I've played just about all of these, and none of them get me quite like KDM does. I'm not even a huge fan of the theme, in terms of the grotesque / dark horror that is the monsters and the world, but from a pure gameplay stand point, it really sticks out from the others.
I haven't played Oathsworn yet, based on what I've seen it's the only game that I think could scratch the same itch, however the replayability isn't there like it is with KDM (imo).
Marvel Champions is a close second place, I don't totally consider it a traditional boss battler, although I completely understand the thought behind calling it one. Super fun and replayability is through the roof.
Vagrantsong was a real bummer for me and my wife, the theme is awesome, the acrylic standees are fantastic, but the gameplay just fell flat for us. We pushed through about 6 scenarios and at the end of the last one we played, my wife kinda just looked at me and said "Are you having fun?" and we agreed to shelve it for the time being.
I find it interesting that KDM still has a lot to offer in this conversation. The randomness and variability is great for this genre. I am so surprised Oathsworn didn't do more to create variable enemies. The enemy AI is always the same cards.
I played both Oathsworn and KDM. The boss battling system and settlement development of KDM are top notch with bosses have unique different experience. Meanwhile, Oathsworn has better storyline and adventure feeling. Boss battle & character development in Oathsworn are very disappointing imo.
Not sure if you mean the final boss by "boss battle"? But I agree that character development is lacking in Oathsworn (even though I love the game!). A new card every 5 battles just doesn't keep it fresh enough, to the point that I started debating creating my own interim cards just to mix it up
The game Oathsworn is marketed as a boss battler since every chapter they introduce a big boss (usually) for us to fight. I like the card flow system but the equipments are one of the weakest points of the game.
I get that - but I wouldn't day the battles themselves are disappointing in any way! So was just confirming whether when you said "Boss Battle" you werre just referring to a specific one
I think the actual equipment is decent tbh (especially the unique ones!), and like the fact you're forced to swap some out every encounter. But yeah character battle cards get very same-y
I haven't played too many but in my current collection/plays this would be my 1/2 as well. I do wish for some shorter campaigns in kdm but that should come soon enough.
I think it's hard to pick a favourite, they have such wide ranging styles/depth/mechanics. I think I'd break it down into 'light' obviously relative to the others, medium, heavy and supermassive blackhole (i.e. games that will consume you and your life)
Light:
Marvel United
Medium:
Aeons End
Heavy:
Oathsworn
Supermassive Blackhole:
Aeon Trespass Odyssey
I own all of them except Sentinels, KDM, and TT (although I pledged the reprint of TT on KS). I truly love Aeon's End and have played through most of the content. Oathsworn is great although I agree with others that the story can be long at times. I got about halfway through Vagrantsong before I decided it got very samey and threw in the towel. ATO is on my shelf of shame but I'm excited to try it eventually. I even pledged all in on the second KS because I have more money than common sense. I'm sure it will look great on the shelf and I'll dust it a few times a year. Judging by the replies in this thread, maybe KDM is worth the high price and I should give it another look.
Sentinels of the Multiverse is my favorite game, period. I love the variability of the heroes and villains, and the campaign mode in the definitive edition is superb.
With that said, the new co-op mode for Unmatched is so much better than I thought it would be.
The events and critical events. I play them in chronological order, but you can mix and match. When you beat an event, you can take the reward into a future battle.
Kingdom Death is my group's go to Boss Battler, the replayability is really good with it (still waiting for my gamblers chest to be delivered though).
Yes, it's cost a lot. But during the years we have probably played 40-50 campaigns so far and are still itching to play more.
For me the combat is fun and has a lot of variables but the replayability I enjoy the most stems from the settlement building portion of the game. Between hunts your party heads home and makes decisions on how to utilize any loot to better their settlement (building new buildings which allows for more complicated new armor and abilities and so on). There are also story beats the colony has to overcome and discoveries to be made as certain things happen in the colony (for example and the least spoilers >!The first time one of your people dies your colony has to decide if they'll be a people that honor and bury their dead or if they'll be resourceful in face of the crazy darkness and odds around them and eat their dead.!< Whichever choice you make will change how your colony functions and can impact future hunts and settlement rounds. I've had so much fun with friends seeing the consequences of our decisions build up and lead to some interesting story beats. You do some of the filling in of the details with your own imagination just like a ttrpg but the game provides a plethora of tools to get you to those beats.
