We don’t usually think of Halloween as sitting around the table playing board games. This trio of excellent spooky-themed board games from Ravensburger and Funko Games should be added to our annual traditions. And not just for Halloween.
Whether you’re working together to defeat classic movie monsters, or competing to see the most ghosts at Disney’s Haunted Mansion, these family games are great for any time of the year.
Read the full review at Pixelkin
Taking a cue from the much-loved co-op series Overcooked, Unrailed is a zany co-op survival adventure in which a team of players hurry to mine resources and lay tracks to keep their unstoppable train from crashing.
Unrailed lacks the visual charm of Overcooked but adds more dire stakes as the tracks stretch farther and farther.
Eight years ago the now infamously defunct 38 Studios released their first and only game. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a big-budget single player RPG. It was created as a prequel to the studio’s ultimate goal of a World of Warcraft-level massively multiplayer RPG.
The MMO was never finished, the studio went bankrupt, and the state of Rhode Island lost millions. But a funny thing happened on the way to this ill-fated venture: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a darn good RPG, and one of the most underrated games of the era.
Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Avengers have become a household name. Although the original Avengers’ decade-plus domination at the box office has come to an end, Square Enix hopes to capitalize on the superhero popularity with Marvel’s Avengers.
Marvel’s Avengers is an action brawler with the online co-op, mission-based gameplay structure of the Destiny series. The action game shines best in the heat of battle, but the level design and loot leave a lot to be desired.
Played on: PC (Steam)
Release Date: TBA
Once upon a time, before Fortnite became a cultural phenomenon by embracing the explosive Battle Royale genre, it was a cooperative tower defense action game. Fortnite: Save the World (as it’s now called), tasked players with gathering materials, weapons, and supplies around randomly generated worlds to defend against waves of monstrous forces.
Drake Hollow follows a similar path (and art style) in the cooperative crafting-defense-action genre, with vast improvements and increased depth across every aspect of gameplay.
Stardew Valley was my personal game of the year in 2016. Like so many others, I’d paid zero attention to farm-sim games before falling completely in love with the 16-bit art-style, charming characters and town, and endless variety of gameplay.
Ooblets, available now in Early Access via Epic Games Store and Xbox One, may lack Stardew’s pixel art, but it’s every way an effective farm-sim successor, along with its own unique charm and gameplay courtesy of the titular creatures.
As far as classic 80s franchises go, none may be as sacred and universally beloved as the Back to the Future trilogy. The adventurous time-traveling series remains mercifully untouched by modern adaptations, but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a proper modern board game – or two!
Back to the Future: Dice Through Time (not to be confused with Back to the Future: Back in Time, another cooperative BTTF board game that released this year), continues Ravensburger’s trend of turning popular film franchises into satisfying, family-friendly tabletop experiences.
Video game RPGs owe much of their DNA from the classic tabletop RPG. Despite Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition catapulting the tabletop RPG into mainstream popularity, there’s been a stark lack of officially licensed D&D video games in recent years. Indie studio Tactical Adventures hopes to change that with Solasta: Crown of the Magister.
“We’ve been a big fan of tabletop RPGs for 30 years,” says Mathieu Girard, CEO and creative director at Tactical Adventures. “We have a D&D campaign running every week – currently playing Descent Into Avernus. Making a D&D RPG is a passion project for us.”
What is the difference between a new game and a remake? Despite being labeled as an all-new game in the tower-defense series, Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is clearly a remake of the original 2010 game.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the original Dungeon Defenders effectively combined tower defense gameplay with co-op action. The formula remains as fun as it was a decade ago, though it’s disappointing to see so little improvement or changes.
Beat ‘Em Ups were all the rage in the 90s. The simple, fun co-op action games fit well in arcade machines, then on home consoles. Sega’s Streets of Rage series was one of the best, with smooth gameplay, varied levels and enemies, and killer soundtracks. But as the attitude era of arcade machines and street punks in leather jackets and colorful mohawks faded, so too did the side-scrolling genre.
Fast-forward over 25 years since Streets of Rage 3. Video games have advanced at an incredible rate, and the once popular genre has been regulated to old-school nostalgia. Streets of Rage 4 suddenly crashes into a smokey alley in a Delorian, as punks and ninjas run in from both sides. The genre never died; it’s been waiting just off screen for the developers at Dotemu and Lizardcube to create an amazing modernized sequel.
![Three Spooky Board Games For Families [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/haunted-mansion-call-ff-the-spirits.jpg?w=1000)
![Unrailed Review [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/unrailed.png?w=1000)
![Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning Is a Still a Great RPG Nearly a Decade Later [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/re-reckoning-review-main.jpg?w=1000)
![Marvel’s Avengers Beta Impressions [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/marvels_avengers_story__1-2.jpg?w=1024)
![Drake Hollow is a Satisfying Evolution of Fortnite: Save the World [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/20200806152930_1-1024x576-1.jpg?w=1024)
![Solasta: Crown of the Magister Transforms D&D Into a Tactical RPG [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/solasta.png?w=960)
![Dungeon Defenders Awakened Review [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/dungeon-defenders-awakened.jpg?w=1000)
![Streets of Rage 4 Review [Pixelkin]](https://roguewatson.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/streets-of-rage-4.jpg?w=1200)
