Introduction #
As we venture into 2025, the solo board gaming landscape has never been more exciting, with some of the best solo board games yet on the horizon. From the darkest corners of space to the coziest book-filled rooms, this year’s most anticipated solo board games promise to take us on unforgettable journeys–all from the comfort of our own gaming tables. Whether you’re drawn to epic card-crafting adventures, intimate narrative experiences, or brain-burning euro games, 2025’s lineup has something special in store for every solo player. I’ve curated 25 new titles and expansions that have caught my attention, each offering unique mechanics, themes, and solo experiences that are worth checking out. Let’s explore what makes each of these games and expansions worthy of your watchlist!
Unstoppable #
A roguelike deck-builder with card crafting? Yes, please! I’ve shared before how much I enjoy John D. Clair’s card-crafting games. You can check out my Dead Reckoning solo review for what I thought was his magnum opus of the card-crafting mechanic. Now, we have Clair teaming up with Renegade Game Studios to bring us a new entry in the Solo Hero Series, Unstoppable. This is a card-crafting game tailor-made for solo play, blending strategic planning with the thrill of unpredictable challenges. The card-crafting mechanic and dual-purpose cards sound like a delicious puzzle. Crafting will power up your own deck, but you will need to keep in mind how that is powering up the enemy à la Edge of Darkness.
Moon Colony Bloodbath #
Donald X. Vaccarino, of Dominion and Kingdom Builder fame, is back with a brand new title! It’s an engine-building game where your engine might combust at any moment. Moon Colony Bloodbath seems like the perfect mix of strategic planning and chaotic mayhem, with just enough dark humor to keep the inevitable failures entertaining. As a solo board gamer, I’m drawn to the challenge of building a colony that can withstand the relentless onslaught of moon troubles–hunger, paperwork, and power failures, oh my! I’m very curious what this master of engine-building gives us now with this new engine-losing tableau game.
Marvel Dice Throne Missions #
Dice Throne is one of my all-time favorite games and this Marvel Dice Throne Missions expansion gives me a chance to play it solo. Yes, Dice Throne Adventures has been around for a few years now for me to play Dice Throne solo, but I’m kind of glad I waited for this. The mission-based gameplay instead of a dungeon crawl and campaign format promise fast immersion, letting me jump straight into the action without signing up for a marathon.
Vantage #
Vantage is an open-world, adventure game where you’re exploring an uncharted planet with nearly 800 interconnected locations. It’s not a campaign game and sounds more like a sandbox game where you can jump into the world, explore and live in it for a bit, and jump right back out. This sounds much more approachable than a campaign game, but hopefully will offer similar immersion. That’s about all we know about Vantage for now, but Stonemaier Games often delivers a great experience so I’m looking forward to it.
The Anarchy #
The Anarchy is a new design by Bobby Hill, but it could be seen as the spiritual successor to Hadrian’s Wall. Few things are as satisfying in solo gaming as managing chaos, and The Anarchy offers exactly that–an 18-year medieval meltdown packed into five rounds of strategic domain-building and castle defense. The historical backdrop is juicy and I’m certain it will come with crunchy decision-making that I can’t wait to sink my teeth into.
Mage Knight: The Apocalypse Dragon #
Solo gamers rejoice! It’s been a decade since the last major Mage Knight expansion. For a game so beloved by solo board gamers, I would be remiss not to mention Mage Knight: The Apocalypse Dragon. Not too much to go off of yet, but we do know that it will feature a new playable hero and a new story-driven campaign about the four horsemen and an apocalyptic dragon that seems to channel inspiration from the Bible or the X-Men.
Coming of Age #
Coming of Age promises to deliver a kind of deeply personal, narrative-driven experience that makes solo gaming so meaningful. Starting as a child with limited skills and growing into a fully-realized adult with dreams and ambitions feels like an epic journey, packed into a board game. As a solo player, I love the idea of shaping a unique character through dice management and strategic decisions, creating a story that feels uniquely mine. Will this game scratch the itch I get to play The Sims every now and then?
