Anticipated Crowdfunding Games

10. Quantum Shock

The one that I consider least likely to come out. The latest that they have said about it, this was in 2021 mind you, that they were going to be launching in 2022. The game is still in that get notified at launch stage. And when asked in January and June about a timeline, there is no response/information.

But Quantum Shock very much falls into that category of a game that I’d be interested in. It is cooperative, sci-fi, and horror. Three things that I really love. And the aesthetic, at least of the box artwork is interesting to me. I’m poking about to find more information on the game because I’d love to see what the whole look and play of the game is.

9. Moon

From the company that brought us Villagers and Streets, they now have a new game coming, Moon. I don’t know much about the game or about their games in general. But I know the look of the games, and Moon looks amazing in terms of the artwork and graphic design. That is what has me interested. Generally, I feel like my thoughts have been with Villagers and Streets, try before I buy, but Moon, if it looks interesting enough, might be a spot to jump into Sinister Fish Games.

8. Sea of Legends: Vengeance of the Empires

An expansion for a game that I own, Sea of Legends. This is going to be a big pirate adventure game. I love the idea of a big sprawling pirate game. And while I haven’t played this one yet, because I’ve heard the app was getting improved upon, I do really want to play my copy. That is likely going to determine if I back this game.

Sea of Legends, like I said, is a big pirate game. You pick a Captain, Lover, and Nemesis, and that drives your story in the game. It is a competitive game, but I like that the story of each character weaves together which intrigues me. I hope that when I play it, I’ll love it. I thought that Merchants and Marauders might be the big pirate game for me, but that one fell flat. And Seafall didn’t seem like pirates.

7. Drop Bears

You heard about this one last week. Drop Bears, based off of the Australian legends for tourists, are basically bears that look like koalas. But instead of being all cute, they drop out of trees and attack with big pointy teeth and claws, if you aren’t careful. I’m very curious about this one. Again, a horror them, which I like and I really like the legend. I’m hoping to get my hands on some press release content if I can to cover it before it launches.

6. Globetrotting

Globetrotting is on here because of the toy factor. But from the same company that makes Canvas, Globetrotting seems to be a roll and write where you are connecting things on a 3D globe. Just that toy factor is great, so I want to see it, play it because of that. A game with good toy factor might not be a great game, but it does make me interested. And Canvas has very good toy factor as well with it’s artwork and is a good game. So I want to see what this one is.

5. Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City

Again, another one that I’ve mentioned before. CMON is doing a game set in the Cyberpunk world. I don’t know a ton more about it than that. I’d guess this game will have a lot of minis, a lot of expansions, but probably be a fun beer and pretzels type of game.

For me, I wish that it sounded like it had more story. But the theme of cyberpunk is cool. I like games like Shadowrun, or that setting, for that reason. So I’ll be curious to know what this one looks like. Area control is also a mechanism that I like quite well. However, I want more going on in a game than that, so one that I’ll be keeping an eye on.

4. Trick Shot

This one is a reprint of a game that is already out. Trick Shot is a hockey game, very hard to find right now, that comes with minis. I don’t know a ton about how it plays, but generally reviews seem pretty favorable. And the idea of a game where you play hockey seems like a good amount of fun to me.

I would love to watch a video of this being played. My main concern about the game is that it’ll be too slow. Hockey, as a sport, is a fast moving game. Baseball works okay for board games because it is a slower moving sport. But Hockey, Basketball, Soccer, and Football are all harder for me to get behind because they move fast. But we’ll see with Trick Shot, because it looks fun.

3. Stonesaga

OOMM games is putting out a lot of things that interest me. I backed Mytwind. I want Stars of Akarios eventually but it is spendy to get right now. It isn’t that I expect it to get cheaper, but it hopefully will be available for a bit. But Stonesaga is a cooperative legacy game. That right there makes it interesting to me.

