way.

In Unconscious Mind, you are playing a member of Sigmund Freud’s Psychological Society, that met on a weekly basis to discuss psychology and the meaning of dreams. Using a combination of engine building, action programming and worker placement mechanics, you will be mastering therapeutic techniques, publishing treatises (which can be cited by other players), and establishing a practice while growing your clientele. When delving into your client’s dreams, you help them to reach a catharsis by healing their traumas and relieving them of layers of grief (brilliantly represented in a visual way by actual transparent overlays that get placed over your clients — and removing them scores you major reputation points).

With clever mechanics and a distinctive theme, Unconscious Mind is a game you won’t want to miss.

Designers: Laskas, Jonny Pac, Yoma, Antonio Zax

Artists: Andrew Bosley, Vincent Dutrait

Publisher: Fantasia Games

We first started playing the beautiful game Harmonies on Board Game Arena, and became so addicted to it that we had to get a physical copy. 

In Harmonies, there are 32 different beautifully-illustrated Animal cards (and 10 “Nature’s Spirit” cards), each one with a unique animal and showing a different type of “Habitat” for it. There are also various types of colored tokens, representing the different types of terrain that can be used to create these habitats: mountains, buildings, trees, water and fields. 

In the center of the table, there is a central board with five spaces, and the terrain tokens are randomly taken out of a bag and placed in groups of three in these spaces. Every turn, players must take one of these trios of tokens and then place them somewhere on their personal board (that represents their Landscape). They may optionally take one (of five) available Animal cards on display — and, if they’ve created one of their animal’s habitats — they can place a cube (representing the animal) on the appropriate terrain token of the habitat as shown on the Animal card. The animal cubes are the main way of scoring points, but players also score depending on how the terrain is laid out in their landscape.

So the tricky puzzle in Harmonies is finding the perfect balance of Animals and terrain within your Landscape, and looking for animals that “combo” well together (since multiple habitats can blend into one another, but only one animal cube can be placed on a token at a time). 

Maximizing your landscape for victory points is so addictive in this game! You will find yourself wanting to play this one over and over again to create the ultimate landscapes!

Designer: Johan Benvenuto

Artist: Maëva da Silva

Publisher: Libellud

Bad Comet has truly made their mark as a boardgame publisher to seek out! After their previous game, Life of the Amazonia, made our “Best” list last year, we knew that their latest — Wondrous Creatures — would not disappoint.

And wow — what a gorgeous game! 

Featuring a unique worker-placement mechanism along with set collection, Wondrous Creatures is an absolute delight to play — and the super combos it can create makes it an irresistible choice to keep returning it to the table.

Every player has a trio of adorable creature “workers” — each one covering two spaces on the board map, allowing you to gather adjacent resources. And one of these workers is able to hold your “Captain” — who has a special asymmetric extra ability when placed. (And get this — the Captain “connects” to it creature with magnets!). 

Players are tasked with building the most harmonious reserve, by playing cards featuring the Wondrous Creatures found on a mysterious island. With 126 unique Creature cards, multiple Achievement goals, multiple Captains, and mini-expansions, no two games of Wondrous Creatures have been alike. 

Designer: Yeom.C.W

Artist: Sophia Kang

Publisher: Bad Comet

Empire and Exile) join forces once again for ARCS — Leder Games’ take on a 4X game, with a unique twist… blending sci-fi and fantasy, which Ferrin’s art brings to life.

ARCS is a fast-playing space opera for 3-4 players that uses an innovative card-driven action system. A deck of cards in 4 suits with ranks from 1-7 (2-6 for less than 4 players) defines the action selection system. These cards a played in a trick-taking adjacent system to select actions, take the initiative and declare Ambitions. The 3 declared Ambitions are what will score in that deal. Timing is everything. Bad hands must be mitigated by careful card play and benefitting from other players’ card play.

Battles are resolved quickly with the attacker choosing their level of risk. The defenders must be prepared with adequate defensive ships and cards in their tableau.

If you’ve ever been curious about ROOT, but were intimidated by complex rules and having to learn several asymmetric factions all at once, ARCS takes a much different approach. 

Players begin in roughly symmetric positions with easy-to-learn rules that enable them to understand the core system rather quickly. But with the Blighted Reach expansion and after an epic trilogy of games (that can be played over and over in different ways), the player’s choices will cause them to go on divergent paths — and by the end of any mini-campaign, they will control vastly different factions!