How to Save a World #
How to Save a World sounds perfect for someone like me who loves resource management and high stakes decision-making. The looming asteroid and the three different, desperate plans create an intriguing time pressure, which adds an extra layer of urgency to the gameplay. The high stakes premise and tense gameplay sounds like it could be another epic experience similar to Under Falling Skies. Plus, who doesn’t want channel their inner Bruce Willis and be the hero that saves a planet from total destruction?
The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era #
As a solo board gamer and reformed video gamer who loves a rich narrative, The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era immediately caught my attention. I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing Skyrim and getting lost in the lore of Elder Scrolls and the features in this game look like it will faithfully capture a lot of the mechanics from the video games. Not only that, but it borrows mechanics from Too Many Bones too. This will be my first foray with the Too Many Bones system and I think it will make for a great entry point for me.
House of Fado #
The first Vital Lacerda game on the list, House of Fado, strikes me as the perfect blend of cultural atmosphere and strategic gameplay, which is why I’m so drawn to it. Managing a restaurant while weaving in the soulful essence of Portuguese fado music is an intriguing concept and I’m sure the worker placement gameplay will be *chef’s kiss*.
Luthier #
I’ll keep the playlist on loop as Luthier continues the musical theme and worker placement trend with all the ingredients for a deeply satisfying solo experience and art from Vincent Dutrait. The unique blend of hidden bidding and worker placement has piqued my interest and I’m excited to see what David Digby has done with it as one of the solo designers on Luthier. As a solo player, I can immerse myself in the art of crafting beautiful instruments, all while trying to balance the workshop’s needs. And let’s not forget the sweet satisfaction of crafting a finely tuned strategy–Luthier promises just the right mix of complexity and theme to keep me engaged.
A Place for All My Books #
I present to you the coziest of cozy games. A Place for All My Books speaks to my love for satisfying puzzles and my introverted personality. If I’ve learned anything from Marie Kondo its that gathering, sorting, and organizing as you do with books in this game can be zen-like and it can make you feel like you’re achieving something meaningful. I think A Place for All My Books will be one to spark joy for me.
Keyside #
Keyside immediately hooks me with its clever dice-driven worker placement. Using dice to both direct boats and the ability to follow rival workers’ efforts adds a layer of interactive tension among players and I’m counting on Dávid Turczi to deliver a solo mode that will give us solo board gamers an experience that is faithful to the group play experience. Managing 18 “keyples” across harbors, farms, and markets sounds like the kind of crunchy, puzzle-like gameplay I love. I think this will technically be crowdfunding in 2025 and I’m guessing not releasing until 2026, but since “Key” games are typically hard to come by, I’m keeping a close eye on this one.
Terraria: The Board Game #
In Terraria: The Board Game you will explore, dig, fight, and build within a procedurally generated world. The game’s focus on completing objectives before time runs out adds a layer of urgency and excitement that will surely keep the tension high. Add in the potential for games that culminate in epic boss battles and we may have a rewarding tactile, tabletop experience that captures Terraria’s video game charm.
Citizens of the Spark #
Citizens of the Spark feels like the love child of tableau-building and action optimization, wrapped in a charming animal-themed package. This looks to be outside of my favorite world of Ulos, but I trust Thunderworks Games to deliver something good. The variable citizen powers suggest tons of replayability–30 animal types and a pick-your-favorite-10 setup could keep this game fresh for a long time. Throw in that spark of thematic charm and Diego Sá’s art (who’s been on a roll lately!), and Citizens of the Spark might just ignite my game table.
Speakeasy #
I promised more Lacerda in this list, didn’t I? Worker placement is my jam and this game is dripping with theme. It’s a no-brainer to add it to my list. Set in Prohibition-era Manhattan and beautifully portrayed by Ian O’Toole, in Speakeasy you take on the role of a mobster building and managing and an illicit empire. Everything from hiring goons to cooking the books feels like part of the thrilling, gritty crime drama. And, let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to rise to the top of the criminal underworld?
Clandestine #
I’m always looking for games with interesting mechanics and a dash of theme that immerses me completely. Clandestine seems to fits the bill perfectly, offering an intriguing blend of mancala-inspired rondels and a theme of secret societies in a shadowy game of power.
