We know that I back games on crowdfunding and while I’ve slowed down a lot recently for a number of reasons, there are always a few that still catch my eye. Let’s go through those crowdfunding games and talk about why I backed each of them. I think that this has been a solid year for games, and there are some that I’d love to have backed that I just couldn’t justify. And that’s the thing with crowdfunding games, they all look good. But sometimes, a game just isn’t going to be a game for you. I’ll talk about some of those that I considered in another article.

Crowdfunding Games I’ve Backed in The First Half of 2026

Dungeon Crawler Carl Unstoppable

This one caught my eye for two major reasons. First is the theme. I’m going to write an article coming up here on Dungeon Crawler Carl but I love the series, at least what I’ve read of it thus far. If you are not familiar, Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC) is LitRPG where Earth becomes a dungeon crawl through crazy circumstances. As they say as a tagline: “The Apocalypse will be televised.”

The other thing about this one that made me want to back the crowdfunding game is the game it is based on. Before this came to crowdfunding I knew about Unstoppable. This solo game, now two players, that people were really liking. I considered just buying that, but with the theme, I knew I wanted to get this version and see what it’s like.

Jisogi: Anime Studio Tycoon

Jisogi is another crowdfunding campaign that drew me in because of theme. Now I’ll say that this is the second campaign for this game which helped as well. That helped because I knew people who had played the game. And while it sounds like a very crunchy and in depth euro style game, it does have a good theme.

The theme, as the name says, is running an anime studio. And I love my anime. You know that because I can rank all of them that I’ve watched. But now I get a chance to run a studio and turn my tired overworked employees into happy workers.

Aeon’s End: System Overload

Is this campaign just more Aeon’s End, yes it is. Did I back the one last year that gives me even more that just delivered, yes I did. Do I own all of Aeon’s End, probably missing a few promo cards. But I love Aeon’s End. I got to play it twice again recently and it’s just a good time. I like how the deck building works and the battles. Just everything with the different mages and nemesis and market make the game feel unique each time.

The real question is, do I need more of this game. No, I do not. I don’t know when I’m getting to the next Legacy campaign of it. I might stream that as I figure out streaming schedule. But overall, I love this game so I knew I wanted more.

Lands of Evershade Expansions

This is why I pledge for more Lands of Evershade:

But beyond that, let’s talk about what drew me into this one originally. This is a big box game from Awaken Realms and I love Awaken Realms games. But in this one, you are playing a story driven dungeon crawl RPG of a board game. And that combination works well for me. In the playthrough you can see how much story there is, and I’m excited to dig into that.

While the story is likely going to have you end up in the same chapters, in some ways, how you get there is going to be different. And just the in depth nature of the game and simple but not simplistic combat seems like a great game for me.

Hell of a Deal

And finally, one more video, to really highlight why I backed this game on crowdfunding:

This game just looks like a lot of fun. I already like games like Balatro on the computer that offers a twist on poker. And then I own board games that I really like such as Ace of Spades and The Gang that are cooperative poker as well. Hell of a Deal, though, seems to do more and offer more game to it than some of the other ones do. The other ones are just poker with a little twist, this one has a big twist to it.

I really like the sounds of the powers in the game. And I like how you can make deals with the devil to win or get advantages, but it’s costing you some as well. One last cool thing is that this game is going to be delivering soon. It is really more of a pre-order than a true crowdfunding campaign, though it was on Kickstarter. So I can’t wait to get my hands on it and try it. They did have a setback in terms of production recently, but nothing major.

Which of these games would you be most excited to play?

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