Not too long ago I did my top anticipated games coming to Crowdfunding in 2022, that I knew about. Check those out here. But since then, a lot of other content creators have been putting out videos for crowdfunding gamesthat are coming out in 2022. And I wanted to talk some more about upcoming Kickstarters and Gamefounds. Some places do it weekly and talk about what is coming out, Liege of Games and BoardGameCo, sometimes a couple of times of month, like Tantrum House. All in all, there are lots of great sources.

Why Talk About Future Crowdfunding?

Well, because the hype is real. Not only that, while I think there are good sources for what’s coming up on Kickstarter, I don’t think it hurts to have some extras in there. This is me weighing in on a fairly crowded space, in all fairness, and talking about games that I’m interested in, but also that might be missed by everyone in the hype of some of the big games coming out.

It is also to help me budget what I’m going to get. I’m putting down 10 games that I know some about but not a ton. And these games aren’t all going to be games that I back, because, well, it’s expensive. But this will give you an idea of what is coming out to help plan out what games you might want, and of course, this is only quarter one, so don’t blow all your budget here.

This might become a monthly thing, though, unless I can find good ways to keep track of this long term. Like I said, there are people covering things weekly or bi-weekly, and that’s great. But it does mean that I’ll need to spend more time tracking down games in the future. And BoardGameCo, I hope he does a quarterly video, but he’s doing this one right now since Kickstarter/Gamefound are very slow.

Top 10 Quarter One Crowdfunding

So what games are making my list for the first quarter.

10. Tidal Blades: Rise of the Unfolders

I expect this one to be a lot higher on a lot of people’s lists. It isn’t for me just because, while the first Tidal Blades game looked amazing, I felt like it wasn’t a game for me. And while it isn’t a series in terms of you need the first to play the second, I might feel that I’m missing out on something. But the world of Tidal Blades is cool. A land covered in water, monsters coming up from the deep or through that you need to fight. A tournament to decide the next heroes of the land. That is all cool.

And this takes it from a dice upgrading game into a dungeon crawler. And oddly enough, not one that really uses those dice. We all know that I’m a sucker for dungeon crawl games. That is the reason this is on the list. It is a cool world, and Druid City Games/Skybound Games always makes high quality games. So, if nothing else the production is going to be amazing. I can see this one tempting me.

9. Jurassic World: The Legacy Of Isla Nublar

This game from Funko would only kind of be on my radar if it weren’t for the fact it’s a legacy game. It is this low because of the price point. The legacy game is played over 12 game sessions, and the game costs $120 on Kickstarter plus shipping. That is expensive. Now, doing the math, let’s say I play three player and twelve sessions and each game takes an hour and a half. That is about $2.22 of fun per person per hour.

But a legacy game set in the Jurassic World world, I’m interested in that. I need to know more how the game plays. Because, it’s a theme that interests me, who doesn’t like dinosaurs, but also I don’t have as much nostalgia/attachment to the original movies or the new ones. Even with that, I still like dinosaurs, so I’m still tempted by this game.

8. Seas of Havoc

Another one lower on my list that I’m generally interested in. This is a deck building, sea fighting game. That is a concept that sounds interesting to me. And while it might not be pirates completely for this game, I can see it having that feel. I need to play my newest pirate game, Forgotten Waters, but generally I’m looking for good pirate themed games.

Seas of Havoc is higher on the list than Jurassic World for the theme. It is very close though, because a legacy game is always interesting to me. But as much as I love the legacy mechanic, I also love the deck building mechanic, maybe even more so. And doing that with the high seas and adventure, I’m curious to see how that goes.

7. The Dark Quarter

This game could be higher on the list as I learn more about it. What I know is that this is set in New Orleans and has almost a gothic style horror feel to it. And I’m here for gothic horror. Plus it’s a collaboration between Lucky Duck Games and Van Ryder Games. While I haven’t played much from either, their stuff always interests me. Mainly because they both focus on story first games.

This one, like I said, I don’t know too much about. It seems like an interesting setting though, and I suspect we’ll be seeing vampires show up. And I’m expecting with Lucky Duck Games being involved that there is going to be some sort of app driven component. I don’t need apps in all my games, but when there is a lot of story, I like it so that they can hide information better.

6. Astro Knights

From Indie Board and Cards, this is kind of a successor to Aeon’s End. If you watched my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2021 Edition, you’ll know that I really like Aeon’s End. It’s a good challenging game with a lot of variability. Plus, like I mentioned with Seas of Havoc, I like deck builders. And Aeon’s End is a very good deck builder.

