Essen Spiel 2024 Preview – Nick’s Games of Interest

Posted on September 30, 2024 by - Essen Spiel, Nick's Blog

Essen Spiel 2024 is only a few days away, and although the Devon Dice crew won’t be able to attend this year, we’ve been keeping an eye on the extensive list of games (1,212 games, and counting) that are being shown at the show, thanks to W Eric Martin’s BGG Essen Spiel Preview.

We discuss some of these on the forthcoming podcast episode, but for those interested, here’s my full curated list of games of interest (you can view the full list on BGG here). Check them out! I’ve listed expansions separately just to keep things a bit tidy, and the order is purely alphabetical, not in any kind of priority!

Does the list look long? Feel free to skim around just to games that look interesting to you. And just be glad I didn’t include all the games I evaluated / read rules / watched playthroughs for but rejected from the list (it was longer than the lists below combined!).

Must Haves

  • Civolution – The new Stefan Feld. Enough said really, but for more context: You play as gods creating your ideal worlds in a “world building simulator” with a lot of different actions to take, using dice drafting. Super keen to try this.
  • Fateforge: Chronicles of Khan – Discussed on the podcast in our pre-UKGE episode. I loved playing through act 1 on the pre-release copy I had for demoing at UKGE, and would love to finish acts 2 and 3. (Caveat: I was given a copy by Mighty Boards to play through as much as I could before UKGE, so take my comments here with a grain of salt, although note I didn’t get to keep that copy!)

Must-have Expansions

  • Age of Steam Maps Aplenty – a number of expansion maps for Age of Steam are being sold at the show. I wants them all, my precious!
  • Forest Shuffle: Woodland Edge – a new expansion to Forest Shuffle with new flora and fauna, apparently focussing on wildlife living at the forest’s “edge”. Not much more info yet, but hoping it once again boosts alternate winning strategies, and nerfs the wolf+deer combo strategy more.