Plus it has a story that unfolds over time, also interesting to me. And it can be played solo. It seems to be about building up a society and your world over generations. But of course, as a legacy game, the world remembers what you do and changes and grows the story as you go.

2. Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin

Top two were easy to pick. Firstly, an expansion, though I believe a standalone expansion, for Tainted Grail. I love Tainted Grail. I am playing through the third of the stories in the original crowdfunding campaign right now. And I love each story.

Kings of Ruin is something I didn’t know I wanted. And I do not need Kings of Ruin. But I absolutely want it because I love Tainted Grail. This is a story driven game in a grim dark fantasy world around Arthurian legend. It just works well for me and more story in that world isn’t a bad thing, there is just so much content.

1. Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

Rogue Angels is my easy #1 game coming to crowdfunding hopefully in the next few months. And I should soon have some more content coming out on it. I just need to split up some video that I did with a couple other content creators and the designer playing a scenario of the game. You can already see Rogue Angels game play on Malts and Meeples (or below).

But I adore my plays thus far of Rogue Angels. The characters are great. The story is fun, and it is a challenging game. The best way I can describe it and this is a very high compliment is that it is a game that isn’t too complex to play. But, every decision that you make has a ton of depth. You can’t just walk into a room full of bad guys and expect it to work perfectly for you. So how do you plan what is best and work together as a team?

Final Thoughts

I am sure that I missed some big Kickstarter or Gamefound campaigns coming up. I looked for what I could. And I didn’t do anything that you can still late pledge or is out on Kickstarter currently. There are some strong games coming up, and I know there will be a lot more that I don’t know about. That is what them monthly content is for. Plus then the videos that Tantrum House and BoardGameCo put out twice a month or monthly on upcoming Kickstarters.

One that I really would love to put on the list is Slay the Spire by Contention Games. I know they want to get it right before it launches. But Slay the Spire is another game that was supposed to be in 2021, like Quantum Shock, and I haven’t heard anything recently about it. Looking on Board Game Geek it appears they still plan for this year. But it’s not on the list because it was Spring of 2021 and then on and on delayed and reworks. But if they get it right that’ll be awesome.

Is there a Gamefound or Kickstarter you are looking forward to?

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Crowdfunding Games I Wish I’d Backed

I don’t have too many requirements for what can go on the list. The one that I do have is that the game is out, or at least production copies are close, there is one exception to my list, I think. But generally the game needs to be out. I missed these games and now I wish I had them because the game looks good. There are some games, Arkeis, for example, that I really am interested in, and I wish I’d backed it, but I don’t know enough about it still to say for sure.

Also this is a fairly long list, though some will surprise you on the list. You’ll have to see what they are, but let’s get into the list.

Final Girl

This one is going to be an interesting one, because I am going to back it. But I just said I’m sad that I missed it. I am because now we are onto season two. So that probably means that I’ll be getting more for the game, and clearly I need even more of a game that I already don’t own.

Final Girl is kind of what it sounds like. You are the trope of the final girl in the horror movie. Can you survive the serial killer and escape? Can you rescue others, or will you truly be the last one standing? I love that theme, especially since those Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th type of movies are my favorite for horror movies. This one I don’t know why I passed it by the first time, I won’t this time.

Unsettled

Another one that is coming back to crowdfunding, I believe Kickstarter. This is a planet exploration puzzle. It reminds me, in some ways of TIME Stories, but in space instead of this weird time travel mechanism for the game. So it’s modules that you explore to try and complete objectives. The game sounds really cool.

They are coming back to Kickstarter so that they can drop some more planets into the game. That is something that is great about this game and system, that I can tell, they’ll always be able to add in more planets. And from what the reviews have said, this has some really good writing with it as well. So while not a big campaign game like ISS Vanguard which I did back, this is going to give me a lot of planets to explore as well.

Solomon Kane

Now, this isn’t my exception, but you can watch on Malts and Meeples me unboxing Solomon Kane. Well, that’s because I bought it on eBay. I wish that I’d backed this on Kickstarter. I think that Mythic Games brought it to Kickstarter when I wasn’t checking as much. And by the time I heard about it, I think it was too late, or I didn’t know about the late pledging of things.

