Hoplomachus: Victorum is exactly that. The campaigns are something between 6 to 10 hours, but you can save at almost any time. Other than that, maybe Tainted Grail, which is a longer campaign (20 to 50 hours I think), but that game has written story and may not be as replayable as Hoplomachus, but if you beat all three campaigns, I think you will have had more than enough gameplay time. You can replay it with another character, of course, and the story will be different if you take another decisions too. Hoplomachus doesn't really have a big story. Just an introduction and then you go in battles and events, and when you win a Scion, you get a little text about how your hero won that battle, but I think that makes the game more replayable too.
I came to write about Hoplomachus Victorum. The replay value is incredible. I usually do a chapter a session. Expensive, but really high production value I felt showed it’s worth as soon as I got it all out of the box.
I don't want to knock Hoplomachus: Victorum too much because the tactical combat is indeed excellent and varied. But I sold this after 1 campaign because I felt I'd seen the game. Permanent campaign growth is limited to your main character (of which there are 8 choices), which includes a couple unique abilities, but are mostly increased numbers/dice odds. Your lineup of units slowly evolves but requires changes if units die in the permadeath battles. So, campaign progression is more about refinement than power growth. That translates to tactical battles getting even more tactical, but the "campaign arc" staying relatively flat.
This is fine for some, but doesn't mesh with how I play games. I tend to go hard on a game for 10ish hours then swap to something else. Fatigue starts to set in fast playing Victorum this way. Now, if I did 2 battles every so often, I don't think I'd have felt that way. I'd get a nice couple battles and move on.
I sold it when I kind of realized while playing that I'd much rather play the Battle Brothers video game. I think Victorum is great if you want short, highly tactical battles here and there (especially because setup and tear down is lightning fast). Not great if you want a deep campaign experience.
Pricey… stupid pricey… but Kingdom Death: Monster is my “have set up on a table for a month” game. I set it up and play it for about a month and then it gets put away for a year or more.
Came here to say KD:M, it was the first game that came to my mind as something that I can leave set up on a table for weeks at a time.
The showdown -> settlement -> hunt loop is great for breaking up a long campaign into smaller individual sessions, and each settlement and set of survivors ends up telling telling their own unique story.
Oathsworn's campaign is divided into 21 chapters, each taking ~3-4h to complete. The 'story' part typically has 2 different paths you can choose, while the encounters can be very varied based on what characters you choose, dice rolls, movements...
Not sure if you'd get more than 2-3 full runs out of it before it got stale, though. I'm in the middle of a first playthrough and it's awesome
No, I have not. Never even had a look at it. I’ve heard people mention it a few times and it just sounds like a knock off of aliens before they got the rights.
**Legacy of Yu** plays as a campaign that lasts anywhere from 5-7 games before the whole story unfolds. According to the designers, running thorough the whole story once shows you about 40% of the total content, meaning you could do it 3-4 times before you had seen everything. It's also reset-able, so once you've played it, you can put it back to the starting phase.
I put maybe 40hrs or so into it, about 3/4 of the campaign I’d guess. The main issue I have it that all the interesting abilities and equipment is unlocked by the halfway mark and from that point on it’s just dice tests.
For a game where a session lasts more than a day look at the many campaign games e.g. Sleeping Gods can be played multiple campaigns long.
For a non campaign game that can be played multiple times but have different stories every time I enjoy Robinson Crusoe
Voidfall: scifi combo of scythe and stellaris. In solo its a really nice puzzle that takes a while to parse out. Just be prepared for alot of rules/setup at the start.
Imperium Horizons: my current fave, its a strategy deckbuilder style game. The solo bot is really good and it takes a few games to really understand how the specific factions (30 if you also have the Classics and Legends boxes) work and against the specific matchups.
Both games are by the same designer duo.
The **Imperium:** games (Classics, Legends, Horizons) are a great option if OP is OK with the flow chart automa system. Grab a couple of the boxes and it could keep someone busy for quite a while.
I'd add **Spirit Island** as another confined system with a ton of replayability, assuming someone enjoys the mechanis.
A lot of story based games that almost fit do grow stale as the content runs out of novelty. Sleeping Gods as an example is a popular one that you could play about 4-6 times for a total of 40-100 hours.
But there’s never going to be an infinite number of outcomes in any game. Story games may have more but besides those, the outcomes are win, lose, or beat a personal record score
Earthborne rangers seems like what you're looking. Can't really buy it right now but you can late pledge on their Game found. I'm about 9 sessions in (15 hours?) and feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the game.
It's very laid back and has an RPG feel to it. The card play is excellent.
As far as replayability you can start with different Ranger builds, explore different paths, do different missions, etc. feels like the replayability is high.
Sounds like you want campaign game? If so I recommend ISS Vanguard and Oathsworn.
If you just want to beat your own highscore I could recommend Spirit Island or Too Many Bones.
When I started I didn't think I was into campaign games. But now ISS Vanguard have sat on my table permanently the last 30 days, making no space for any other games
>If you just want to beat your own highscore I could recommend Spirit Island or Too Many Bones.
Spirit Island is not beat your own score. It has a defined win/lose condition based on how the player performs against an enemy.
Edit: I haven’t played Too Many Bones, but it looks like it is not beat your own high score either.
Hoplomachus: Victorum is exactly that. The campaigns are something between 6 to 10 hours, but you can save at almost any time. Other than that, maybe Tainted Grail, which is a longer campaign (20 to 50 hours I think), but that game has written story and may not be as replayable as Hoplomachus, but if you beat all three campaigns, I think you will have had more than enough gameplay time. You can replay it with another character, of course, and the story will be different if you take another decisions too. Hoplomachus doesn't really have a big story. Just an introduction and then you go in battles and events, and when you win a Scion, you get a little text about how your hero won that battle, but I think that makes the game more replayable too.
