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submitted 1 year ago by dpunked@feddit.de to c/boardgames@feddit.de

I would be curious about your favorite coop games. I often find them a big lacking, often being a bit unbalanced. An example is Battle for Hogwarts, where one game can be a walk in the park and another absolutely impossible and rarely is there a balanced match.

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[-] McWizard@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago

Spirit Island is really good as you can adjust the difficulty and it's always different Stars of Akarios if you want a Gloomhaven Light Experience with some 7th Continent sprinkled in.

[-] Spikiii@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Seconding Spirit Island. It's quite possibly one of my favorite board games of all time (and a huge favorite in my regular play-group)!

Even in the base game, the amount of diversity in play styles between the spirits is incredible. It's absolutely a game that I could keep playing indefinitely and continue to discover new things.

[-] anxietysloth@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Spirit Island is one of our favorite games of all time as well. It is for sure the most played game when it's just my partner and me. I agree it feels endlessly replayable with all of the variety.

We have also been playing through a homebrewed legacy system for Spirit Island that I found on reddit. Definitely imperfect but still super fun!

[-] Kempeth@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Second this. It's our most frequently played coop. So much variability and things to tweak

[-] donio@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  • Regicide is very impressive in its weight class and considering that all you need is a standard deck of cards. No reason not to try it
  • In the pandemic-family my favorites are Pandemic: The Cure which turns Pandemic into a dice rolling romp and Pandemic: Fall of Rome, has cool cube movement and dice based combat rules. One step up is The LOOP which is somewhere between Pandemic and Spirit Island, uses card driven actions and has a push-pull mechanic
  • Aeon's End and Heroes of Tenefyr for deckbuilding. The latter is kinda like a multiplayer co-op Friday, fun push-your-luck decisions
  • Shipwreck Arcana for co-op deduction.

Honorable mentions: Mantis Falls for 2p semi-coop. You have to work together to get to the end of the road but there is a 50% chance that your partner is an assassin biding his time.

[-] pathief@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Shipwreck Arcana is fantastic, I love that game. It is kinda hard for me to find people with the right mindset for this logic+deduction style game but when you find the right people this game shines bright. So simple yet so much fun.

[-] ToNIX@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

I'm a big fan of the Forbidden series (in before the Forbidden Stars joke).

Forbidden Island is really accessible and a blast to play when you use alternate map layouts, they add a nice twist and lots of replayability to the game.

Forbidden Desert is a step up in difficulty and also a real blast to play.

Forbidden Sky is a but finicky but still fun to play.

Forbidden Jungle has not been released yet, but I'm sure I'll have to get it to complete the collection!

[-] Foon@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

I see a few of my favorites have been mentioned already (Aeon's End, Spirit Island, The Crew, Pandemic Legacy) but here's a few more:

  • Gloomhaven: There's a reason this game was at the Boardgamegeek #1 spot for years. Absolutely an epic game, with so much strategy and variety involved. For those who are intimidated by the complexity, size or price of the game, there is also Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, which is essentially a light version of the game. An excellent starting point, and not any less fun than it's big sibling.

  • Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood: Another big campaign game with very interesting mechanics. The game is quite hard and punishing, but you have lots of difficulty levels you can play on. The story is set in a land overrun by the Deepwood, a forest filled with huge monsters. You play a band of mercenaries who defend people from those monsters.

  • Sprawlopolis: A game consisting of 18 cards, that contain city blocks and roads, and each player places a card down to add to the city. Each card has a different scoring system on its back, and you draw a few for each game, so every game feels entirely different. Quick to play, and fits in your pocket so you can bring it anywhere.

[-] hoopyfreud@lemmy.villa-straylight.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hanabi, for sure. Avoids quarterbacking through hidden info, lots of levels of difficulty, and genuinely beautiful (E: in the deluxe edition, at least)

[-] pathief@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Coop games where you fight a system often feel unsatisfying to me. However, I think coop games are an excellent way to bring new gamers on board. My favorite coop games:

  • Menara: a coop dexterity game. Game is always tense and I find the difficult adjustments to be nicely balanced. This is a very underrated game, in my opinion

  • The Crew: in Portugal we used to be big on trick taking games. Every family owns a deck of cards! The crew retains the feel of the classic trick taking games and slap a very nice cooperative gameplay. Really clever, really fun. If you really like trick taking games this is a no brainer. Still haven't tried the second one, can't wait to try it.

  • Aeon's End: I like to play this one as a 2 player game, don't like it with more players. I really enjoy deck building games, this one nails it. I love how you don't shuffle your deck, really improves the strategy and reduces RNG.

[-] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

My wife and I had a blast playing through Pandemic Legacy S1

[-] GoOnASteamTrain@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Darn it! :) Came in to recommend the OG pandemics game, and might wind up looking to get legacy thanks to seeing it a bunch in this thread! :) This instance might be expensive!

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[-] tetha@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

My absolute favorite is Betrayal at the House on the Hill.