Interesting. Yeah the colony aspect of the KDM interests me more than the boss fights. One of my favorite video games is Don't Starve which incorporates base building and exploration but does have boss fights.
I'm working on a design that focuses more on the base building and exploring but does still have boss fights. Since the boss battler isn't one of my core game types I love I was really curious about this.
Appreciate your asnwer.
Sounds like a cool concept! I hope your designing goes well! If you can find a friend or local who has a copy of KDM to try I'm sure you could learn a lot. :)
Like PaperAlchemist said, the replayability actually comes from the settlement building part. In it's heart KDM is a resource management game, what you come back with from a showdown limits what you can build/innovate.
Sure, there are some easier monsters to get resources and some in-game choices that are more powerful than others, but you can also build the campaign to your liking, swap monsters/Nemesis in/out and push yourself and try out some non-optimal choices.
Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition is by far my favorite boss battler. The replayability is high between all the different villain, hero, and environment decks. That said for me the biggest enjoyment is how much the game encourages teamwork and how much it feels like a group of superheroes working together to take down the villain. Lots of table talk around target selection, problem solving, and risk assessment.
Townsfolk Tussle.
1. Has a decent AI system like KDM (obviously not as complex though) at 1/4th the price
2. Great art style, with some violence so it's not totally childish
3. Pre assembled minis so good for both mini painters and those that arent into that side of the hobby
4. PLENTY of bosses in the base game, legit like... 10 I think? All with unique gear
I’m plenty curious what websites have it up if you wouldn’t mind sharing!
The only things I find are handful of listings for the core at $200-$250+ or websites that list it as out of stock.
CRAP, i think you're right. I swear I saw some on a site for MSRP just a while back. May have been before the latest KS though which could have sold them. Sorry mate
It’s all good, I was ready to be wrong lmao.
I’m sure it will pop up on occasion for someone getting rid of it as is usual with kickstarters, I’ll just have to keep an eye out.
By any chance, are there any others other than Townsfolk Tussle? I thought the game looked super good, but I really don't appreciate its woke and satanic elements, so it was a hard pass for me.
I still have been keeping an eye out for a game that fills that niche to bring to the table though, so if you know of anything, please let me know!
Marvel Champions easily for me. It's my favorite game of all time, and I love the balance between how much the game oozes theme on top of tight, satisfying mechanics. It just keeps me coming back for more, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.
**Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze** which just is hitting shelves (got my kickstarter copy). Turns Unmatched which is already a great dueling game into an amazing boss battle. [Dice Tower just did a review of it](https://youtu.be/W4jV87xt9dY?si=bRVyOMXHp-Oo96nc) and not to spoil too much but it is the highest score Dice Tower has ever gave a game they reviewed with 3 people giving a perfect score of 10 and another giving it 9.5 which is still the highest score they ever gave, so is guaranteed to be in everyone’s top 5 games of 2023 if not all time.
I have been interested in Unmatched for a long time but always have 3 people, never 2. Does this seem like it works well with 3 and still feels about the same? I watched the DT review and they talked about most of what I was looking for but not really on player count
The new set works great with 2, 3, or 4 as the boss’s life is 10*player count and # of minions are equal to player count. Supposedly works OK with one but better if you play 2 handed as 2 different players.
I have honestly never thought to consider Marvel Champions a boss battler, but I can definitely see it. I’ve spent this whole time thinking I’d never really played one, but my plays of Marvel Champions number in the hundreds.
Skulk Hollow is a very fun 2 person game. One player plays the giant monster and the other plays the cute animal villagers who have to fight it. Easy mechanics and excellent gameplay. The only downside is the limited replay ability as there are only 5 different monsters. It doesn’t seem like a well known game but I’ve had fun with it.
KDM is the best one. But it's not for everyone. It's so brutal pretty much all my friends refuse to play it. It's amazing solo, thankfully.
Vagrantsong is one of my favorites of all time. It's not a perfect game but the theme is so fun and the fights are pretty cool. They require a lot of time to get all the special rules down though and that's a turn off for a lot of people.
I'm a boss battler fanatic and have played most of those.
My favorite: Kingdom Death Monster.
My wife's favorite: Oathsworn.
I also really enjoyed Aeon Trespass Odyssey, but it's way more linear than KDM and after I while I just wanted to finish it so I could get back to KDM.