Publisher: Leder Games

Designer: Cole Wehrle

Artist: Kyle Ferrin

SETI has been sitting near the top of BGG’s “Hotness” list ever since its release for a good reason. It’s a truly fantastic boardgame that we can’t get enough of!!

In SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration.

Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home.

Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources — all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms.

You will also make use of over 200 multi-use cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries.

Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.

Designer: Tomáš Holek

Artists: Various

Publisher: Czech Games Edition

The gorgeously produced 2-player asymmetrical game Kelp: Shark vs. Octopus was one of our major surprises in gaming this year. 

In Kelp, you either play as the ruthless and determined predator the Shark, or the cunning and adaptable Octopus that’s simply trying to stay alive. Each player has their own style of gameplay mechanics and different win objectives. As the Shark, you patrol the South African kelp forest hunting down your prey — using dice (and special abilities to mitigate your luck) to move along currents, search the various zones, and strike when you believe you’ve deduced where the Octopus is located. When you store energy, you can obtain and play powerful one-time use cards that give special actions and additional search/strike dice to your bag, but the more you use energy and strike, the hungrier your Shark becomes — and when the hunger track reaches the end, the Octopus wins!

The Octopus player meanwhile uses deck-building and various abilities to sneak around the board, managing and revealing their hidden blocks — which can contain shells, food, traps for the Shark, and the Octopus itself. The Octopus can win by managing to eat all of its food, or exhausting the Shark. But the Octopus must occasionally take risks to reveal its location in order to hide again and strengthen their deck. If the Shark manages to make a strike action against the revealed Octopus, then the two rivals go into a “final confrontation” where the Octopus still has a chance to slip away. But if the Shark is victorious, it wins!

The visuals and components are simply stunning, and the gameplay is deeply thematic and clever. This is definitely a game we’ll be tabling a LOT.

Designer: Carl Robinson

Artist: Weberson Santiago

Publisher: Wonderbow Games

We originally got A Message From The Stars because our fabulous artist of I·C·E and FOUNDERS, Léonard Dupond, did the illustrations for it. But what a surprise it was to discover the sheer joy in playing it, and for it to become one of our favorite deduction games of the year!

Solve the great enigma of extraterrestrial language and plunge into intense collaborative deciphering! 👽

A Message From The Stars 🤩

In this cooperative game, you tackle a complex linguistic code. The mechanics of deduction and decryption allow you to crack the famous code.

Aliens and scientists have exactly 4 rounds in which they alternate transmissions to guess the real message behind them.

Players can engage in cooperative gameplay, where all scientists pool their collective intellect to crack the alien code and unveil the hidden message. Alternatively, delve into team play, with two alien players sending messages across the galaxy.

The future of interstellar relations lies in your hands!

Designer: Clarence Simpson

Artist: Léonard Dupond

Publisher Allplay

The White Castle was one of our absolute favorite games this year. While the base game was released in 2023, we discovered it too late to include it in our Best Games list of last year. But thankfully 2024 saw the release of a new expansion: Matcha!

The tea ceremony lies at the heart of Japanese culture, giving life the most essential and elemental concepts of hospitality, respect, and Zen philosophy. There, they believe that tea, which came from China in the 13th century, resolved the health problems of the Buddhist monks who drank it. Over the years, the tea ceremony evolved to offer the samurai a place of calm, far from the chaos of the battlefield.

In The White Castle: Matcha, you will have to deal with a new place in which to influence the court using new members of your clan. Having members of your clan in good seats within the Chashitsu (tea room) will help you achieve a greater level of influence within the court of Himeji. Also, you will have one additional action each round. Will that be enough?

Designer: Isra C., Shei S.

Artist: Joan Guardiet

Publisher: Devir

We unfortunately haven’t been able to play this one yet, which is why it didn’t make our official list. (The game arrived near the end of the year, and legacy campaign games are difficult to get started… as you need a dedicated and committed group). 

But because the first Clank Legacy was one of our absolute favorite legacy experiences so far, with an extremely rich (and funny!) story-based campaign, we just know that the sequel — which looks to be even more impressive than the original, with promises of even more dynamic and thrilling adventures — is guaranteed to be worthy of inclusion on this list!

In Clank Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic, players start a brand new Acquisitions Incorporated franchise while fighting bosses, avoiding the dragon, and collecting loot. Your success, failures and choices permanently impact everything around you. At the end of the story, players have a fully re-playable game with two distinct play modes (competitive or cooperative!), and two maps: all permanently and uniquely sculpted by the player’s actions!

Designer: Jay E. Treat, III

Artsits: various

Publisher: Dire Wolf