Interested in

  • Ada’s Dream – Help Ada Lovelace build the first computer! Really interesting euro, but quite a lot of what looks like fiddly mechanisms, so would like to try this to see just how fiddly (or not) it is. Keen to give it a go.
  • AI Space Puzzle – Coop game. One player is the AI, trying to guide the other players (astronauts) to go to the required rooms and activate the required control panel icons and/or possibly adjust dice values. Looks like an interesting mix of kind of single-group reverse Codenames.
  • Algae, Inc. – manage an algae factory! Looks quite heavy-weight. Reminiscent of Kanban EV, but managing algae production instead of cars.
  • Babylon – build the hanging gardens of Babylon, using actual 3D structures. Mostly on my list because of the aesthetics, but it does look like fun.
  • Baghdad: The City of Peace – not a lot of detail yet, but thematically cool, and great designers’ pedigree.
  • Biome – KS from Feb ’24. Looks Wingspan-like. Could be AP inducing late game with every played card giving an action option. But seems light enough to be ok? Cute artwork
  • Black Forest – Uwe Rosenberg does an updated version of Glass Road’s mechanic.  Interesting, though need to see if it’s unique enough?
  • Boitas – Trick-taker. Trick sets order of trade for 2 highest ranked, with consolation prize for others which enhance their hands. Interesting ideas
  • Bottle Imp – the classic trick taker gets a reprint in a new style, with foil-effect cards and all-new artwork. Game has 3 suits with varying values per suit. Tricks are won based on the current Bottle price. Don’t be left with the bottle at the end of the round or you lose points!
  • Castle Builder – from FryxGames. Quirky art. Interesting “tile-tableau-playing” mechanisms when you build up your castle. Might be too light, but worth a look
  • Conservas – a solo bag-building game about running a Spanish seafood canning company, by Scott Almes. Encourages sustainable fishing practices. Scenarios for varying gameplay. Lovely card art. Looks like a very decent solo game.
  • Die Crew: Family – Lighter than The Crew and The Crew 2, this is more akin to “cooperative Uno”, a concept that kind of fascinates me. The theme is…. barely there. But the gameplay does sound like a nicely family-weight co-op game with varying missions you have to complete.
  • Cube Express – lay track, deliver cubes (passengers or goods), expand cities. It’s like cube rails but with simpler rules and a dynamically growing map!
  • Endeavor: Deep Sea – the sequel to Endeavor: Age of Sail, without the slightly unsavoury colonisation and slavery mechanism. This looks to be an evolution of the earlier game, with quite a bit more going on. Keen to give it a try.
  • Escape from the Moon – Solo deck-builder where you have to escape the moon (due to some catastrophic event) by repairing your rocket.  Sounds cute, small and quick.
  • FateFlip: Washed Ashore – solo choose-your-own-adventure but in card form, with a single large deck of cards which are “4 sided” (top/bottom on both sides are all separate things). Excellent buy-in price too. Not sure how replayable it would be, but as decisions change the progression a lot, I’d love to find out.
  • Fishing – Freidermann Friese does trick taking! The cards you win in one round become your draw deck for the next, topped up with ‘ocean’ cards which are more powerful. Win too much and your next round will be underpowered but scores are added to each round so you want to win lots… Not hugely thematic but looks interesting.
  • FIXER – Trick taker. Very clean, minimalist art on cards. Playing multiple tricks at once. Nothing major new, but wouldn’t mind trying it.
  • Formosa Tea – played a few years ago during its KS run. Really nice mid-weight euro of worker placement and resource “progression” to create tea.
  • Foundations of Metropolis – the tiles-only version of Foundations of Rome. Identical gameplay, hence why this isn’t a Must Have, but I’d love to see how a tile-only version feels to play.
  • Free Ride USA – I never got to try the original Free Ride, but wanted to, so I’d want the opportunity to try this, on a new map.
  • Galileo Galilei – Dice manipulation, midweight euro. Looks nice. Not sure how different to other euros though
  • Golem Run – betting and race-fixing with trick taking, trying to make your golems run faster through an obstacle-laden course built by players. Weird art on the cards, but it’s minimal. Looks wacky fun, though might be fiddly for movement.
  • Grachtenpand – V light card tableau placement, drafting, set collection, building towers from cards. Cute artwork
  • House of Fado – Vital Lacerda does a cool theme of musicians trying to make it big in the fine dining entertainment sphere. Love the sound of it.
  • Inventions: Evolution of Ideas – Another Vital Lacerda design, this time tracking the creation and development of technological ideas throughout history. Much heavier than House of Fado, but still looks and sounds really crunchy euro goodness.
  • Kathmandu – Stefan Feld! Not much info, but it’s a game of travelling around the countryside to end up in Kathmandu, collecting resources (and probably points) along the way, trying to outrun an oncoming storm.
  • King of Tokyo: Duel – KoT but tuned to 2p, using tug-of-war tracks to trigger winning. Also lots more ways to encourage purchase of lots of power cards.
  • Let’s Go! To Japan – plan your outings in Japan in the most efficient way possible! Lovely production, nice theme, and simple gameplay.
  • Lone Wolves – Reimplements 4 Clans Conflict; 2p trick taking, driving area control. Interesting twists on trick-taking; playing into multiple areas; loser boosts other areas, etc.
  • Luthier – From the folks that brought you Distilled. Create and sell your musical instruments! Love the theme. Quite a heavy euro feel. Definitely want to try this one.
  • LUZ – trick taking & betting game where you hold your cards backwards. You know the suits (marked on the back) but only know the values of opponents’ hands. (Cards are pre-sorted in numerical & suit order by players on your left). Lovely card graphic design. Sounds interesting.
  • Lynx – card game, interesting theme of 18thC fur trappers, trapping Lynx and Hares. Market manipulation. Played cards’ values affect action order. From Play-to-Z Games. 
  • Nature – modular game system, in the Evolution universe. Looks interesting. Perhaps slightly less faffy than Evolution. Looks really nice
  • Onoda – Solo-only game. Jungle survival set over a 30-year time period. Not a lot of info, but has the feel of Friday. 