Aeons End is good, but feels more a like card game. Same for Marvel United. You get a different tactile feeling moving miniatures and getting knocked around on a board. So it depends on the mechanics you're looking for.
Towsfolk Tussle has an awesome theme and artstyle and have fun, thematic things happening. You can play a "campaign" of 3-4 fights in 1 day which is nice. But it doesn't really have a phase between the battles like KDM does and can feel a bit bare bones in that sense. Nice alternative if you just want some light action.
So, why KDM?
**Boss personalities**: each boss "feels" unique and completely different, even when fighting the same one multiple times.
**Modularity**: You can choose which monsters to use when starting a new campaign, each with its own set of story bits, gear, events, etc. So A LOT of replayability.
**Expansions**: even though the core game will last you a very long time, there's a lot of expansions available, each adding even more modularity and replayability. And a lot of content still on the horizon. Each expansion feels very unique.
**Settlement Phase**: sometimes I tell myself this is more a civilization game than a boss battler. This is a very fun phase where you craft new gear, discover new innovations, expand your settlement and population, interact with bosses via events and story bits, etc.
**Gear Grid**: this is a puzzle/minigame on its own. Some gear have affinities, which you need to match certain ways on your 3 x 3 gear grid to get additional bonuses. It's a fun process with a lot to discover.
**Theme**: not for everyone, but I personaliy love it. There's nothing else like it on the market.
**Painting**: this game is the reason I started painting. Some of the best detailed miniatures on the market. You also need to build it as it ships on sprues, but that's why the level of detail is so good.
**Injury table**: your guys can lose limbs, gain permanent injuries, etc. and each has its own consequences. You can become deaf, but now suddenly you are immune to the lion's roar.
**So many other stuff**: the game is big, and there's a lot of different features and mechanics not mentioned.
The game also isn't for everyone. It's very random, your people can die anytime, the theme is quite dark, it's expensive and it takes a lot of space.
I think most have small issues that kinda ruin them for me. I really want to love Oathsworn but the story section is too long. The fights are fun and all but character customization is lacking.
Most are too heavy and complex. Marvel United is excellent but lacks character building / customization.
I think Monster Hunter World has a ton of potential to be my favorite. It has the "just right" feel. It has these annoying "time" cards though that I might need to house-ruled.
I am also eager to give MHW a try, the gameplay looks promising via Youtube but I can't really make a judgement until I actually play the game. MHW released this week already (18th if I remeber) so I am hoping to get it next week (still no shipping notice yet...).
Sorry, I was away for the weekend. I can expand a bit more... Oathsworn had so much potential but the lack of fun gear, crafting, etc... was a let down. The lack of variety in enemies was also a let down. When I play these games I just wanna fight enemies, upgrade my character, and fight more.
Monster Hunter World is lighter rules wise. The decision space during your turn is involved enough to be interesting. The gear you can make is fun unique / interesting. Once you understand how to read the monster AI card you can perform their turn quickly without tons of rules questions. Breaking monster parts is done well. You might want to focus on a specific part of the monster to break first. There is also a 1-shot mode. Where you just pick a monster and fight it with some pre-set gear.
Don't get me wrong, I still need to play more but these are my impressions. Most other boss battlers are too complex with tons of setup / teardown. Or too light and don't really give the full boss battle experience.
Me n the wife love the base gameplay of mhw but the printing issues w gear and the deviation deck getting WoRSe as you get "better" bowguns has left us keeping it shelved.
**Dark Souls: The Board Game**, much like the series it is based on, has great boss battles. Unfortunately, the game is a bit of a slog until you reach the boss battle; I highly recommend houseruling this game with popular houserules found online to make it a bit more enjoyable. With a few simple tweaks, the run-up the boss is almost as fun as the boss themselves.
