Top 25 Games of All Time: 2026 Edition - Games 5-1
- Aaron Baillio
- 6 days ago
- 10 min read
Here we are my friends! We're finally at the top 5 games of all time. I hope you've enjoyed this journey as much as I have. Its' been really fun reviewing this list and remembering just how fun these games can be. So without further delay...let's count it down!
This game has a fantasy version and a sci-fi version, they are both basically the same game, both equally fun. The sci-fi version is what I am reviewing, but I have both and I think they're both fantastic...and that' Andromeda's Edge. Andromeda's Edge is published by Cardboard Alchemy and designed by Luke and Maximus Laurie. The predecessor, which is fantasy based is called Dwellings of Eldervale. Either way you go here you can't go wrong, but I will say Andromeda's edge is a bit more streamlined as they refined some of the rules, but at it's bones you will recognize Andromeda's Edge.
In Andromeda's Edge, you are leading a faction of aliens seeking to build a new civilization. Your workers are your ships, and as you place them out on the galaxy map, you can gain resources, perform actions or battle. While you can battle each other, it's better to fight the swarms of enemy aliens that link about the galaxy. As you gather resources, you can build on to your mother ship, build new ships (workers) and build settlements. As you build settlements and perform certain actions, you climb a track. Doing these actions and doing it better than the other players is the key to the game. Settlements and your mother ship is ultimately what is going to pay off the most because settlements move you toward the end game and the mother ship becomes an engine building function that can produce more resources for you or help you build ships from free.
First, you have to see this game on the table. It's absolutely gorgeous...bright, sci-fi colors that make galaxies come to life. Then the components are top notch. I have the deluxe edition so there are big plastic minis, trays that hold components and card sleeves. The game looks so good. Even the base edition is colorful with thick chunky card board and plastic pieces. Like I said, it's a worker placement game, but there is an element of combat and exploration. Climbing the tracks is really important too as it can really affect the end game scoring. All in all, it's just a fun game. It looks intimidating but it's actually pretty accessible. It's good clean fun!
At number 4, we're revisiting a production company we've already discussed and that's Chip Theory Games. You know how I mentioned they got their name from all the poker chips they use. Nowhere is that more prevalent than their game, Too Many Bones, designed by Josh Carlson & Adam Carlson (another set of brothers)!
Too Many Bones is a boss battler...simple enough. But there is a narrative element that brings you out of your shell and allows the team to get to know the world and their character before things really get out of hand. In this universe, you play as gearlocs, little brownie style fairy creatures which big personalities. Each gearloc has a specialty and displays those specialty's through dice. That's right, this is a dice-builder. As you level up, you unlock dice that make you more powerful. Those dice are used as you adventure along, to defeat baddies. Baddies are monsters in the land and they have different values...1pt baddies, 5 point baddies and 20 point baddies, progressing in difficulty.
Each day, you read a card that is the adventure and choice for the day. Sometimes that choice might be to deal with merchants. Most days though it means some sort of encounter with baddies. Cooperatively (or solo), you work together to annihilate those baddies, leveraging your specialty dice or the generic attack and defense dice. When you win, you get experience points to level up your attributes or unlock additional dice. So...it's a boss battler, dice-building RPG. Intrigued yet? As you work your way through each day fighting more and more baddies, you start to understand your limits and how to effectively work together.
Here comes the unique part of the game and the namesake of the game...the bones. Most die come with a face with bones on it. Usually, this would mean a negative result for the roll. However, collecting the bones actually gives you the ability to unlock mega actions that can heal, attack or be of some benefit to the team. Get enough bones and you can unlock ongoing powers with your gearloc that greatly enhance your ability to win.
At the end of the day, I just think this game is charming. The gearlocs are cute but dangerous and go up against genuinely difficult monsters and bosses. Working together is key. Playing true solo is very difficult to win...as it should be! So I often will play 2-handed but it's still loads of fun. Learning the ins and outs of each character is also really interesting because they play so differently. There are enough baddies in there to make it feel like a different adventure every time. And finally...it's chip theory! Tons of chunky poker chips, plastic cards, neoprene maps...this is deluxe. And of course, there are tons of expansions and bras minifigs that look fantastic. I really love this game. It's a little on the complicated side, mostly because of the asymmetric abilities, but overall, a really fun experience.
Ever wondered if anyone made a board game about Alien(s) the movie? Well guess what, they did! But due to licensing laws, they couldn't call it Aliens the board game, so they went with Nemesis. Nemesis is produced by Awaken Realms and designed by Adam Kwapinski. There are 3 Nemesis games out now, Nemesis, Nemesis: Lockdown and Nemesis: Retaliation. They each have their own flavors. This review if for Nemesis: Retaliation, but I've played them all and they all have very similar mechanisms.
In Nemesis, you take on the rolls of various marines/scientists to either enter a base, a ship or alien nest with strict orders (missions) that might be helpful...or duplicitous. This is a survival horror game where you have to survive against impossible odds and potential betrayal.
Each character has special abilities and special weapons. This is great in a cooperative game as you each have unique abilities to help the team. There are public objectives that the team is working to accomplish. You each also have private objectives...and here is where it gets interesting. The private objectives may have you sneak out an artifact or alien egg without anyone knowing. It might also have you kill a team member before you leave the area. Or maybe you mission is to sabotage the mission so that the whole thing fails, or that you're the only one that survives. So there is this hidden duplicity also occurring which makes you only partially trust your team members.