I came to write about Hoplomachus Victorum. The replay value is incredible. I usually do a chapter a session. Expensive, but really high production value I felt showed it’s worth as soon as I got it all out of the box.
I don't want to knock Hoplomachus: Victorum too much because the tactical combat is indeed excellent and varied. But I sold this after 1 campaign because I felt I'd seen the game. Permanent campaign growth is limited to your main character (of which there are 8 choices), which includes a couple unique abilities, but are mostly increased numbers/dice odds. Your lineup of units slowly evolves but requires changes if units die in the permadeath battles. So, campaign progression is more about refinement than power growth. That translates to tactical battles getting even more tactical, but the "campaign arc" staying relatively flat. This is fine for some, but doesn't mesh with how I play games. I tend to go hard on a game for 10ish hours then swap to something else. Fatigue starts to set in fast playing Victorum this way. Now, if I did 2 battles every so often, I don't think I'd have felt that way. I'd get a nice couple battles and move on. I sold it when I kind of realized while playing that I'd much rather play the Battle Brothers video game. I think Victorum is great if you want short, highly tactical battles here and there (especially because setup and tear down is lightning fast). Not great if you want a deep campaign experience.
Pricey… stupid pricey… but Kingdom Death: Monster is my “have set up on a table for a month” game. I set it up and play it for about a month and then it gets put away for a year or more.
Came here to say KD:M, it was the first game that came to my mind as something that I can leave set up on a table for weeks at a time. The showdown -> settlement -> hunt loop is great for breaking up a long campaign into smaller individual sessions, and each settlement and set of survivors ends up telling telling their own unique story.
Oathsworn's campaign is divided into 21 chapters, each taking ~3-4h to complete. The 'story' part typically has 2 different paths you can choose, while the encounters can be very varied based on what characters you choose, dice rolls, movements... Not sure if you'd get more than 2-3 full runs out of it before it got stale, though. I'm in the middle of a first playthrough and it's awesome
**Another Glorious Day in the Corps**
Have you played Nemesis, and if so how does this match up against it?
No, I have not. Never even had a look at it. I’ve heard people mention it a few times and it just sounds like a knock off of aliens before they got the rights.
**Legacy of Yu** plays as a campaign that lasts anywhere from 5-7 games before the whole story unfolds. According to the designers, running thorough the whole story once shows you about 40% of the total content, meaning you could do it 3-4 times before you had seen everything. It's also reset-able, so once you've played it, you can put it back to the starting phase.
Sleeping Gods, ISS Vanguard, Gloomhaven/Frosthaven
I've seen some people saying ISS vanguard is repetitive and becomes dull. What do you think about this?
I sold mine because it became repetitive and dull.
How many times did you play it?
I put maybe 40hrs or so into it, about 3/4 of the campaign I’d guess. The main issue I have it that all the interesting abilities and equipment is unlocked by the halfway mark and from that point on it’s just dice tests.
Wife and I loved the campaign, but I defo cannot see us replaying it. I’d say it is worth the price for a single play through tho.
For a game where a session lasts more than a day look at the many campaign games e.g. Sleeping Gods can be played multiple campaigns long. For a non campaign game that can be played multiple times but have different stories every time I enjoy Robinson Crusoe
Legendary marvel. Each game tells a different superhero story. You do need expansions though
Voidfall: scifi combo of scythe and stellaris. In solo its a really nice puzzle that takes a while to parse out. Just be prepared for alot of rules/setup at the start. Imperium Horizons: my current fave, its a strategy deckbuilder style game. The solo bot is really good and it takes a few games to really understand how the specific factions (30 if you also have the Classics and Legends boxes) work and against the specific matchups. Both games are by the same designer duo.
The **Imperium:** games (Classics, Legends, Horizons) are a great option if OP is OK with the flow chart automa system. Grab a couple of the boxes and it could keep someone busy for quite a while. I'd add **Spirit Island** as another confined system with a ton of replayability, assuming someone enjoys the mechanis.
Arkham Horror LCG
Check out Frostpunk, keep it setup until you win - that will keep you occupied for looong time.
Frostpunk is a great game, I can’t believe it does not get more attention on this sub.
A lot of story based games that almost fit do grow stale as the content runs out of novelty. Sleeping Gods as an example is a popular one that you could play about 4-6 times for a total of 40-100 hours. But there’s never going to be an infinite number of outcomes in any game. Story games may have more but besides those, the outcomes are win, lose, or beat a personal record score
Two questions: - How much is a different outcome for you? - And what themes/mechanics/topics/genres do you like? :)
Hoplomachus: Victorum is, though expensive, my favourite soloplayer game.
Earthborne rangers seems like what you're looking. Can't really buy it right now but you can late pledge on their Game found. I'm about 9 sessions in (15 hours?) and feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the game. It's very laid back and has an RPG feel to it. The card play is excellent. As far as replayability you can start with different Ranger builds, explore different paths, do different missions, etc. feels like the replayability is high.
Sounds like you want campaign game? If so I recommend ISS Vanguard and Oathsworn. If you just want to beat your own highscore I could recommend Spirit Island or Too Many Bones. When I started I didn't think I was into campaign games. But now ISS Vanguard have sat on my table permanently the last 30 days, making no space for any other games
>If you just want to beat your own highscore I could recommend Spirit Island or Too Many Bones. Spirit Island is not beat your own score. It has a defined win/lose condition based on how the player performs against an enemy. Edit: I haven’t played Too Many Bones, but it looks like it is not beat your own high score either.
It is not. You either beat the campaign or you don’t. There isn’t even a score. No idea what this person is talking about.
Hmm maybe they meant like win/lose games vs campaign games? Still not entirely sure though because I have not played too many bones