It's just designed so well. The pre-haunt phase allows new players to learn the basic rules of the game by playing. Like, we were playing this, and a somewhat seasoned member of the boardgame crew was late and she missed the base rules. We just shoved her a character, she was confused how no one explained her stuff, but after 1-2 turns of other people, she understood 90% of the base rules without explanation. That's really impressive from a design standpoint.

And then, the game flips into the post-haunt phase, and some antagonist scenario happens. This is when things go nuts. One game, one player turned into Doctor Frankenstein, and Frankensteins Monster was placed on the board. And we as the normal players had to scramble to kill it. In another game, I turned into a giant snake god to kill everyone - but a bad cellar layout saved the players.

In other cases, there is a hidden, randomly chosen antagonist and things go nuts. People steal items from each other, because of good ideas and things go nuts.

I love this game. It starts out as a really approachable coop-game if you know action-point-based games. You bumble around in a haunted mansion, Bob usually almost dies because of bad luck (and we make fun of him), and then the haunt hits and it becomes everyone against Bob, except Bob is a horrible monster now.

No matter if you win or lose, you will have a funny story to tell how Bob is a jerk, or we were heroic.

[-] dpunked@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

wow, interesting concept, so it starts out as a coop game but later is a 1vsAll kinda deal?

[-] tetha@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Maybe. There is 120 different engame scenarios depending on the board state.

Most of them have the haunt-triggering player turn into an obvious monster - Frankensteins Monster, a Hydra, a Mummy. Then it's a fight.

Other scenarios mean that whomever has all the artifact pieces (scattered across the board) wins. So now it's a free for all and it turns into a very messy brawl.

Even other scenarios mean that one secretly chosen player wins, if they have a specific set of items. This one is especially gnarly, because this is the one that causes the words "Alright. I fire the shotgun at Jane as my first action." and everyone is like "Oh my god! wat!"

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[-] shapesandstuff@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My partner and I really enjoy mini rogue.

It can be brutal at times but often you can track your downfall back to a risky decision earlier.

It's a one or two player dungeon crawl. Some light rpg mechanics, dice based combat and events, some traders and items to find.

To me it captures games like deep dungeons of doom and legends of grimrock very nicely.

Single player rules also feature a campaign mode, the old gods expansion adds a couple cool events and new bosses.

[-] dpunked@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Sounds interesting, I kinda like dungeon crawlers. Its probably a remnant of playing diablo2 when I was younger. I will have to check it out. Do you prefer 1 player or 2?

[-] shapesandstuff@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

I basically only play it with my SO so can't comment on single player.

From scanning the rules, the campaign sets certain events and "layouts" for certain levels and consecutive runs. It also adds a little bit of meta progression to give your character's two abilities a bit of variety.

Ah another thing: it's very portable!

[-] dpunked@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

portable mashes well with our lifestyle, we are very much on the move. At most places we have already stashed some games but often bring 1/2 with us as well

[-] shapesandstuff@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Yep played it a few times in a bar :)

[-] elrac@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Roll camera is Co-op and really fun. The theme is that you are making a movie. During the game you have to balance budget and time while trying to shoot all the scenes of the movie, and while problems are continuously happening. It may be balanced to the easy side generally, but you can tweak the difficulty by starting with different budgets and amounts of time.

[-] hagelslager@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

I'm loving Eldritch Horror, but it also can swing both ways due to chance. If you get the base game, I highly suggest getting the "Forbidden Lore" expansion as well, since it makes the base game more complete.

[-] AcrossTheDrift@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

Aeon's End is probably my favorite coop game, although I'm still not very good at it. It's a deckbuilder, which is a genre I really like.

The Crew is a cooperative trick-taking game which is an absolute blast and fairly light. Both the original space one and the deep sea version are great.

On the grittier side, I think This War of Mine is worth playing at least once for the experience.

[-] orionstein@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

This might be controversial but I really love Kingdom Death: Monster. It's an amazing work of insanity that no reasonable group would ever publish. Spirit Island gets an honorable mention.

[-] fubo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hanabi and The Crew, both card games — and both limited-information games. Hanabi is basically Klondike Solitaire distributed over a team of players who can't see their own cards (and have a limited number of pieces of information they can tell each other); The Crew is a trick-taking game with variable goals and scalable difficulty.

[-] donio@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

That's an interesting description of Hanabi but I think I see it!

[-] dpunked@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

I love the crew, probably my fav coop game! Will have to check out Hanabi, sounds interesting :)

[-] noob_dragon@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I can recommend the new Deep Rock Galactic board game. Great time. It looks like it should be a complex game with all of its minis but each session is less than 1.5 hours from my experience. Also, the minis are fantastic, definitely worth the price and space :).

[-] imbrucy@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Second this one. I'm a fan of the video game so admittedly a bit biased, but I really enjoy the board game. Rules are a bit intricate being a dungeon crawler-ish game, but on the lighter side for that genre.