Great Western Trail: El Paso #
I’m a big fan of Alexander Pfister’s work and the Great Western Trail is already legendary for its blend of strategic depth and smooth mechanics, and Great Western Trail: El Paso sounds like its breezy-yet-brilliant younger sibling. With a faster setup and more condensed playtime, it sounds perfect for when I want a robust gaming experience without committing to hours on the trail.
Revenant #
Set in the Voidfall universe, but leveraging a worker placement mechanic, Revenant looks like it will make for an epic experience. You’ll be defending a fleeing starfleet from the relentless attacks of the Voidborn that reminds me a bit of the premise of Battlestar Galactica.
Clans of Caledonia: Industria #
Here’s one to play to keep me charmed with Scotland after I finish the Outlander TV series. Clans of Caledonia: Industria expands the base game about leaders of Scottish clans during the Industrial Revolution by introducing railroads and six new gameplay modules. I passed on Clans of Caledonia because the solo mode didn’t interest me, but this expansion has me excited again because it introduces a brand new automa-based solo mode that brings a true multiplayer experience for solo board gamers.
Behold: Rome #
On my quest to find the perfect replacement for Sid Meier’s Civilization in tabletop form, I stumbled upon Behold: Rome by Joe Klipfel. You may recognize some of Joe Klipfel’s other games like Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs and Dragons of Etchinstone. Behold: Rome packs a civilization-building game into the palm of your hand as a solo-only experience. Admittedly, I don’t think it would work well to have other players playing out of the palm of my hand.
The use of different card orientations for unique scoring rules feels like a clever puzzle with many different avenues to explore and a ton of replayability. All in all, it’s an ancient empire-building game that I think will fit right into my solo gaming routine.
Shifters #
In Shifters, you’re forming a team to deal with a mysterious menace that is threatening the whole universe. Thanos is that you? The main reason that Shifters has caught my attention is that it appears to be another rogue-lite game similar to Dead Cells: The Rogue-Lite Board Game. In Dead Cells, I fell in love with the meta-progression system that it translated perfectly from its video game predecessor and other rogue-lites. I’m curious to see what Shifters has done with that concept and I hope that we see more games include meta-progression in their designs.
20 Strong: Tanglewoods Red #
20 Strong: Tanglewoods Red is a new deck in the 20 Strong series built around the premise of Little Red Riding Hood. I’ve heard good things about the 20 Strong system and this new Tanglewoods trilogy looks like a good time to give it a whirl. New to the 20 Strong series in this Tanglewood trilogy is art from Manny Trembley and its as beautifully illustrated as Dice Throne or Wonderland’s War. This is a solo-only experience that is sure to make the group board gamers jealous.
Vestige #
Vestige is a reimplementation of the well-regarded game Vindication, but now set in a post-apocalyptic world. This crunchy tableau-building euro game was marketed as introducing a solid new solo mode featuring an AI opponent with the possibility of adding more AI opponents to choose from in the future. Vestige brings back mechanics like the resource alchemy system which has players “mixing” resources much like you would mix colors based on the color wheel. The modular board and variable end-game conditions promise endless replayability, which is a solo gamer’s dream–who doesn’t love a fresh puzzle every time? Hoping the solo mode lives up to the hype!
Tend #
Tend is a flip-and-write game and essentially interstellar Stardew Valley. You’ll be tending crops and animals, exploring mines and woods, and fishing. When I play the video game I’m trying to min and max everything like I’m playing a good Euro game and I think Tend will have that in spades even though its billed as a cozy game. It will come with a companion app for competing against other solo players which sounds kind of cool.
Conclusion #
Looking at these 25 solo board games for 2025, it’s clear that 2025 is shaping up to be an extraordinary year for solo gaming. We’re seeing established designers like Donald X. Vaccarino and Vital Lacerda pushing boundaries, beloved franchises expanding their horizons, and innovative new concepts that promise to redefine what’s possible in solo play. From the tactical depths of Mage Knight’s new expansion to the cozy charm of A Place for All My Books, there’s an adventure waiting for every type of solo gamer.
What strikes me most about this lineup is the sheer variety. Whether you crave intense strategic challenges or relaxing puzzles, 2025’s releases seem ready to deliver.
