Sarah has charged me with recommending some board games and video games to pick up this holiday season. Or feel free to bookmark this and revisit it for your own nefarious needs (i.e. buying yourself a little gift).
I kickstarted this one, but it’s now available for purchase from major retailers. You play as Victorian era botanists who travel the world to bring live and pressed specimens to your estate. This gives me vibes of Ticket to Ride with the traveling aspect, and having enough money to venture out and back again. The artwork is beautiful and there are different strategies to winning.
This game just won a few awards at the Game Awards: best mobile game, best independent game and best debut indie game. You can pretty much get it on any system, including mobile and through Steam. On the outside, it appears just like a regular poker game. IT IS NOT! If you’re a fan of Slay the Spire, where you unlock more card abilities, which then shapes how you play, I cannot recommend this one enough. There’s are fun progression elements, collection aspects to find all the different jokers and mystery hand combos, and a big dopamine rush when you watch your score multiplier stack higher and higher. I will also say that Slay the Spire has a tabletop version of the game out. It’s very fun, but seems hard to find right now.
For all my Wingspan fans out there, this is the latest from Stonemaier Games! Your goal is to excavate caves and invite dragons in to live there. I would say this game plays 75-80% like Wingspan, but with different or added elements. I honestly like this slightly more than Wingspan and of course, the art is lovely!
This is another game available on all systems, depending on how you like to game. Sarah’s younger child recommended this to me and it’s been a big hit! If you like gaming with your friends or partner, pick this one up. It’s very much like Minecraft in that there’s base building and exploration, but there’s also a class system and a focus on crafting and farming. I’m usually in charge of the farming and making sure we’re topped on adventuring food. My partner builds rail systems to the different biomes and sort of creates different areas in our base.
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, $14.95
My partner bought this for me last year! It’s a co-op game for 3-5 players, but they’ve added a method to play with just two people. The group plays through a series of fifty missions that you complete by fulfilling various tasks with your cards (like win a hand in so many rounds or play no X cards). The rounds are super quick, so it’s easy to pick up and do a few missions and then pack it away.
Disney Dreamlight Valley, $39.99
This is very much like Animal Crossing New Horizons. You have villagers, get to decorate your space, buy lots of outfits, and craft decor items. There are currently two expansions out and the developers frequent drop monthly content updates. It doesn’t quite capture the wholesome and cozy magic of Animal Crossing, but it’s a good mindless “chore” game, especially if you’re a Disney fan!
If you like beefy, weighty games, I’d say this one is the weightiest out of everything on the list. It’s also one of our household’s favorites. You have the goal of building a town over the course of the seasons, but everything is run or inhabited by cute little animal villagers. Everdell also has several expansions which introduce new concepts to the game. In terms of fan favorites, Spirecrest is usually the expansion most people favor. We also have that one and enjoy it!
My friend Emma and I played this together over Steam, but this is available on other platforms. You play as two Kiwis who are helping run the local mailroom. It reminds me a lot of Overcooked, but you play as cute birds and can unlock adorable cosmetic items and costumes. Some of the levels are pretty challenging and definitely require communication!
Dungeons, Dice, & Danger, $29.24
This is a “roll and write,” a game where your roll dice and then write in things on a pad of paper. There are four different dungeons scenarios and each players rolls a set of dice to determine how they want to progress through the dungeons on their notepads. You can score points for defeating enemies and collecting treasure. The rounds are pretty quick, depending on the number of players you have. I’m a sucker for a roll and write!
I am outspoken about my love for this game! It’s on every platform and is my go-to “turn your brain off” game. The developers have also produced several free seasonal levels and a bunch of paid DLCs (I think the DLCs are usually $8-9). There is a co-op, if you want to power wash with a friend. At the end of each level, there’s a replay of how you completed each level and it’s so satisfying to watch.
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What tabletop games or video games would you recommend this holiday season? What are the gaming staples in your house?
Fair warning, as someone who is in a board game family but at different skill levels, we found Everdell pretty tedious to set up and a little bit *too* heavy/confusing for us (it’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me). The 12 year old loved all the beautiful fiddly bits (but didn’t help much with the set up and didn’t fully understand the game play). My husband (who is the only person who fully understood the rules) haaaated all the set up. We’ve played twice and it devolved into my husband explaining to each of us what we should do with our turn and being grumpy about b/c “it’s complicated for the sake of being complicated.”
My son remains the only enthusiastic fan in the house, but no one wants to play it with him. We told him we might play it with him for his birthday 😉
I recommend if you’re on the fence, maybe borrow it/see if you can rent it first. It’s a beautiful game and it probably isn’t as heavy as the heaviest games, but it still is challenging. I also like Wingspan over Wyrmspan, but that’s more personal preference/feeling lazy about learning new rules.
My daughter LOVES Disney Dreamlight Valley. We just bought her the new map/DLC/whatever, and she is going hard on that one. She’s also mowing through some new “star path” because she loves the ice-themed costumes for her avatar. It’s honestly adorable. She’s also a big fan of Powerwash Simulator (as am I) and we have a lot of fun picking up the seasonal maps, and I just grabbed the Shrek DLC for her.
