It’s not the best game in the world, but if you liked the Dresden Files book series, you will enjoy this. It’s really easy to learn (the rulebook is good) and it has some interesting card mechanics I haven’t seen elsewhere. The art was great and the gameplay is short (30 minutes). I really liked it, though, and I thought it was very thematic. It did okay with my game groups, but not great. See this post.Īfter all is said and done, I seem to like this game more as a solo game. Playable Solo? Yes, but needs some slight tweaking. Okay, let’s head to our top 10! Number 10: Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game Playable Solo? No, and it is difficult to play solo. Again, like Venom Assault, this came out officially in 2016, but Kickstarters didn’t get it until December 2016 and most people probably didn’t get it until the 2017. It is a pretty game, has lots of content, and was a lot of fun (although I wish it had solo player rules). Playable Solo? No, but it is easy to play 2 characters.īattle for Greyport (2016) is a cooperative deckbuilding game set in the world of The Red Dragon Inn. I haven’t gotten this to the table as much as I like, but I think this is a really good game. The game is interesting too! It’s a deck-builder, but it adds a combat mechanism with dice that works pretty well. Every card looks like a panel from a well-illustrated G.I. I love the art in this game: the art on the cover (above) belies the art on the cards. You play together as a group fending off the hordes of VENOM (the bad guys) as they threaten locations around the world/board. Venom Assault is a cooperative deck-builder set in the world of … something very similar to, but legally distinct from, … G.I. But technically, this can’t qualify for 2017, but I think it deserves a mention. So, you could argue that most people didn’t get this until 2017. I received my Kickstarter copy (yes, there will be a lot of Kickstarters on this list!) in December 2016, and I don’t think it hit distribution until 2017. Venom Assault (2016): Strictly speaking this came out in 2016. So, all the best games of 2017 below will also be graded on how well they follow Saunders’ Law: Does the cooperative game have a viable solo game? Honorable Mentions Venom Assault This reinforced (to my group anyways) that someone needs to learn the game first, then teach it to their friends. (It might be a perfectly good game, but the group learning and rulebook were so frustrating, I haven’t been able to get it back to the table). It was just too much to learn as a group. Recently, my friends and I, as a group, tried to learn Sword and Sorcery (a cooperative dungeon crawler). One thing that was reinforced heavily this year was that cooperative games need a solo mode (aka Saunders’ Law). “I Know The Se… on A Review of Cantaloop: Book 2…Ģ017 was a pretty great year for cooperative games! I personally have bought over 30 cooperative board and card games this year! Some were bad, some were okay, some were good, and some were great! This list captures the best 10 (well, maybe 11 or 12) cooperative board and card games of the year. “I Know The Se… on Top 10 Cooperative Games With… “I Know The Se… on Top 10 Cooperative Detective B… “I Know The Se… on Top 10 Creepy/Spooky Cooperati… A Review of Paint The Roses May 28, 2022.Resolving Ambiguity in Cooperative Games June 11, 2022.A Mini-Review of Echoes: The Microchip June 18, 2022.A Review of Batman The Animated Series: Shadow of the Bat (Cooperative Mode Only) June 25, 2022.A Review of The Reckoners: Steelslayer Expansion July 2, 2022.A Comparison of Miniature Bases (25mm) for Hour of Need July 9, 2022.Three Quick Reviews of Cooperative Games July 16, 2022.Ark Nova: An Experiment in Cooperative Games July 23, 2022.A Mini-Review of The Adventure Zone: Bureau of Balance July 29, 2022.A Review of The Spill: A Cooperative Board Game August 12, 2022.A Review of Sync or Swim August 19, 2022.A Review of KÖ-OP: A Cooperative 2-Player Game August 27, 2022.Top 10 Cooperative Light Deduction Board and Card Games September 3, 2022.A Review of Switch and Signal: A Cooperative Train Game September 9, 2022.A Review of Flamecraft: A game that’s not cooperative but it does have a solo mode, so you can play it cooperatively September 17, 2022.A Review of Platypus: A Cooperative Party Game September 23, 2022.“I Know The Secret of Monkey Island!” or Discussion of What Makes a Solo Game Fun September 29, 2022.