  • Oranges & Lemons – 18th C London, based on the nursery rhyme. Worker placement, a little stock market, politicking. Big mix of mechanisms. Pretty heavy euro. Looks quite my bag.
  • Overparked – seems like a multiplayer twist on the classic Traffic puzzle of sliding cars. Might be too light, but I think warrants more research, once more info is available
  • Panda Panda – Discard, draw & pass cards around to try to have a winning hand. It’s kind of like Fantasy Realms without the scoring!
  • Panda Spin – The second Panda-themed cardgame in a row, this one is by Carl Chudyk, doing a card climbing/shedding game with dual-half cards, mostly single values but some double-valued halves. If you have to pass, you flip (“spin”) the cards already played to their blue side and return them to your hand (if none were blue) or discard them (if some were blue). Some cards have special abilities. Chinese-style artwork (reminds me of Tichu cards).
  • Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles – Episodes 3 & 4 – the next 2 episodes in Perseverance. I’d love to see how the thematic and mechanical progression has been carried forward since Episode 2, though concerned about just how heavy this will be, seeing as how episodes 1 & 2 were quite the teach, and quite the ruleset to remember.
  • Ponzi Scheme – a new printing of the game from 2015 – stock market, holding and trading. Always wanted to try this, so a new printing would be an ideal time.
  • Power Grid: Outpost – A sequel / adaption of Power Grid. Looks intriguing, and I love Power Grid, so I’d be happy for a further look at this one.
  • Raas: A Dance of Love – dice drafting, tableau building game about this Indian dance style. Gear mechanisms with dice on rotate each dice platter when the whole mechanism spins. Love the theme, and the gear mechanism sounds interesting. Hopefully not as brain-melting as Tzol’kin’s gears!
  • Rainbow – climbing/shedding game. Follow set played, or play single. Cards played to trick make up the scoring cards for the next round.
  • Ratjack – Blackjack with a twist – every card has a special power that can be triggered when playing it. Nice card artwork. Looks interesting enough to keep an eye on. Available to play on BGA (in alpha).
  • Resafa – a new Vladimir Suchy game. You are a merchant travelling the lands, trying to sell your wares (goods slot onto cameeple), build up reservoirs, workshops, gardens, etc. Actions based on cards played. Lots going on, lots of interacting mechanisms. Looks interesting.
  • Restart – time-travel. Engine & tableau building. Components look great. Cards look v busy though. Nice artwork. Enough interest to make me want to learn more.
  • Revenant – A new midweight euro Mindclash game, with Ian O’Toole art, with worker placement, set in the Voidfall universe? I have to check this out…
  • Saltfjord – Lead your fishing village through the harsh Nordic winters. Bit of tile placement (upgradable personal action board), dice drafting. Mid-weight euro with a nice theme. Not sure it adds enough new, but worth more of a look.
  • Seers Catalog – A werewolf-rethemed version of Of What’s Left from Taylor Rainer of Taylor’s Trick Taking Table. Does some interesting things with trick taking.
  • SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – The new CGE game. Mid-heavy weight euro where you’re trying to look for ET. Looks great. I need a proper look to see if the mechanisms are what I want in the game.
  • Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon – Heavy euro. Competitively build up bases on the moon, with various modules to try. Lots going on, looks super crunchy.
  • Skull Queen – sequel to Skull King, one of the undisputed greats in trick taking. Skull Queen switches things up by having players bid on how many tricks they’ll win in EACH suit at the start of the game.
  • Snowcrest – LOVE the art on this. Cloth board. Card tableau builder. Interesting concepts; I’d like to learn more about it.
  • Speakeasy – The third Vital Lacerda game on this list! Currently on crowdfunding, this one looks gorgeous, as always. Theme also great.  Need to know more!
  • Station to Station – Alley Cat Games / Johnny Pac.  Steam-era pick up and deliver train game. Plan routes, hire crew, fulfil orders. Sounds like a nice midweight train-themed euro. My jam. 🙂
  • The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth – 7 Wonder Duel redone into a Lord of the Rings themed game! With added fun of a sliding progress track of the fellowship racing to Mount Doom to destroy the ring (spoiler!), but with a second sliding Black Rider on top which gets closer and closer to the fellowship as they travel. I enjoyed 7 Wonders Duel fine, but it didn’t grab me. This, however, might pull me back in.
  • The Mandalorian: Adventures – Mandalorian story exploration with missions to fulfil. Looks pretty fun.
  • Tikal Legend – The deluxe reprint/tweaking of the classic Tikal. I always wanted to play Tikal – it always looked like something I’d enjoy. And this big box deluxe edition could be just the entry point.
  • Tír na nÓg – card game of Irish folklore. Theme looks kind of pasted on, but thematic touches on card powers, and beautiful artwork warrants a second look at this. Might be too light for me, but I want to give it a look, as I’ve followed codesigner Jason Slingerland’s work for ages, on his podcast Building the Game.
  • Xylotar – trick taker (reimplementing Magic Trick) where you’re helping a polar bear learn electric guitar. Naturally. Your cards are ordered low to high but then placed facedown in a row, and you have to play tricks by ‘estimating’ what value card you’re going to play. Intriguing.

Interested in: Expansions

  • Faraway: Le Peuple du Dessous – more Faraway, and I’d love an excuse to get this one back to the table.
  • Bloodstones: Dwarves & Djinn – more Bloodstones. To be honest, I struggled with Bloodstones as it ideally needs a higher player count to get the full feel, but it’s a lot to teach as every faction is quite asymmetric. But this adds more factions and an updated solo mode, so I would like to see what it all does.
  • Lotta Rome: The Merchants – expansion to Lotta Rome, a.k.a. Rome in a Day. I quite liked the small I-Split-You-Choose game, so I’d be interested in what an expansion adds, and whether it keeps the quick 20-min game feel.
  • Sky Team: Turbulence – more Sky Team means more fun options to play with, no doubt, and this adds turbulence to the flight & landing to make things somewhat trickier.
  • The Vale of Eternity: Artifacts – I enjoyed Vale of Eternity quite a bit, but nevertheless it felt like something was missing. Hoping Artifacts adds the spice I wanted to the base game.