Not every game is meant to be replayed endlessly. Some are valuable for the experience they provide in the moment, generating memories that stick around long after everything has been stuffed back into the box. Which is why this second day of Best Week 2023 is all about the year’s best board games that provided exceptional impressions rather than demanding session after session.

#6. Virtual Revolution

Designed by Guy-Roger Guvert and Cyril Villalonga. Published by Hachette.

There’s nothing quite like a digital dystopia. I’ve never seen the movie Virtual Revolution is based on, but it calls to mind worlds like Blade Runner and The Peripheral, futures in which our problems have received a band-aid rather than a full corrective, leaving the planet underpopulated and drizzly with acid rain. In such a future, people have begun to retreat inward, taking solace in digital fortresses. That’s the topic at play, amoral megacorps assembling digital “scapes” for the huddled masses. It’s a surprisingly good game, but its real strength lies in its setting, as though you’ve wandered off the street to find yourself in a cyberpunk noir.

Review: In Case You Didn’t Get Enough Zoom

#5. The Gods Will Have Blood

Designed by Dan Bullock.

The Gods Will Have Blood defies replayability, featuring Papers, Please-style decisions that rely on the flip of a card. But it’s a striking experience nonetheless, forcing a confrontation between self-preservation and conscience, not to mention a historical reckoning with the costs of revolution. This one was always going to prove contentious, but it left me chilled to the bone after I was forced to examine two accused traitors at once — and doubly so after my apathy led to the execution of my dear betrothed.

Review: The Goose Will Have Blood

#4. Undaunted: Stalingrad

Designed by Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson. Published by Osprey Games.

There’s plenty to say about the Undaunted series, especially regarding its emphasis on the individuals who secure each house and hill. Stalingrad accentuates each sacrifice. Casualties are permanent, reducing squads of fresh soldiers into ragged replacements. The map, too, is scarred by previous battles. Put that together and you get a struggle unlike any other, a campaign that sticks in the memory long after the box’s contents have been reset to baseline.

Review: Legacies of Stalingrad

#3. The British Way

Designed by Stephen Rangazas. Published by GMT Games.

The venerable COIN Series has long been a staple around these parts, so this four-scenario multipack was always going to hit my table. What caught me by surprise, though, was the campaign that strung all four scenarios together. This paints a picture of an empire in decline, one that’s desperate to cling to its fading place in the world. But as the hymns grow faint, the atrocities begin to pile up. The British Way is more than a board game; it’s a board game with an uncompromising thesis about the myths of empire.

Reviews: Winds of Change: Palestine, Winds of Change: Malaya, Winds of Change: Kenya

#2. Guards of Atlantis II

Designed by Artyom Nichipurov. Published by Wolff Designa.

When I say that not every board game demands replayability, I am not speaking about Guards of Atlantis II. As tabletop’s most faithful reproduction of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, one could replay it fifty times and still have something to uncover. But what makes it stand out is the sheer bombast of those sessions. This is a deeply emotional game, featuring hard swings and infuriating gang-ups. Also some cussing at your ineffectual teammates, Geoff. In one sense, it’s the best of both worlds, rewarding both the mastery that comes from many plays and keeping the experience grounded in the moment.

Review: The Gryphon Has Fallen

#1. Stationfall

Designed by Matt Eklund. Published by ION Game Design.

Stationfall is a deeply funny game. It’s also a tragic game. And an anger-inducing game. Also, a good counterspell for the techno-naivety of Matt Eklund’s other hallmark, Pax Transhumanity. What happens when you pack twenty shady characters onto a space station that will soon suffer catastrophic orbital reentry? Ten different short stories at once, that’s what. I could spend another thousand words describing the latest failure of my stowaway, or why I will never cooperate with a billionaire again, or what happened when we released Project X. Instead, I’ll merely reiterate that this game is a story generator in a box.

Review: One Minute to Stationfall

What were your memory-making games of 2023?

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