Top 20 Crowdfunding Projects for 2026
So this is the second part of anticipating crowdfunding games. Last year I split it into two parts, one for games on Gamefound and one for games on Kickstarter. This time, because often information is limited, especially on Kickstarter, I am doing a longer list, but putting them all in one. So let’s see what is out there for crowdfunding and coming in 2026.
Top 20 Crowdfunding Projects for 2026
There’s no order to these, mainly because some of them I just don’t know enough to put an order to them. And it’s really about letting you know what is coming.
Grassfed
This is a farming deck building game. If that sounds both unique and not unique, I think that it’s right. Deck building is a really common mechanism in a board game. But farming, that it’s all that common, it might be part of a game but this game is all about farming. So I want to know how that’s even going to work in a deck building game.
Catacombs
There are games called Catacombs out there, but none of them have cats as the heroes and the villains of the game. This is a cooperative adventure game where you as cats are exploring and having to deal with the villains out there. It sounds silly, but it’s on my radar because the artwork is not silly and it is cats, which again is silly.
Labyrinth Chronicles
Labyrinth is a board game that I haven’t played. But when Labyrinth Chronicles was announced it was more interesting to me. Mainly because it seems to give a bity of story to the game. And if it still keeps it as a simpler game, it’s one that I could see playing with my kid often now because of the complexity level of the original game. I just want it to be something that can keep myself engaged as well. Of course, by the time it comes out actually, he’ll be a little bit older, which might be better.
Follow Labyrinth Chronicles here.
The Void Unveiled: Echoes of Arkham
I love Lovecraftian themes. Mainly because with Arkham Horror and the games that Fantasy Flight has put out, they tend to be mystery games as much as horror games. This one is going to be a cooperative story-driven Lovecraftian game. Both of those things I really love. I hope that it is replayable, but even if not, sounds like you play through a few chapters of it with a lot of narrative in it, so it won’t be a one off or limited shelf.
Follow The Void Unveiled: Echoes of Arkham.
Terraforming Mars: The Legacy of Mars
How do you turn Terraforming Mars into a legacy game? I’m not 100% sure on that, because I don’t think that you can terraform it all each game, that doesn’t make thematic sense. But if they can create a clever way to do it, it’s going to be great. Ways that Mars can be built up over time, ways to improve projects or improve the funding you get from your corporation. And I love a legacy game, so this one is very interesting to me, also interesting that it’s a part 1 though that’s less good.
Follow Terraforming Mars: The Legacy of Mars here.
Gothic – A Shadow’s Quest
This is an RPG esque board game, so I definitely have a type of game that I’m most apt to put on the list. This one was one that stood out to me on one of the Gamefound Feasts for upcoming crowdfunding projects. In particular, I think that it’s an already established world, the Gothic games are video games, so I am curious to see how it’ll get translated over to a board game.
Follow Gothic – A Shadow’s Quest.
Jurassic Crisis
Like every good child at heart, I also like dinosaurs. This game is interesting to me because it’s a one off game, first of all, but it’s a PvPvE game. So they describe it as semi-cooperative. I take it to mean in this game that you all need to deal with the events (or the game) because the game can win. But at the end of the game if it doesn’t win, there is only one winner. My big concern about this one is when you look at the component picture there is so much stuff.
Towers of Yoma
The game calls itself a maze tower defense game. And one of the first kind of app or flash game that I really enjoyed was tower defense, Monkey Bloons. This one is going to give you that tower defense, I think also creating pathways for the enemies to go to optimize how that works. And then you are also doing deck building as well as a mechanism for the game. It feels like the type of game that I’d enjoy and while I’ve found some tower defense board games to just be okay, I hope this one offers interesting and robust play.
Follow Towers of Yoma on Gamefound.
SHANGHAI The Nevernight City
Detective/mystery games always interest me. If you watched my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition, you know that Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game is way up there for me. This game, I hope, is going to offer really deep and interesting mysteries like that one did. It might mean that it’s a bit less replayable but that’s okay if it offers an amazing experience. And the aesthetics of the game look on point.
Follow SHANGHAI The Nevernight City.
Demon Castle Mononoke
The theme of this game is what interests me right off the bat. I think that the cover is okay, but this is a survival game set in Japan where the yokai and spirits are real and you need to survive in this castle. I hope that it’s an interesting game, as it looks like one that is going to be smaller and maybe simpler. I find that survival is a good theme for games or good mechanism in some ways because the impending dread of losing or dying works well to creation tension.
Follow Demon Castle Mononoke on Gamefound.
The Malice of Light Adventures
There are a few things that interest me about this game. It’s a roguelike boss-battler, so that is interesting. It’s from the Saddler brothers who have made some very solid games, and some slightly overdone games. And it’s based on a book series of which I have the first that I need to read which is written by one of the Saddler brothers. So I hope that this is a good game because the theme interests me and I like a good roguelike game.