This is one that I still need to dive into my copy of it. It was an option to stream when we chose Sleeping Gods instead. And it is very possible that I will stream it later this year. Because, while it is kind of a campaign, it is shorter stories that are campaigns. That is similar to how Roll Player Adventures is doing their campaigns as well. I like that because it means that I am not signing up for 100 hours of game play.

Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

Here’s the cheater one, this one isn’t out yet. So why is it on the list, because Quackalope has a very polished looking almost production copy that I’ve watched played. I’ll add the video below. But the game looks right up my alley. It has tactical elements for combat where you need to think about positioning. But it is so much more about story, and I love a good story in a game.

Not to mention that the whole world of Vampire: The Masquerade sounds interesting to me. This world of vampires, but not vampires who are ripping peoples necks out. This is about the intrigue and codes that they have, and being subtle about the hunger and when and how you get your blood. And the different clans and how they interact amongst each other in a struggle for power.

Maximum Apocalypse

This is an interesting one because I’ve again, had a chance to get it. And not just a chance, two chances, and then there is more of a campaign version of Maximum Apocalypse as well that I could have gotten. So why do I regret not getting it, but also haven’t pulled the trigger? This is a survival post apocalyptic sort of game, or during the apocalypse. And it’s done with random tiles that you are searching and different objectives to complete. Plus you have a lot of different apocalypses you can play in.

So theme is great for me. Game play looks like a lot of fun. It just hasn’t caught my attention quite enough. And now, and this is a bad reason, there is a lot of it. And I’m going to want to own all of it. That is a bad reason not to get it. I can get a little bit and if I love it I can get more. I do that often with games. But this one, stuff like the Kaiju expansion I really want, but isn’t part of the base box. So I haven’t bitten on it, yet.

Mars Open

You’re going to see a lot of big games on the list. We know what I like my big campaign games, but this is a small game. And I don’t actually remember what kept me from backing this one. And I keep on looking at it on eBay thinking I should pick it up. Mars Open is a dexterity game, basically paper football flicking, but instead of football, it’s golf. And you are play some holes and low score wins.

That game sounds hilarious to play. I have to imagine that I’d be bad at it, but I’m okay with that because it’ll be a good end of game night game. It reminds me of PitchCar as a game where when someone has a crazy good shot, everyone is going to be excited for them.

Horizon Zero Dawn

This one I’m glad I didn’t back, but I also wish I had. The minis in the game are amazing. And the core box has a lot of cool things. but it has a limited number of things. I likely would only have backed the core, and while people seem to like the game, the general consensus is that you need more. The base box gives you a good gaming experience, but not enough to come back to and feel like it’s different.

That said, there isn’t only the base box, there is a lot more. And if you went all in on everything, there is going to be a ton that you can play. Plus the theme, I love the theme. I haven’t beaten Horizon Zero Dawn, but I need to get back to that game. Honestly, too many video games to get through right now. But in terms of setting this is one of the coolest.

Graphic Novel Adventures

From Van Ryder Games, these are basically mini choose your own adventure in graphic novel form. But they are more than that, it’s not just flip through and read stuff, you have a character and you have stats. That is going to determine how well some things go for you. And they put so many themes into the different graphic novels. Pirates, Sherlock Holmes, and werewolves just to name a few. And I own one, which I really need to play. If I love it, they seem to do more every few years, so I can get another one. I really need to play mine.

Sea of Legends

Another one that is coming back to Kickstarter soon, or maybe Gamefound, I’m not sure. Sea of Legends is a pirate game with app assistance. To me, this looks like it’ll be similar to Merchants and Marauders, a game I like but don’t love, and then add more story into it. In Merchants and Marauders there isn’t story, it’s what you bring to the game. And while the theme is solid, I like games that have story.