Astro Knights seems to have changed up some things, like not having a fixed market. And while I don’t mind the fixed market in Aeon’s End, I really like more random markets. Granted, in a cooperative game it matters less to me. But I’m curious about this one, and I like the artwork on it. I didn’t start backing Aeon’s End games until this most recent one, so I might wait for this to come to retail.

5. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition Expansion

Another one that I’m really excited about is just an expansion from Stronghold Games. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition was one of, if not, my top game from 2021. It just works in that it’s fast to set-up, fast-ish to play, and even though the game might take a bit to play it doesn’t seem long because you do stuff every turn.

I just want more cards in this expansion and maybe something small extra. But more development cards and more research cards, that’d be great. Even a few more corporations, that’d be good. Or maybe a separate track to manage some way in the game. I suspect that we’ll be getting a sixth action, and that is fine, but I don’t really need that. What works well with Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is that you can make decisions pretty quickly for what you want to do. I hope they don’t bog that down.

4. Final Girl

Now the first of two games, in a row, that are already out. They are just coming back to Kickstarter. From Van Ryder games, second time on the list, this one is about being the final girl in a horror movie. It’s a trope of basically that one person left and will they or won’t they defeat the murderer who is out to get them.

This is a purely solo game and a theme that I really love. Have I said that I like horror before? But this isn’t just horror, this is campy horror, at least what is what I liken it to. So I’m really curious about this game, and it is getting amazing reviews thus far. So when Season 2 comes to Kickstarter, we’ll have to see how much of it I end up backing.

3. Unsettled

The next one is a theme that I maybe like a little bit less than horror, but it’s up there, and that’s sci-fi. Unsettled is a planetary exploration game from Orange Nebula. This one also is out already, they are just coming back for more. The game reminds me of the exploration/planetary phase from ISS Vanguard, what I’ve seen of it. Combined with a plug and play system that is reminiscent of how cool it was for T.I.M.E Stories, but this time in space.

The production on this looks really good. And, like I said, the reviews are very strong as well. it can be played solo, but sounds like a better game multiplayer. What I like about Unsettled and Finale Girl, compared to my normal crowdfunding, is that these are one off games. So I don’t need to plan a whole campaign/players around it.

2. Rogue Angels

But now we are back to a campaign game. And Rogue Angels is a game that I’ve even had the chance to play and mess around with. You can see some of my thoughts here. But the game mechanics were smooth, and what I really liked about the game is the card play.

Just to touch on that a bit. All cards have a cooldown cost. So if I use a card that costs three, I’ll get it back in three turns. And you play with a limited hand of cards. But you also have cards that cost zero. They aren’t great actions, but they’ll do in a pinch. Plus they come back right away. So when you use certain cards that are more powerful but will take longer to come back, that is a great question.

Plus this is a replayable legacy game. And by that I don’t mean that it has a free play mode at the end, the other legacy game, Jurassic World does, but instead it means that this game comes with a lot of characters. And there are a lot of scenarios and branching decisions that you can make. Depending on how you match up with a faction will limit your options as well. So even once you’ve played the story through, there is still more story to find.

1. Marvel Zombies

This is easily my most anticipated game in the first quarter. And I think they’ve officially said it’s in Q1, but there isn’t an official date yet. I haven’t played a Zombicide game before. Undead or Alive isn’t going to make it here in time for before this campaign, most likely. I’m guessing mid summer for that game. So will I back this? It’s Marvel, most likely. And reviewers who have been critical of other Zombicide games have been enjoying previewing this one.

This is going to have so much Marvel to it, and it’s taking a storyline that people liked from the comics and creating a game around it. Plus getting to play as the zombies sounds different than normal Zombicide. I’m not sure why that makes it more interesting, but it does. And a 2.5″ tall Galactus that you actually play with, well you get the idea.

What Crowdfunding Games Are You Looking Forward To?

Let me know that in the comments below. I definitely picked a lot of bigger games for my list. But in all fairness a lot of those bigger games advertise more. If you want to see a massive list of games BoardGameCo covers a whole lot more, though not Rogue Angels. I’ll leave the video below for your viewing pleasure, and it is a fun watch.

But let me know what Kickstarter or Gamefound you are looking forward to in the start of 2022. There are a lot that I didn’t mention that I’ll be keeping an eye on as well like LastLight and The Dice Tower campaign. And if I knew for sure when Sea of Legends was coming out, that might have made the list as well.

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