Boardgames are an incredibly social hobby and nothing beats a good game night with friends, but sometimes it’s not possible to organise a group, the kids are out with their friends or the missus is catching up on work, then finding a solo game to pass an hour or so can be difficult.
Not all games with solo modes are good, lots of games are a lot less enjoyable solo or feel like completely different games. So, I’m here to hopefully suggest some games that I have played and own for my fellow solo players that I hope will be great additions to your collection.
Dragons Of Etchingstone is an adventure game where you manage your hand of cards while battling through four regions and levelling up in anticipation of facing off against the final boss. This is a great game in a small package and can be played entirely across your two hands, so it is perfect for commuting.
RPG fans will love this game and can blast through a campaign in around 30 minutes, which has a decent variety of enemies to face off against and the choice of four dragons for the final encounter.
There are a couple of expansions now available which can add more variety and longevity to the game which are very inexpensive (And available on our store) that make this an extremely good gift or addition to your collection.
Dune Imperium is a great four player game and one of the best games you can add to your collection, but it has an ace up its sleeve, a separate set of rules for solo play.
In solo play you will play as you normally would, drawing cards, placing your agents on the board and gaining victory points but rather than against your friends you will be playing against two AI rivals. The rival factions are controlled by the House Hagal deck. When it’s their turn, you draw a House Hagal card and that will give you the location to place their agent and the actions to take. If that location is already taken, then just draw another card. AI players gain victory points by collecting a set number of resources or by climbing the loyalty tracks like you do.
Combat is all about the luck of the draw as AI players will add troops to the conflict board with every turn they take, and you will draw from the Hagal deck to boost their attack points. Some cards can be brutal, and some can be useless. As you do not know how much damage the rivals will do, you will find you adapt your strategy accordingly.
The solo variant of Dune is arguably more difficult as well as the AI players can gain resources quickly, and those victory points soon add up.
I was genuinely surprised just how well it plays solo, and the publishers of the game do have an app that can assist with setup and has a virtual House Hagal deck to draw from. It was invaluable in my first couple of solo plays, and I highly recommend checking it out.
Dark Souls was the first game in my collection and was also my first solo game. It plays exactly like the standard co-op variant and is equally brutal. You can play as any one of the included classes and battle your way through your chosen scenario board.
This is a great novice game as the rules are fairly simple, and setup is fast. As you progress, you build out your deck, gather weapons and items and battle a range of enemies from the games. You have a choice of two scenarios, each including two boss fights. Will you choose to take on the Abyss Watchers and High Lord Wolnir or Sulyvahn and Vordt of the Boreal Valley. Each boss has varied styles of mechanics, and their own twist ripped directly from the Dark Souls 3 video game.
Enemy encounters are determined at random and as just as in the game you can rest at a bonfire to replenish health and increase your deck size etc at the expense of respawning all the enemies on the scenario board. You can only use the bonfire five times, so you must be very strategic when you use these. If you die, you start all over again.
The Night Cage is a beautifully dark game where you navigate a pitch-black maze and try to escape. This is a very unique horror; tile laying experience and portrays the atmosphere of crawling through the void flawlessly.
Even in the solo variant you control four characters and take turns drawing tiles from the light pool and strategically whilst avoiding the unspeakable creatures hiding in the chasm and looking for four keys to escape through the gate.
As you move around the map, it will constantly change. You can only see one tile each way, and all tiles outside of your vision are removed. If you must double back on your route, you will be drawing new tiles, and the route will be different. If your light poll of tiles runs out, the game is over. If one of the characters dies, the game will be over. It’s tense and brutal.
There’re different mode and enemy variants for different levels of challenge and to add some re-playability to the game, and there are also some expansions available to change things up even more.
Finally, we are ending with Final Girl which comes as the core box, containing all the standard rules and components for the game but no content. This game requires addition “Feature Film” boxes which contain a killer, two heroes and a map with all the required components for that feature.
All the features are based/inspired by horror and sci-fi media (Movies and TV). You can get anything from a Freddy Krueger inspired feature to a Xenomorph one. For the “Feature Film” for this list to accompany the core box I currently own Panic at Station 2891 which is inspired by my favorite movie The Thing and Frightmare On Maple Lane which is inspired by Nightmare on Elm St.
Final Girl is a solo only game that has you building your deck, rescuing victims and facing off against a killer. You may not win them all, but you will love it regardless of outcome. What is truly impressive about the Final Girl platform is that all killers, heroes, and locations are interchangeable. Locations and killers also have separate rules, so mixing and matching can offer new and challenging experiences just from having a couple of the feature film boxes.
Final Girl is probably one of the most thematic and adaptable games in my collection and as it’s built for solo play only, I think it’s a perfect addition for everyone’s collection.
Hopefully, I’ve suggested some games you were not aware of and inspired you to play some games from my collection. As always, I've tried to only pick games I've personally played and can recommend from experience. These are also available on the Zatu Games store.
So, make sure you visit the Zatu Games website and if you have any suggestions for games, list of your own or any recommendations for games. Please let us know in the comments.
