Sleeping Gods

Most board games have a theme. A few board games are their theme - where the mechanics do not illustrate the story but actually become it, where every design decision from the map layout to the card icons exists in service of a single coherent feeling. Sleeping Gods is one of those rare second cases. This is a game about being lost. Not just strategically lost - not the pleasant puzzle-solving kind of lost you feel in Wingspan or Brass. Genuinely, disorienting, where am I, what am I doing here lost. And the extraordinary thing is that this feeling is not an accident or a side effect. It is the entire design intention, and Ryan Laukat - who designed and illustrated the whole thing, solo - has constructed every mechanical layer to produce exactly that sensation. ...

Gloomhaven needs no introduction, but the numbers still impress: BGG rank #4, a weight of 3.92 out of 5, rated 8.54 across more than 70,000 votes. It sat at #1 on BGG for years and single-handedly redefined what a dungeon crawl could be. The card-based combat system, the persistent campaign with retiring characters, the branching scenario map - Gloomhaven proved that co-operative dungeon crawling could be deep, strategic, and narratively satisfying in a way that dice-chuckers never managed. It showed that big-box co-ops could compete with the best euros for tactical richness. ...

There’s a moment in Sleeping Gods that hits differently when you’re playing alone. You’ve spent three sessions mapping this strange realm, building relationships with your crew, following a rumour across sea and jungle to a crumbling temple. You push open the encounter book to the right entry. You read a few paragraphs. Something unexpected happens. And there’s no one at the table to react to it with - just you and your journal and the atlas spread open before you. ...