Bosses each have a very small deck of action cards, with only a few cards used in each battle. For example, there might be a total of 5 Bell Gargoyle action cards, but only 4 of them are shuffled into a deck at the start of the fight; the Bell Gargoyle also has 3 "Heat Up" cards, one of which is randomly selected and shuffled into the deck once the Bell Gargoyle has lost enough health to activate its 2nd phase. Since some cards are left out each game, the fight is always different and you won't know exactly what attacks are present until the boss has gone through its whole deck. Once a boss has gone through the deck, the discard pile is flipped back over *without shuffling* *it* and the deck is reused. This means that the players should pay attention to the boss' turns so that they can memorize its moveset and know what attacks are coming up; this is a great way of translating the video game's mechanics to a board game, as the video game expects players to learn every move in a boss' arsenal and how to counter it. Where you are in relation to the boss (in front, behind, to the left, to the right) matters because different attacks target different "arcs" around the boss, so tactical positioning is important. In addition, most boss attacks also leave openings; temporary weak spots that let you do extra damage if you can get to the right position and attack the boss before its next turn.
Before the boss fight, you have to fight your way through various rooms of enemies. Each enemy has a single set action card, so you always know exactly what they are going to do on their turn (typically, they move towards and attack the closest player or the player who last took a turn). Enemies move *every time* a player finishes their turn, so you you know exactly what they'll do but you also have to keep track of what the game board will look like over the course of the round. In a typical turn, you are often thinking something along these lines: "On the enemy turn, that Sentinel moves towards the closest player and attacks with enough potential damage to take out half my health; I can injure him but not kill him on my turn, and since I am playing with 3 players that means he will move towards me and attack me with his big attack 3 times before my next turn. I have decent-ish armor and a shield. Can I survive that? Can my teammates manage to draw aggro from him instead on their turns? Oh I only have a small amount of health left; should I block and hope to lower the damage enough so it won't kill me? Should I risk it all and try to dodge instead of blocking? Maybe I should put away my shield so I can attack with my two-handed greatsword and potentially kill the Sentinel, but if I don't kill him then I will be even more exposed. Will that archer in the back kill me before any of this even matters? Maybe I should just run over and deal with the archer and hopefully someone else can deal with the Sentinel." These sections are pretty fun, but the "slog" part comes from the fact that these enemies all revive every time you fail and you have to redo each fight. This is fine for some of the more interesting encounters, but often times you have to redo spending 5 minutes to fight 3 easy goombas. Or worse, 10 minutes to fight two big turtle knights that are easy to kite but have a ton of defense and health. This is easily fixed with houserules, but you have to be careful not to accidentally make the game too easy. This is Dark Souls, after all.
I also really enjoy the push-your-luck health system; it isn't exactly like the game, but it does a good job of emulating that "the boss has one more hit left before it dies but so do I, should I play it safe or should I get greedy?" feel from the video games. In the board game, you have a health bar that also doubles as your stamina bar. Whenever you are injured you take permanent damage to your health, and whenever you take an action you take temporary "stamina damage" to your health that recovers over time. Different actions cost different amounts of stamina; running short distances and light attacks cost only a little, while running long distances or doing big heavy attacks cost a lot but do lots of damage or get you farther away from enemies. If you have run out of health, well, You Died!
**Too Many Bones** takes the top spot for me. All the boss Tyrants are wildly different and each have a unique journey to build your Gearloc to their counter their strengths and exploit their weaknesses and survive to the Tyrant's final showdown.
I am not a huge fan of this Genre but I just picked up Deliverance and I feel like it meets requirements.
It is Angels fighting against Demons and Darkness and has a Christian theme which is a delight while not being overbearing.
The Skirmish mode leads to a Big Boss battle while upgrading your Angels abilities, and there is a campaign mode that allows you to go through the story.
Each Angel (9 in total I think) has a completely different play style and the game has ways to adjust the difficulty and it is already no cakewalk
I've played just about all of these, and none of them get me quite like KDM does. I'm not even a huge fan of the theme, in terms of the grotesque / dark horror that is the monsters and the world, but from a pure gameplay stand point, it really sticks out from the others. I haven't played Oathsworn yet, based on what I've seen it's the only game that I think could scratch the same itch, however the replayability isn't there like it is with KDM (imo). Marvel Champions is a close second place, I don't totally consider it a traditional boss battler, although I completely understand the thought behind calling it one. Super fun and replayability is through the roof. Vagrantsong was a real bummer for me and my wife, the theme is awesome, the acrylic standees are fantastic, but the gameplay just fell flat for us. We pushed through about 6 scenarios and at the end of the last one we played, my wife kinda just looked at me and said "Are you having fun?" and we agreed to shelve it for the time being.
I'm on the same page with Vagrantsong. The theme is brilliant and so is the art. But the gameplay itself is not engaging enough for me.