I haven’t played it yet, but I have it from some side gig money, and am saving it for holiday break, but my understanding is that Astro Bot is the happiest, funnest thing that has come out in a hot minute. I also have been playing my way through the Sony Spider-Man games, and they are ABSURDLY fun. Again, saving Spider-Man 2 for the holiday break.
ok, a very very beginner, has no-knowledge question. I have never played dungeon and dragons but have wanted to. I especially want to play with my 7 yr old who seems to love fantasy-ish stories too. is there a specific game I should buy or it doesn’t matter? thanks for any suggestions!
@Juhi: That’s a tough one! As Dungeons & Dragons needs someone to be the dungeon master and guide the characters through a story. And from my experience, finding a DM is one of the biggest hurdles.
The Lost Mines of Phandelver, though, is designed to be a good beginner campaign for new players.
I will also plug that Minecraft has a Dungeons and Dragons video game DLC with four basic classes and co-op play.
We recently bought Botany, and it’s so pretty. Our first time playing it took about 4 hours between set-up, learning the game, and the game play itself, but it got faster after. We’ve really enjoyed it.
We are really gaming grognards here with weekly family D&D sessions on Zoom. I have several perennial favourites to share and gift as board games. Worker-placement games are pretty fast-moving and can be fun for a group of four or five. I recommend “Stone Age” which is lots of fun for everyone but we also get a lot of mileage out of “Lords of Waterdeep” (which is D&D-inspired). The absolute simplest game in our arsenal is “Guillotine”, fun for grade schoolers as well as adults. For romance lovers, though, run to pick up “Marrying Mr. Darcy” and any of the expansions. https://www.marryingmrdarcy.com/
Every time I think of D&D, I think of this store in my hometown which has been around for more than 40 years:
https://www.daysofknights.com/
I love power wash simulator. You can play and listen to an audiobook and it’s so relaxing.
@juhi – I would see if a local library / gaming store / media convention has D&D sessions. My local library has sessions most weekends, and the gaming store runs one monthly. Many smaller media or gaming cons have whole gaming tracks intended for newer players and kids.
Core Keeper will definitely appeal to Minecraft fans. It is available on Steam so a steam gift card is an option if you have a pc player. Game is still being updated. Base building, exploration, loot collecting and combat. Several recommendations from our house!
I, a 46 year old, adore Disney Dreamlight. I bought myself the expansion, and it’s wonderful. No real deadlines, no rushing, play at your own pace. It’s relaxing.
My kids love Overcooked, so maybe I’ll get them KeyWe!
We just started dotAGE (Switch) in our house (not a coop game). Seems like it will be a lot of fun—sort of a civ-like city builder that also has shades of Stoneworld (the board game).
Hubby loves Slay the Spire and Balatro as well. I’ll have to look into the tabletop Slay for him!
If you like card games you can play with just 2 people, Doomlings is a ton of fun. Theres a lot of card shuffling but you can always extend the rounds so games are longer between shuffles.
If you like relaxing video games, Dave the Diver is awesome. Pretty pixel art, great soundtrack, fun, funny.
We also recently enjoyed Animal Well. It’s a single player game but there are lots of puzzles, so it was fun to think them through together (and let me husband deal with the frustration of falling off a platform over and over haha). Very pretty pixel aesthetic, mysterious, good mix of puzzles and platforming, some creepy parts.
Thank you Amanda and Lace!
It’s not new but in a somewhat similar vein to Powerwash Simulator, I highly recommend House Flipper. (House Flipper 2 is now available too but I can’t vouch for it as I’ve stuck with the original, which did just get new DLC.) It gives you more creative input than some of the more turn-your-brain-off simulator games, but is still nice and low stakes and relaxing.
Part of it is mindless and satisfying, cleaning stuff and fixing stuff, and the other part is the only aspect of The Sims games I actually enjoyed: decorating houses! There’s a lot of furniture/decor/stuff available and with the Steam version (though it is also available on consoles) you can download user-created content for your houses. The DLCs are all good too, as they add new content and game mechanics that really improve on the base game. There are sometimes bundle deals on the base game + DLCs.
Also not new but newly available on consoles (though I’ve only played the PC version) and highly recommended – Wildermyth.
It’s an indie fantasy story-driven game heavily inspired by tabletop RPGs. The narrative is procedurally generated (as in randomized maps, character traits, encounters, side quests, etc) and illustrated comic-style (Ursula Vernon/T Kingfisher did some writing for it).
You start with your party of heroes, recruit others, and follow them throughout their lives till they retire (or fall in battle). Sometimes their kids join your party, or you can add beloved ones (and you do get attached!) to your Legacy Heroes and bring them back in future campaigns. Though character creation is very simple, they do have real personality and can develop relationships (friendly/romantic/rivalry) among the party or outside of it. Often side quests and encounters that develop individual characters’ stories pop up alongside the main campaign narrative, too.
It’s warm and often funny, sometimes poignant, not violent or dark, kid-appropriate (I would say 10+, though it would be a fun game to play along with a younger kid, letting them help with choices to guide the story and develop characters), and though there aren’t a ton of built-in campaigns, it’s very replayable because the procedural narrative changes things every time.