[-] dr_worm@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm trying to cull my collection to one shelf per game genre. Here are the ones that made the cut for my co-op shelf:

  • The 7th Continent (2017)
  • Agents of SMERSH (2012)
  • Burgle Bros. (2015)*
  • Dawn of the Zeds (Third Edition) (2016)
  • Flash Point: Fire Rescue (2011)*
  • Forbidden Desert (2013)
  • Freedom: The Underground Railroad (2013)
  • Ghost Stories (2008)*
  • The Grizzled (2015)
  • Horrified (2019)
  • The LOOP (2020)
  • Pandemic: Iberia (2016)*
  • Police Precinct
  • Wok Star (2010)
  • Zombicide (2012)

The four with asterisks are my favorites.

[-] paperclip27@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

I recently went to a convention and picked up Clear the Decks which is an old timey naval combat game where 1to 4 players work together to sink an enemy ship. It has a variety of difficulties that scale from trivial to dang near impossible to beat.

If you like the theme I think it's worth checking out.

[-] legendarydromedary@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I tend to like competitive games, but I like my coop games to:

  • be difficult, or have a difficult mode. To me, there's no fun in winning on the first try
  • to foster table talk OR a different kind of fun player interaction. That's why The Lost Expedition didn't click for me, it felt like just throwing some cards on the table.

That said, I enjoy Pandemic (a classic), Hanabi, Just One, and Magic Maze. I haven't really tried heavier ones but I'd love to play Spirit Island some day.

And for very young kids, My First Orchard is great!

[-] j2sun@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Our current favorites are:

  • Sprawlopolis - quick, small game while still being challenging
  • Arkham Horror LCG - excellent narrative and great deck construction
  • Frosthaven - epic battles with clever cardplay
  • Terraforming Mars: Ares, Crisis Expansion - engine building in the TfM world
  • Skytear Horde - tense back and forth card battler with a good AI system
[-] neutronicturtle@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Mysterium - something easy to learn and can be played by up to 7 people. One of the players is trying to tell others (psychics) who their killer is using very nice looking but rather ambiguous cards.

Maximum apocalypse - up to 6 characters doing different missions in different types of the apocalypse (zombies, nuclear war, aliens, robots). Map is randomly generated so even though there is limited number of scenarios they are replayable.

Sherlock Holmes consulting detective (multiple boxes) or Bureau of investigation - investigation in Arkham & elsewhere. These are text based puzzles (e.g. solve a murder case).

Spirit island - it's basically anti Settlers of Catan :) Still learning to play it but so far it seems like an amazing game with many scenarios...

[-] imbrucy@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

I love Spirit Island. Wide variety of options gives it near endless replay ability. The ability to widely adjust the difficulty also makes it great with a good variety of players. You can make it extremely hard for experienced players looking for a challenge or just as easily make it more casual for new players.

[-] wintermute@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

I like Ghost Stories, quite imbalanced but fun to play (/lose)

[-] Nilesse@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

It's a campaign based game but Wonder Book. The scene/play area is nicely made and it's a very accessible game both for younger people and those new to co-op & campaign games.

[-] Tenobaal@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Legends of Andor is quite nice and has a lot of expansions already. I definitely can recommend too many bones. A great game, although a bit expansive.

[-] Rentlar@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I found the game Castle Panic recently. The rules are fairly simple and didn't take too long to understand which was a hit with my friends. The element of chaos and the near-constant pressure until the end was fun. If it is too easy, you can handicap yourself in one or more ways which will increase the difficulty.

[-] eramseth@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Another vote for Pandemic. My wife and I played a TON of the original years before the actual pandemic. Started Pandemic Legacy Season 1 with some friends and it's an absolute blast too (literally... at some point you have to permanently remove / destroy game pieces and we strapped them to a bottle rocket and shot them into the night sky).

It's definitely a game where there are basically a lot of ways that you can lose and only one way to win. It often feels like the loss conditions are closing in from all sides. More often than not it also feels like the line between winning and losing is razor thin and you feel like you are "grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat". This can be a little stressful at times but I find it enjoyable. It has a built in mechanism to alter the difficulty too, so you can get as close to the jaws of defeat as you like.

Very much recommend the base version.

Also recommend the Legacy version, but it's a bit of a commitment and can only be played through once (but that playthrough is spread across something like a dozen play sessions)

[-] eramseth@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Terraforming Mars isn't strictly coop but it sort of has a coop aspect to it. You could play it as a coop if you wanted to (try to terraform mars before X number of generations).

Edit: turns out someone has actually written up a pretty comprehensive set of new rules/instructions for a coop variant on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2009605/man-against-nature-cooperative-variant

[-] six_arm_spider_man@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago

I love Burgle Bros 1 and 2 for coop gaming. Fun theme and working out plans together is a blast.

I've been playing lots of Hanabi lately too.

[-] dichotomiker@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago
  • Arkham Horror
  • Legends of Andor
  • Escape Room games
[-] bob_lemon@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

I think Andor suffers from overanalysis. Precalculating the entire AI turn is complicated but absolutely necessary. This slows the game down and at least personally I don't find it fun.

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this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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