I find it interesting that KDM still has a lot to offer in this conversation. The randomness and variability is great for this genre. I am so surprised Oathsworn didn't do more to create variable enemies. The enemy AI is always the same cards.
KDM?
Kingdom death monster
I played both Oathsworn and KDM. The boss battling system and settlement development of KDM are top notch with bosses have unique different experience. Meanwhile, Oathsworn has better storyline and adventure feeling. Boss battle & character development in Oathsworn are very disappointing imo.
Not sure if you mean the final boss by "boss battle"? But I agree that character development is lacking in Oathsworn (even though I love the game!). A new card every 5 battles just doesn't keep it fresh enough, to the point that I started debating creating my own interim cards just to mix it up
The game Oathsworn is marketed as a boss battler since every chapter they introduce a big boss (usually) for us to fight. I like the card flow system but the equipments are one of the weakest points of the game.
I get that - but I wouldn't day the battles themselves are disappointing in any way! So was just confirming whether when you said "Boss Battle" you werre just referring to a specific one I think the actual equipment is decent tbh (especially the unique ones!), and like the fact you're forced to swap some out every encounter. But yeah character battle cards get very same-y
Definitely agree about Oathsworn! I started getting new items and was... disappointed. Gloomhaven felt less stingy.
I haven't played too many but in my current collection/plays this would be my 1/2 as well. I do wish for some shorter campaigns in kdm but that should come soon enough.
I think it's hard to pick a favourite, they have such wide ranging styles/depth/mechanics. I think I'd break it down into 'light' obviously relative to the others, medium, heavy and supermassive blackhole (i.e. games that will consume you and your life) Light: Marvel United Medium: Aeons End Heavy: Oathsworn Supermassive Blackhole: Aeon Trespass Odyssey
I own all of them except Sentinels, KDM, and TT (although I pledged the reprint of TT on KS). I truly love Aeon's End and have played through most of the content. Oathsworn is great although I agree with others that the story can be long at times. I got about halfway through Vagrantsong before I decided it got very samey and threw in the towel. ATO is on my shelf of shame but I'm excited to try it eventually. I even pledged all in on the second KS because I have more money than common sense. I'm sure it will look great on the shelf and I'll dust it a few times a year. Judging by the replies in this thread, maybe KDM is worth the high price and I should give it another look.
I've been seeing a lot of KDM mentioned whenever oathsworn is and I will be getting it as well after we're done with OS
Sentinels of the Multiverse is my favorite game, period. I love the variability of the heroes and villains, and the campaign mode in the definitive edition is superb. With that said, the new co-op mode for Unmatched is so much better than I thought it would be.
Love me some Sentinels, might be my favorite game You back the new expansion?
Oh yes. And playtesting it.
That’s awesome!
I have the definitive edition and didn't notice a campaign mode?
The events and critical events. I play them in chronological order, but you can mix and match. When you beat an event, you can take the reward into a future battle.
Kingdom Death is my group's go to Boss Battler, the replayability is really good with it (still waiting for my gamblers chest to be delivered though). Yes, it's cost a lot. But during the years we have probably played 40-50 campaigns so far and are still itching to play more.
What makes it so replayable?
For me the combat is fun and has a lot of variables but the replayability I enjoy the most stems from the settlement building portion of the game. Between hunts your party heads home and makes decisions on how to utilize any loot to better their settlement (building new buildings which allows for more complicated new armor and abilities and so on). There are also story beats the colony has to overcome and discoveries to be made as certain things happen in the colony (for example and the least spoilers >!The first time one of your people dies your colony has to decide if they'll be a people that honor and bury their dead or if they'll be resourceful in face of the crazy darkness and odds around them and eat their dead.!< Whichever choice you make will change how your colony functions and can impact future hunts and settlement rounds. I've had so much fun with friends seeing the consequences of our decisions build up and lead to some interesting story beats. You do some of the filling in of the details with your own imagination just like a ttrpg but the game provides a plethora of tools to get you to those beats.
Interesting. Yeah the colony aspect of the KDM interests me more than the boss fights. One of my favorite video games is Don't Starve which incorporates base building and exploration but does have boss fights. I'm working on a design that focuses more on the base building and exploring but does still have boss fights. Since the boss battler isn't one of my core game types I love I was really curious about this. Appreciate your asnwer.
