I was also interested in One Deck Dungeon but I was turned off by the luck factor and by the theme being mostly aesthetical, after a lot of research I ended up getting Mini Rogue, imo it feels a lot more like a dungeon crawler and while at the beginning the luck is a deciding factor, once you level up luck is no more that important, also it's cheap, compact, quick and simple to prepare and play.
Similar dungeon crawlers are Iron Helm, Rogue Dungeon and Unbroken.
I chose One Deck Dungeon: into the Forest (with a poison token/mechanism) and I like it but it is not something I think that fits your bill listed in the opening post.
Rogue Dungeon might be best since you want something with no expansions; the 2nd Edition seems like a totally self-contained experience. Unbroken plays in about 20 minutes so it's a little short for your needs but it's also totally self-contained, the planned expansion never materialized due to publishing woes.
This may be a weird recommendation as it's not a dungeon crawler like One Deck Dungeon, but Mercurial ticks a lot of your boxes:
* 3.12 weight on BGG with 45-90 minute playtime (60 min solo IMO).
* Fantasy theme with gorgeous artwork.
* Gameplay involves rolling dice and then manipulating them to cast spells and complete quests,
* Available on [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) and currently on sale for 40$ USD.
The deluxe version has a second, better solo mode so I'd spring for that if it's available, otherwise let me know and I'll help you out.
Heh heh, you said "bang".
On a tiny bit more mature side, I propose Final Girl. Very immersive, and a lot of variety between individual games, even more if you start combining feature films. Complexity would be around 3, playtime a bit shorter. I think my plays are around 30 minutes, setup included.
Thanks but... I was turned off because this game *requires* expansions in addition to the core set right?
I am looking for a one-and-done, no expansions game.
Can you replay the game or is it one shot only?
I understand the dislike for neccessary expansions. But that's how the game is composed. Each expansion gives you a new killer and a setting which all change the gameplay in some way. So if that doesn't sound appealing to you then you should skip this one.
As for replayability, if you got just a single expansion, in each game you can have a different starting setup, the killer will have different abilities, and different events and available items can change the way how the game develops. I've got two expansions and haven't even tried the second one. Played the first one 12 times so far and enjoyed each one. The game also allows you to mix a killer from one expansion with the setting from the other.
One Deck Dungeon is a dice puzzle at its heart. I can place these two yellow 4s to cover this box and save 1 hit point, but then I can't use them to make a black 4 to cover this box instead to save 4 time. Each encounter (whether you succeeded or failed) gives you a new skill (ways to manipulate dice), more dice or more XP, and you gradually get stronger as you go through the 3 floors and finally face to boss. On its own it's too difficult, you almost certainly will not win. But if you play the campaign you start stronger each play, until you end up somewhat overpowered.
Personally I got a lot out of ODD and it's standalone expansion, back when I didn't have many games. Now that I have a bigger collection I feel I've 'outgrown' it somewhat. I'll revisit occasionally for nostalgia or if I'm brain tired and don't feel like something more complicated.
If you're looking for small box, low cost, medium footprint, less than an hour play, adjacent rather than immersive theme - then it's good value for money. If you want more depth, more story/theme then it's probably not for you.
You might be interested in this list: [https://www.reddit.com/r/soloboardgaming/comments/10kcsee/best\_dungeon\_crawlers\_to\_play\_solo/](https://www.reddit.com/r/soloboardgaming/comments/10kcsee/best_dungeon_crawlers_to_play_solo/)
If you are willing to look outside the dungeon crawler genre, you might like Robinson Crusoe Adventures on the Cursed Island, a desert island rescue. The base game is complete in and of itself. The cards and mechanics fit the theme very well. You can play with one character or multiple characters, but this game excels at one player managing the whole game. The game comes with multiple different kinds of scenarios of various difficulties. You will lose, it is challenging. BGG has the weight rated a 3.82 and I think that is fair. If you fall in love with it, there is a new scenarios book but some of those are available on BGG because they were fan made variants. There are extra discovery tokens, hunting cards, another character or two(sailor and gamer), and that kind of thing, but these are not necessary. People tend to love it or hate it. I spent a year looking at it with a side eye, watched several playthroughs including one by Shaggy (Totally Tabled on YouTube) and bought it about two months ago. It scratches just the right itch for me and I like the story of my adventure created by the cards and my choices of worker placement, to hunt or not, etc. My solo games take about an hour to play.