Follow The Malice of Light Adventures.
The Horror Possession
I doubt most people remember Clue the VRC Game. It’s not a great game and you needed a VCR to play it, it was the thing before DVD’s the thing before Blu-Rays the thing before everything being digital, for those who don’t know. That concept is intriguing as you try and and save someone from demonic possession. So, is this going to be a good game or is it going to be a bad game and a bad movie, who knows. But it feels like something a bit old school while trying to do something new and different.
Follow The Horror Possession here.
Shattered Divinity: The 7 Fragments
I don’t know a ton about this one, but it’s a JRPG anime themed board game. And that is interesting because as popular as anime is, there aren’t a ton of board games that use that style of theming successfully. Information is limited on how the game is going to work, but sounds like they are going for a short campaign, which is nice for the game as well.
Follow Shattered Divinity: The 7 Fragments.
Jisogi: Anime Studio Tycoon
This is a reprint of a game that already had a crowdfunding campaign. But I totally missed it first time that it was out. This is a game all about building up your anime franchise. And it looks like you’re building everything from plot, following the trends, and adding unique characters into your anime so that you can run the most successful studio. And the artwork looks great for the game as well which is fun and really sells the game.
Final Girl Series 4
I don’t need more Final Girl. I’m actually pretty unlikely to back this one, but I wanted to call it out. Final Girl is back with another series. That means more final girls, more monsters and more combinations to play with. If you like the game, it’s a chance to grab even more scenarios to play through. And the game is great, I like the hand management, I like the time management, and I like how it nails the best and most B horror movie tropes.
Flame & Forge
This seems like a lighter game than some on the list. But it’s going to be one that has a bunch of things in it. You need to play workers, gain games, and slay the dragon to save the throne. This seems to include deck building as well which is something I like. And with a modular board, it’s going to set-up different scenarios and challenges for you to play through. The artwork is pretty app-like, which is so so for me, but hopefully it aligns with a lighter fun and funny game.
Follow Flame & Forge on Kickstarter.
A Dragon’s Gift
This I believe is a little solo Button Shy game from Scott Almes. And I think that a lot of his little designs are good. Not all of them are great and make me lover the game, but I enjoy a lot of theme. This one immediately caught my eye because of the artwork. But it’s also a solo only game and it’s about collecting goods and getting them together as a gift for a cute and grumpy looking dragon. So the them sounds interesting, though I’m sure it’ll mainly be the cute artwork and mechanisms.
Mythwind: Herbalist and Shepherd Expansions
This is more for a game that I already enjoy. And I think that it’s fun that they can continue to build on this game by just adding more characters you can play. The cozy story of the game already works. So to add in more characters with their own puzzles is a smart way to do it. Mainly because it’s plug and play and doesn’t add that bulk of getting more to the table. Yes, there is more, but you still only have the main board and cards plus your character. And two fun sounding characters.
Follow Mythwind: Herbalist and Shepherd.
Here to Slay Dungeons
Here to Slay is a cute little card game, but Dungeons is going to give you that same cute package and put it into a dungeon crawler experience. I’m not sure that this is going to be a game for me, but I want to learn more about it. I think for a lot of people it might be a nice and easy entry point into something like a dungeon crawler without it feeling too expansive or too generic fantasy because of the artwork.
Follow Here to Slay Dungeons here.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: Unstoppable
Firstly, I just bought and I need to read the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book. I’ve heard mixed things on it, though no one with a mixed opinion on it. Either people like it for they don’t. But it’s a solo or two player deck building game based off of a system that already exists. And it’s a world that already exists as well, so I think that it’s going to be an interesting game and interesting theme for a game. My opinion might change once I’ve read the book, but either way, I’m interesting.
Follow Dungeon Crawler Carl: Unstoppable on Backerkit.
Final Thoughts
It’s always so hard to know with crowdfunding games this early what is going to be interesting and what isn’t. You can see how I wrote up about different things how little information there is at times. But all of these games on Gamefound, Backerkit, and Kickstarter have something that interests me about them.
I think the closest for a must back for me from all these crowdfunding games is going to be the Terraforming Mars Legacy. I enjoy Terraforming Mars and Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition. So I want to know how they plan on making it a legacy game. The thing that worries me about it is that it’s the first four chapters, so is it going to feel incomplete as a game, most likely yes, and is that just FOMO to get me to get the next one, also likely yes.
Is there a crowdfunding game coming in 2026 that you’re most excited for? I’m sure I probably don’t even know the one that I’ll look back at, at the end of the 2026, and have been the most excited about.
Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here
1 Comment