I’m not sure how else I could describe what I’m seeking other than what I’ve put in the title. I love board games, and I love video games. My favorites are the ones that burn my brain and scratch it real good. Nothing relaxes my ADHD brain like being fully consumed and hyperfocused on some ridiculous puzzle.

Lately, I’ve been seeking games that fit the criteria of the title. And just to be clear, I am NOT talking about digital adaptations of board games. The game needs to be a video game above all. If it could work ‘as is’ in another format, it does not meet the criteria. The computer should add something to the experience.

That out of the way, some of my favorites, please share yours as well!

Deckbuilders/Card Games

Slay the Spire

• The GOAT, and now also the new hotness in board game format with simplified numbers and effects. I have probably 2000+ hours combined on desktop and mobile. Won’t explain this one, enough people have talked about it. I don’t play it as much as I used to, but always enjoy returning for a few runs.

Wildfrost

• A solid deckbuilder when it released in 2023, now a GREAT one after the 1.2 patch earlier this year. It follows the typical roguelike deckbuilding formula: choose a path, complete encounters, collect upgrades, etc etc. The spice is the Charm system. Individual, unique upgrades put directly on cards themselves. They can get pretty wacky and lead to really fun runs. The production value is also excellent, several tiers above the competition. Highly recommend for fans of STS.

Tainted Grail

• Also a board game (that I have not played), but oh man the sheer amount of variety in this one is nuts. Many ways to victory, many ways to lose. So many characters to play, so many cards. It’s kinda janky and I do have many gripes, but I still think this is well worth the time of anyone who enjoys the genre.

Balatro

• One of my favorites of the year. Play poker hands for points, get money, buy power ups (called Jokers) that grant bonuses based on various criteria. Insane combos can be made: the opening hands you’ll be happy to crack 300-600 points and by the end you’ll be pushing ridiculous exponents. I don’t even like poker, but I easily got a few hundred hours out of this.

I could keep going on about card games since they’re the most abundant option, so I’ll list a few other notable ones before moving on: Monster Train, Gordian Quest, Vault of the Void, Inscryption (more of a narrative/puzzle game than a deckbuilder really but it’s really good in it’s own right)

Tile Placement Games I don’t really know how else to quantify these so feel free to give a better genre.

Reus 2

• The reason I made this post, and woefully underrated. Imagine if Reiner Knizia made a tile placement roguelike. You pick 3 ‘gods’ that dictate the tiles that will be available to you, then place tiles to achieve various score requirements to complete objectives and in the end get the highest score possible and unlock more stuff. I haven’t played Reus 1, all I know is Reus 2 should be a hit among board gamers. Do thing to get more resources to do more things to get points and the game ends right before you have everything you want. That’s so board games.

Mini Motorways

• Could also arguably be called a puzzle rather than any kind of tile placement game. You place roads to connect colored buildings to other buildings of the same color. Similar to games like Railroad Ink. Your resources of what you can place are limited, and eventually the scale gets so absurd you will eventually lose track and everything crumbles around you. Many different maps with different challenges available as well.

Frostpunk

• Ok maybe not a tile placement game, the emphasis is more on worker placement and resource management, but I can’t spend all day splitting genre hairs. I’ve also called this an efficiency puzzle. Haven’t played the board game of this one either. The core of each of the scenarios is to build and upgrade your settlement, allocate workers and move them around smartly, and deal with a variety of disasters to eventually overcome the final disaster. It’s tense, thinky, and one of my favorites of all time.

Engine Builders All the factory games. I’ll just list the big ones and move on:

• Factorio
• Satisfactory
• Final Factory
• others probably

4X Alright so I’m not well versed here at all. Civ has been my game since I was a kid, and unlike with deckbuilders, deviating from ol reliable never seems to interest me. My favorite is always whichever one is the newest, and I’m sure once the first xpac for 7 comes out it’ll supplant 6 for me, as 6 did 5, as 5 did 4, and 4 did 3.

I’ve tried Crusader Kings 3, but it didn’t grab me as I’d hoped. Own Stellaris, but haven’t tried it yet.

TTRPGs I’m not well versed here either, and I’m not a fan anyway. I put a few hours into Gloomhaven and just did not care one bit. Also have played ~10 hours of Baldur’s Gate 3, Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2, and a few other’s I’m forgetting. Simply not a genre for me, but perhaps folks will have recommendations for those who enjoy.

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I could list some puzzle games and such as well, but then we’d be here all day.

Please contribute to my ridiculous steam wishlist by dropping recommendations below~