Sea of Legends did start out rough with an app that was bad, issues with the rule book, and generally felt like Guildhall sent it out before they polished it. I think that there are still issues with the rule book, but the app seems to be better. And it has a whole idea, that you pick out three different things, I forget what they all are, and enter them into the app and that drives your story. So you can change them up and the story is going to change as well.

This is one that I’m probably going to either grabbed use, my FLGS has had a copy, or back when it comes back. Pirates are a theme that I love, and a generally open world game with story, I like that too. I mean, you can see me now playing Sleeping Gods, a game that I almost put on this list. I own it now, and I like it.

Wild Ascent

This is kind of a Monster Hunter style board game. Or a boss battler game, where you have a village phase and then fight a monster. Kingdom Death Monster might be the one that popularized the genre. KDM (Kingdom Death Monster) is one that didn’t make the list, but was close. I want it, but that Kickstarter was insane.

Wild Ascent does a lot of the same things, and seems like it’s a shorter campaign. KDM feels more like a lifestyle game. And while I wouldn’t mind having a solo lifestyle game that I can keep set-up all the time. Until I get a board game table, which I want to do eventually, and can get two levels and leave a game up all the time, one is about all that I can manage.

That is why I passed on Wild Ascent twice. There was a Gamefound and Kickstarter campaign, and the Gamefound one I was so tempted by. But I held off because do I need another big game that will be hard to get to the table? No, but I really really want it.

Chronicles of Drunagor

Another campaign game, and one that I did end up backing the second time around. So why is it on the list, because I was interested in it when it came out the first time. And if I had backed it then, I could be playing it now. This is another big dungeon crawl campaign game that does some really cool things.

Firstly, the terrain is 3D, meaning levels to go up and down. And when you get to a door, that door tells you what is in the next room and you set it up then. Plus the action system is really interesting. You have cubes that determine what you can activate, which is great. Because as you activate spots you start to lose what you can do. And then you pull everything back, but you cover up an ability.

The puzzle of the game just seems good. And there are a number of reviews out for it now, and they are good. So I could be playing that now, but so many games that I probably wouldn’t actually be.

QE and On Tour

So, I own half of these games now, and I wish I owned both. But it’s also one that I kind of don’t mind I don’t own it yet. I own On Tour, a great roll and write game. And one with a great app. But QE is one that I think I want to own, but for sure want to try.

QE is a bidding game where you buy companies and get points. The trick is that you are bidding and there is no set amount. So I could be 20 trillion dollars. However, the person who has bid the highest total amount of money at the end is automatically eliminated. So bidding will escalate, I think it’d be impossible for it not to, because if one person gets everything, everyone loses. how much and how crazily, who knows.

QE really doesn’t sound like it should work. But everyone who reviews it says that it does, though, often, they don’t know why. I think it might be a bit group dependent, but in the right group could be hilarious. Another one that seems like a great game night game.

Canvas

I backed the second Canvas Kickstarter and I wish I’d backed the first. Not only could I be playing it now, but I wouldn’t need the expansion. On the second Kickstarter, the option was just there to get the expansion and base game together, not just the base game. I am sure that I won’t mind having the expansion, but do I really need it.

Canvas is a game where you are painting a picture. You do that by selecting cards and layering them on top of each other. The game Gloom is one that I have which does something similar. But in this one you are creating pictures. And depending on the symbols at the bottom of the picture, you score points. The game looks simple but also like a lot of fun.

That’s The Crowdfunding Wish List

Now, I could have picked more. Lords of Hellas, wish I’d backed it, maybe, same with Deep Madness, but I own most of both of those now. Or there were games like Monumental that almost made the list. Deck building with an interesting action mechanism sounds really cool. But I want to play it more than I want to own it. And maybe once I play it I’d want to own it.

Have there been any games for you that you wished you’d backed? Do you pick up those games on eBay or hope that they get a second crowdfunding campaign? Let me know what your top game you wished you’d backed is.

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