Whatever you decide, I want to encourage you to watch a playthrough on YouTube first. It has saved me so much money by me seeing the components/art, how the play mechanisms work and what the winning conditions are (I do not like beat my own score it turns out) and deciding not to purchase a game. I will not let myself buy something without doing that because if I cannot muster the energy to do that, then I do not need to buy it, is my thinking.
Great write up. Very punishing game and sometime the shipwrecked survivors get screwed over and die. But sometimes they cling on and survive. It’s a fun balance in my opinion
Pax Pamir 2nd Edition. Complexity is I think a higher 3.
1h play time.
Beautiful game. You can try it on: I don’t remember the website (one with war games) someone help me here please.
I don’t think it is on Amazon, but many shops have it.
It’s not only a solo game, but Wakhan is a bitch and well designed. (Its the solo player automata)
Are you looking for a long campaign? Agemonia (haven't played yet) looks amazing and has very high reviews. It'll be my next big game purchase. I'm playing divinity original sin right now which is also long, quite combat focused, but I'm having fun with it! Can do a location in hour or so once familiar with setup and play. That's not on Amazon though at least where I am.
Deck builder: Ashes reborn +red rains
Roll player adventures
Spirit island
I’ll second spirit island, lots of fun to play with others and solo. Plenty of room for expansion as well. I’d recommend trying out the digital version first (free trial available) to see if it meshes with what you’re looking for.
I was also interested in One Deck Dungeon but I was turned off by the luck factor and by the theme being mostly aesthetical, after a lot of research I ended up getting Mini Rogue, imo it feels a lot more like a dungeon crawler and while at the beginning the luck is a deciding factor, once you level up luck is no more that important, also it's cheap, compact, quick and simple to prepare and play. Similar dungeon crawlers are Iron Helm, Rogue Dungeon and Unbroken.
I will check out these dungeon crawlers, thank you.
I chose One Deck Dungeon: into the Forest (with a poison token/mechanism) and I like it but it is not something I think that fits your bill listed in the opening post.
Rogue Dungeon might be best since you want something with no expansions; the 2nd Edition seems like a totally self-contained experience. Unbroken plays in about 20 minutes so it's a little short for your needs but it's also totally self-contained, the planned expansion never materialized due to publishing woes. This may be a weird recommendation as it's not a dungeon crawler like One Deck Dungeon, but Mercurial ticks a lot of your boxes: * 3.12 weight on BGG with 45-90 minute playtime (60 min solo IMO). * Fantasy theme with gorgeous artwork. * Gameplay involves rolling dice and then manipulating them to cast spells and complete quests, * Available on [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) and currently on sale for 40$ USD. The deluxe version has a second, better solo mode so I'd spring for that if it's available, otherwise let me know and I'll help you out.
Heh heh, you said "bang". On a tiny bit more mature side, I propose Final Girl. Very immersive, and a lot of variety between individual games, even more if you start combining feature films. Complexity would be around 3, playtime a bit shorter. I think my plays are around 30 minutes, setup included.
Thanks but... I was turned off because this game *requires* expansions in addition to the core set right? I am looking for a one-and-done, no expansions game. Can you replay the game or is it one shot only?