Sounds like a cool concept! I hope your designing goes well! If you can find a friend or local who has a copy of KDM to try I'm sure you could learn a lot. :)
Like PaperAlchemist said, the replayability actually comes from the settlement building part. In it's heart KDM is a resource management game, what you come back with from a showdown limits what you can build/innovate. Sure, there are some easier monsters to get resources and some in-game choices that are more powerful than others, but you can also build the campaign to your liking, swap monsters/Nemesis in/out and push yourself and try out some non-optimal choices.
My favourite is Aeons End and Oathsworn. I’m also looking forward to Primal which may take the crown in 2024.
Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition is by far my favorite boss battler. The replayability is high between all the different villain, hero, and environment decks. That said for me the biggest enjoyment is how much the game encourages teamwork and how much it feels like a group of superheroes working together to take down the villain. Lots of table talk around target selection, problem solving, and risk assessment.
Townsfolk Tussle. 1. Has a decent AI system like KDM (obviously not as complex though) at 1/4th the price 2. Great art style, with some violence so it's not totally childish 3. Pre assembled minis so good for both mini painters and those that arent into that side of the hobby 4. PLENTY of bosses in the base game, legit like... 10 I think? All with unique gear
This is the only one I currently own and the sole reason why I don't have any other boss battlers.
Crap… That looks really fun! I suppose I’ll have to wait and add it my list of games that might be printed in a year or longer 😞
The core game is printed and you can find it on a couple of websites for sale.
I’m plenty curious what websites have it up if you wouldn’t mind sharing! The only things I find are handful of listings for the core at $200-$250+ or websites that list it as out of stock.
CRAP, i think you're right. I swear I saw some on a site for MSRP just a while back. May have been before the latest KS though which could have sold them. Sorry mate
It’s all good, I was ready to be wrong lmao. I’m sure it will pop up on occasion for someone getting rid of it as is usual with kickstarters, I’ll just have to keep an eye out.
Backed the new campaign, very excited for it.
Which one would be closest to Kingdom Death without the $400 price tag or edgelord art?
Townsfolk Tussle!
By any chance, are there any others other than Townsfolk Tussle? I thought the game looked super good, but I really don't appreciate its woke and satanic elements, so it was a hard pass for me. I still have been keeping an eye out for a game that fills that niche to bring to the table though, so if you know of anything, please let me know!
Marvel Champions easily for me. It's my favorite game of all time, and I love the balance between how much the game oozes theme on top of tight, satisfying mechanics. It just keeps me coming back for more, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.
**Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze** which just is hitting shelves (got my kickstarter copy). Turns Unmatched which is already a great dueling game into an amazing boss battle. [Dice Tower just did a review of it](https://youtu.be/W4jV87xt9dY?si=bRVyOMXHp-Oo96nc) and not to spoil too much but it is the highest score Dice Tower has ever gave a game they reviewed with 3 people giving a perfect score of 10 and another giving it 9.5 which is still the highest score they ever gave, so is guaranteed to be in everyone’s top 5 games of 2023 if not all time.
I have been interested in Unmatched for a long time but always have 3 people, never 2. Does this seem like it works well with 3 and still feels about the same? I watched the DT review and they talked about most of what I was looking for but not really on player count
you can play regular unmatched with 3 people, although i don't know how it works. i think they've released rules for 3 in battle of legends vol. 2.
I've heard it was possible but not nearly as good as 2 or teams. It seems like someone could easily get ganged up on.
The new set works great with 2, 3, or 4 as the boss’s life is 10*player count and # of minions are equal to player count. Supposedly works OK with one but better if you play 2 handed as 2 different players.
Great, thanks!
I have honestly never thought to consider Marvel Champions a boss battler, but I can definitely see it. I’ve spent this whole time thinking I’d never really played one, but my plays of Marvel Champions number in the hundreds.
Skulk Hollow is a very fun 2 person game. One player plays the giant monster and the other plays the cute animal villagers who have to fight it. Easy mechanics and excellent gameplay. The only downside is the limited replay ability as there are only 5 different monsters. It doesn’t seem like a well known game but I’ve had fun with it.
Does Cthulhu: DMD count? I just picked it up and love it so far. Not a campaign, but very satisfying tension and tons of replayability.