As you move around the map, you have to be aware of the noise you make because noise draws the aliens to you. In most cases, the aliens are very difficult to kill, so you have to do your best to hold them off and get away either before you die or you get infected. And getting infected happens pretty easily. Having little alien babies growing inside you...is unpleasant. If you are infected, you have to get to life support systems, medical bays or cryogenic tubes to ensure you survive...all while trying to accomplish your missions! This creates very cinematic moments...flying through corridors, ignoring the noise because you've got to get to the medical bay to get these eggs out of you. But is the power on in that sector?? So much to check on! And where are the aliens now? They might jump out of the dark at any minute! It's just so engaging and the sense of mystery and suspense is really there, even with a turn oriented board game. It's really fun.
Components again are top notch. The plastic minis for the marines and for the aliens are so detailed and well sculpted. The game has a great solo mode and is also great with a group. If you don't want to have backstabbing, just remove the private objectives and add another public objective. Now you've made it a truly cooperative adventure.
Ever lay awake at night with an existential dread, beads of sweat running down your face as you contemplate the nothingness of humanity and the weight of the incomprehensible pressing you down into your pillow? Feel like you're taking slow steps into madness? Then this next game is right up your alley. Cthulhu: Death May Die, a game inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft about the Old Ones and their desperation to enter and consume our world. Cthulhu: Death May Die is produced by CMON and designed by Rob Daviau and Eric Lang.
This is an episodic horror/adventure game where you work cooperatively with a team of investigators in the 1920's who instead of trying to stop the coming of the outsiders, the ancient gods, you work to summon them in order to wipe them out once and for all. Each episode has a goal that must be accomplished in order to best set up your team to summon the Elder God and put it to rest. As you investigate, you may encounter NPCs and items as well as monsters and cultists that you must dispatch to get you to your objective.
What I really love about this game...insanity. Yes, your character slowly goes insane over the course of the game. But as you lose your mind, you also become more powerful. Poor dice rolls may increase your insanity. But enough insanity actually makes you quite powerful as you tap into unknown powers of the eldritch horrors. That being said, enough insanity will eventually kill you. So you can't dally. Additionally, as you play the coming of the elder god becomes more and more inevitable, regardless of how prepared you are. All of these conditions have to be managed in order to be successful.
This game is just fun dice chucking, monster killing, team work. The puzzles are interesting and challenging and killing the end boss seems overwhelmingly impossible. Even the miniature for the god that is summoned towers over your tiny human minis. Due to the overwhelming odds, that's why it's so exciting and cinematic when you do win. I played a game where the 12 year old girl stood off with Cthulhu and took him down to nearly no health as the rest of the team was trying to tie off other loose ends and get there as quickly as possible. Sadly the little girl died, but did enough damage for the rest of the team to finish off the elder god and win the game. It's just fun, cinematic moments like that which makes the game a thriller. Even playing solo, that tension is there, whether true solo or 2-handed. The minis are superb and come standard with the game. Cthulhu: Death May Die is just 2 tons of horrific insanity and I love it.
Alright! Here we are. The number 1 game of all time!! Are you ready? Can you believe we're finally here? Let's do this.
No setup or delay here...my number 1 game of all time is Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread. Arydia is published by Far Off Games and designed by Cody Miller and Ira Fray. We've talked a lot about RPGs in this list. RPG's, dungeon crawlers, boss battlers...they are all tangents and spin off from Dungeon and Dragons. D&D invented these genres. Board games try to mimic D&D sessions but it's not quite as open world or character building as a D&D campaign...until Arydia. This game is the closest I've ever come to a roll playing game in board gaming I've ever played. In that respect, it's truly one of a kind.
The designers of Arydia built the game on 4 pillars: exploration, progression, combat and role-playing. There is even an element of a "legacy" game here. As you progress and explore, you open new packages, gather hidden information and unlock new NPCs and characters. And all of this is done with cards...so many cards. Hundreds of cards. But it's organized so cleanly that it's not a hassle at all.
When you start, you pick a character and a path you will follow. Paths are almost like your philosophy or religion...how you align your life. You start off with basic learner's armor and weapons. As you progress you can trade those things out. The starting scenario is actually a tutorial on how to interact with NPCs, how to use the cards and dice, how to perform combat and all the essentials you will need to play the game. This speed ramp to playing is fantastic and starts to immerse you into this reality.
From there, you're essentially on your own. You can explore in any direction you like, and as you wander you encounter NPCs that may request your help, provide clues or point you into new directions. Ultimately, you are working to serve the people of the land to gather wooden coins called "squills." Enough of these will earn you a pardon that allows you to return from exile. But earning these coins is not as easy as it sounds, and you find that something more sinister is happening across the land.
I often was lost in the story so much that I didn't even think about the card play. It's so well written it feels like you're playing some of the best RPG video games out there. Encountering new enemies has you pop open new boxes only to find pre-painted minis that are top notch quality. All the components are amazing...metal coins, plastic gems and dual layer boards. The cardboard is thick and chunky and the maps are colorful and bring everything to life. I've only played this solo, but you can play up to 4 cooperatively. I can't say enough good things about this game. The only downside if there was one is that this game AFAIK, is not sold commercially. I picked my up off of a crowdfunding site. There are used copies out there, but be prepared to drop $250+. So, there's a huge barrier to entry here, but man, the game is worth every penny. It's so immense in scope and the designers pull it off. The story is great, the depth is fathomless and it's just great fun. If you're looking for the best RPG you'll ever play, then find a copy. You won't regret it!
That's it! We made it all the way through! Thank you for coming with me on this journey. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Tell me what you think. You can find me on the Facebook or Instagram @TheForeverSoloGamer or you can email at theforeversologamer@gmail.com.
Thank you for your particpation! I hope you give these games a try.
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