I understand the dislike for neccessary expansions. But that's how the game is composed. Each expansion gives you a new killer and a setting which all change the gameplay in some way. So if that doesn't sound appealing to you then you should skip this one. As for replayability, if you got just a single expansion, in each game you can have a different starting setup, the killer will have different abilities, and different events and available items can change the way how the game develops. I've got two expansions and haven't even tried the second one. Played the first one 12 times so far and enjoyed each one. The game also allows you to mix a killer from one expansion with the setting from the other.
One Deck Dungeon is a dice puzzle at its heart. I can place these two yellow 4s to cover this box and save 1 hit point, but then I can't use them to make a black 4 to cover this box instead to save 4 time. Each encounter (whether you succeeded or failed) gives you a new skill (ways to manipulate dice), more dice or more XP, and you gradually get stronger as you go through the 3 floors and finally face to boss. On its own it's too difficult, you almost certainly will not win. But if you play the campaign you start stronger each play, until you end up somewhat overpowered. Personally I got a lot out of ODD and it's standalone expansion, back when I didn't have many games. Now that I have a bigger collection I feel I've 'outgrown' it somewhat. I'll revisit occasionally for nostalgia or if I'm brain tired and don't feel like something more complicated. If you're looking for small box, low cost, medium footprint, less than an hour play, adjacent rather than immersive theme - then it's good value for money. If you want more depth, more story/theme then it's probably not for you.
You might be interested in this list: [https://www.reddit.com/r/soloboardgaming/comments/10kcsee/best\_dungeon\_crawlers\_to\_play\_solo/](https://www.reddit.com/r/soloboardgaming/comments/10kcsee/best_dungeon_crawlers_to_play_solo/) If you are willing to look outside the dungeon crawler genre, you might like Robinson Crusoe Adventures on the Cursed Island, a desert island rescue. The base game is complete in and of itself. The cards and mechanics fit the theme very well. You can play with one character or multiple characters, but this game excels at one player managing the whole game. The game comes with multiple different kinds of scenarios of various difficulties. You will lose, it is challenging. BGG has the weight rated a 3.82 and I think that is fair. If you fall in love with it, there is a new scenarios book but some of those are available on BGG because they were fan made variants. There are extra discovery tokens, hunting cards, another character or two(sailor and gamer), and that kind of thing, but these are not necessary. People tend to love it or hate it. I spent a year looking at it with a side eye, watched several playthroughs including one by Shaggy (Totally Tabled on YouTube) and bought it about two months ago. It scratches just the right itch for me and I like the story of my adventure created by the cards and my choices of worker placement, to hunt or not, etc. My solo games take about an hour to play. Whatever you decide, I want to encourage you to watch a playthrough on YouTube first. It has saved me so much money by me seeing the components/art, how the play mechanisms work and what the winning conditions are (I do not like beat my own score it turns out) and deciding not to purchase a game. I will not let myself buy something without doing that because if I cannot muster the energy to do that, then I do not need to buy it, is my thinking.
Great write up. Very punishing game and sometime the shipwrecked survivors get screwed over and die. But sometimes they cling on and survive. It’s a fun balance in my opinion
Pax Pamir 2nd Edition. Complexity is I think a higher 3. 1h play time. Beautiful game. You can try it on: I don’t remember the website (one with war games) someone help me here please. I don’t think it is on Amazon, but many shops have it. It’s not only a solo game, but Wakhan is a bitch and well designed. (Its the solo player automata)
You can play on boardgamearena - Wakhan beat me badly 3 times yesterday, so I need to change my strategy.
Are you looking for a long campaign? Agemonia (haven't played yet) looks amazing and has very high reviews. It'll be my next big game purchase. I'm playing divinity original sin right now which is also long, quite combat focused, but I'm having fun with it! Can do a location in hour or so once familiar with setup and play. That's not on Amazon though at least where I am. Deck builder: Ashes reborn +red rains Roll player adventures Spirit island
I’ll second spirit island, lots of fun to play with others and solo. Plenty of room for expansion as well. I’d recommend trying out the digital version first (free trial available) to see if it meshes with what you’re looking for.