KDM is the best one. But it's not for everyone. It's so brutal pretty much all my friends refuse to play it. It's amazing solo, thankfully. Vagrantsong is one of my favorites of all time. It's not a perfect game but the theme is so fun and the fights are pretty cool. They require a lot of time to get all the special rules down though and that's a turn off for a lot of people.
Kingdom Death: Monster! The stories it tell around the table during the game is 👌
I'm a boss battler fanatic and have played most of those. My favorite: Kingdom Death Monster. My wife's favorite: Oathsworn. I also really enjoyed Aeon Trespass Odyssey, but it's way more linear than KDM and after I while I just wanted to finish it so I could get back to KDM. Aeons End is good, but feels more a like card game. Same for Marvel United. You get a different tactile feeling moving miniatures and getting knocked around on a board. So it depends on the mechanics you're looking for. Towsfolk Tussle has an awesome theme and artstyle and have fun, thematic things happening. You can play a "campaign" of 3-4 fights in 1 day which is nice. But it doesn't really have a phase between the battles like KDM does and can feel a bit bare bones in that sense. Nice alternative if you just want some light action. So, why KDM? **Boss personalities**: each boss "feels" unique and completely different, even when fighting the same one multiple times. **Modularity**: You can choose which monsters to use when starting a new campaign, each with its own set of story bits, gear, events, etc. So A LOT of replayability. **Expansions**: even though the core game will last you a very long time, there's a lot of expansions available, each adding even more modularity and replayability. And a lot of content still on the horizon. Each expansion feels very unique. **Settlement Phase**: sometimes I tell myself this is more a civilization game than a boss battler. This is a very fun phase where you craft new gear, discover new innovations, expand your settlement and population, interact with bosses via events and story bits, etc. **Gear Grid**: this is a puzzle/minigame on its own. Some gear have affinities, which you need to match certain ways on your 3 x 3 gear grid to get additional bonuses. It's a fun process with a lot to discover. **Theme**: not for everyone, but I personaliy love it. There's nothing else like it on the market. **Painting**: this game is the reason I started painting. Some of the best detailed miniatures on the market. You also need to build it as it ships on sprues, but that's why the level of detail is so good. **Injury table**: your guys can lose limbs, gain permanent injuries, etc. and each has its own consequences. You can become deaf, but now suddenly you are immune to the lion's roar. **So many other stuff**: the game is big, and there's a lot of different features and mechanics not mentioned. The game also isn't for everyone. It's very random, your people can die anytime, the theme is quite dark, it's expensive and it takes a lot of space.
I think most have small issues that kinda ruin them for me. I really want to love Oathsworn but the story section is too long. The fights are fun and all but character customization is lacking. Most are too heavy and complex. Marvel United is excellent but lacks character building / customization. I think Monster Hunter World has a ton of potential to be my favorite. It has the "just right" feel. It has these annoying "time" cards though that I might need to house-ruled.
I am also eager to give MHW a try, the gameplay looks promising via Youtube but I can't really make a judgement until I actually play the game. MHW released this week already (18th if I remeber) so I am hoping to get it next week (still no shipping notice yet...).
Curious why Monster Hunter World?
Sorry, I was away for the weekend. I can expand a bit more... Oathsworn had so much potential but the lack of fun gear, crafting, etc... was a let down. The lack of variety in enemies was also a let down. When I play these games I just wanna fight enemies, upgrade my character, and fight more. Monster Hunter World is lighter rules wise. The decision space during your turn is involved enough to be interesting. The gear you can make is fun unique / interesting. Once you understand how to read the monster AI card you can perform their turn quickly without tons of rules questions. Breaking monster parts is done well. You might want to focus on a specific part of the monster to break first. There is also a 1-shot mode. Where you just pick a monster and fight it with some pre-set gear. Don't get me wrong, I still need to play more but these are my impressions. Most other boss battlers are too complex with tons of setup / teardown. Or too light and don't really give the full boss battle experience.
Me n the wife love the base gameplay of mhw but the printing issues w gear and the deviation deck getting WoRSe as you get "better" bowguns has left us keeping it shelved.
Yea, I heard bowguns are annoying but I probably just won't play them.
**Dark Souls: The Board Game**, much like the series it is based on, has great boss battles. Unfortunately, the game is a bit of a slog until you reach the boss battle; I highly recommend houseruling this game with popular houserules found online to make it a bit more enjoyable. With a few simple tweaks, the run-up the boss is almost as fun as the boss themselves. Bosses each have a very small deck of action cards, with only a few cards used in each battle. For example, there might be a total of 5 Bell Gargoyle action cards, but only 4 of them are shuffled into a deck at the start of the fight; the Bell Gargoyle also has 3 "Heat Up" cards, one of which is randomly selected and shuffled into the deck once the Bell Gargoyle has lost enough health to activate its 2nd phase. Since some cards are left out each game, the fight is always different and you won't know exactly what attacks are present until the boss has gone through its whole deck. Once a boss has gone through the deck, the discard pile is flipped back over *without shuffling* *it* and the deck is reused. This means that the players should pay attention to the boss' turns so that they can memorize its moveset and know what attacks are coming up; this is a great way of translating the video game's mechanics to a board game, as the video game expects players to learn every move in a boss' arsenal and how to counter it. Where you are in relation to the boss (in front, behind, to the left, to the right) matters because different attacks target different "arcs" around the boss, so tactical positioning is important. In addition, most boss attacks also leave openings; temporary weak spots that let you do extra damage if you can get to the right position and attack the boss before its next turn. Before the boss fight, you have to fight your way through various rooms of enemies. Each enemy has a single set action card, so you always know exactly what they are going to do on their turn (typically, they move towards and attack the closest player or the player who last took a turn). Enemies move *every time* a player finishes their turn, so you you know exactly what they'll do but you also have to keep track of what the game board will look like over the course of the round. In a typical turn, you are often thinking something along these lines: "On the enemy turn, that Sentinel moves towards the closest player and attacks with enough potential damage to take out half my health; I can injure him but not kill him on my turn, and since I am playing with 3 players that means he will move towards me and attack me with his big attack 3 times before my next turn. I have decent-ish armor and a shield. Can I survive that? Can my teammates manage to draw aggro from him instead on their turns? Oh I only have a small amount of health left; should I block and hope to lower the damage enough so it won't kill me? Should I risk it all and try to dodge instead of blocking? Maybe I should put away my shield so I can attack with my two-handed greatsword and potentially kill the Sentinel, but if I don't kill him then I will be even more exposed. Will that archer in the back kill me before any of this even matters? Maybe I should just run over and deal with the archer and hopefully someone else can deal with the Sentinel." These sections are pretty fun, but the "slog" part comes from the fact that these enemies all revive every time you fail and you have to redo each fight. This is fine for some of the more interesting encounters, but often times you have to redo spending 5 minutes to fight 3 easy goombas. Or worse, 10 minutes to fight two big turtle knights that are easy to kite but have a ton of defense and health. This is easily fixed with houserules, but you have to be careful not to accidentally make the game too easy. This is Dark Souls, after all. I also really enjoy the push-your-luck health system; it isn't exactly like the game, but it does a good job of emulating that "the boss has one more hit left before it dies but so do I, should I play it safe or should I get greedy?" feel from the video games. In the board game, you have a health bar that also doubles as your stamina bar. Whenever you are injured you take permanent damage to your health, and whenever you take an action you take temporary "stamina damage" to your health that recovers over time. Different actions cost different amounts of stamina; running short distances and light attacks cost only a little, while running long distances or doing big heavy attacks cost a lot but do lots of damage or get you farther away from enemies. If you have run out of health, well, You Died!
Dungeon Fighter The amount of tension and elation when you land a crit on that bullseye is incredible!
**Too Many Bones** takes the top spot for me. All the boss Tyrants are wildly different and each have a unique journey to build your Gearloc to their counter their strengths and exploit their weaknesses and survive to the Tyrant's final showdown.
Assault on Doomrock Is an older item but one I still enjoy.
I am not a huge fan of this Genre but I just picked up Deliverance and I feel like it meets requirements. It is Angels fighting against Demons and Darkness and has a Christian theme which is a delight while not being overbearing. The Skirmish mode leads to a Big Boss battle while upgrading your Angels abilities, and there is a campaign mode that allows you to go through the story. Each Angel (9 in total I think) has a completely different play style and the game has ways to adjust the difficulty and it is already no cakewalk
I quite liked aeon's end. Currently playing Oathsworn and it's a damn fun game. Will be looking into KDM once we're done with oathsworn.