These Two Player Games are Great
No Pun Included
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Apologies, but absentmindedly I forgot to mention that the following games are review copies provided to us in the past when we were still accepting them:
Spirit Island
Sleeping Gods
Worldbreakers
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03.10.2023
I see Targi, I click.
The gold standard for 2-player card games for me is still Jaipur. Gorgeous, dead simple to explain, and consistently thinky but not too thinky. I actually give it as a wedding gift all the time.
Fave 2 player for my wife and I goes to Cthulhu:DMD. So many hours spent playing it. Love the co-op, 2 investigators each. Plus love a game that isn't shy about kicking your a**e once in a while (often, frequently).
Also you forgot something pretty epic.. Worldbreakers ( as i went on my quest to search for the game you speak of ) can be obtained officialy free from pnparcade ( it seems to be a 0.9 version though )
It seems you haven’t played “Pagan: Fate of Roanoke” yet – otherwise I am convinced it would have made your list… (it’s a 2 player only game). Would be great to watch a review from you on it !
Rebellion, Targi, and Twilight Struggle are up there for me. 🙂
But…. where is Hive?!… [listens to intro] looks at Hive bag "It is ok little fellow… you are great, he didn't really mean that" 🤣
Great video! Have not played most games on it, but Spirit Island and Targi are great
Great video! You forgot Dominion though!
Great review. Tragi and lacuna!
Two more games I've truly loved as 2-player games are Parks and Brew. Parks can be cutthroat as a 2 player thing, but it feels so chill and lovely, and the tactility of it reminds me of what Efka was saying about Lacuna. Brew is also a joy in terms of 'take-that' games that are just plain rude, but don't feel aggravating. The theme is so silly and the area control happens quick enough that it never feel like one player is crushing the other. Besides, the art is so derpy that one can't help to laugh about everything that happens.
Fun fact: Three Five Three is being rereleased at Essen as Oh Meow Bow. 🤘🐱
As usual, a great video. My wife and I love Targi. Out of all the others I have only played Ankh but not at two players. I bought Summoner Wars based in part on your review, so I was surprised that it wasn’t on this list.
Great content as usual. Also Heroes of Air Land and Sea is not rubbish 🙂
<3
Where the heck is Jaipur?!?! Did I spell it correctly?
Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea was ok, but it's too big and sluggish for the RTS it's trying to emulate, so sold it.
I played M:TG for years back when Revised was the core set, and I did enjoy it, but it cost too much, and the expansions got too arms race focused for me, so quit at Weatherlight.
Spirit Island was good my only play so far, and want to play it again! It was with 2 players.
Keep the Heroes Out is my new favorite game and co-op and it's amazing at 2 players. It's good solo too, but best at 2. Once you hit 3 or 4, it's not quite as good as player as a pair.
Sleeping gods is just so, so, so bad. All the narrative is disjointed, all the characters change personality all the time, and the design is just bad, with thext in the character cards and action board hard to read. Total let down and disappointment after a month of campaign.
I think Res Arcana is my favorite 2 player game. It's absolutely fantastic!
Air Land & Sea, Ankh are great games and my Gf loved them as well. I haven't tried Targi and Lacuna yet, but I've heard a lot about them, and I can't wait to try them out. 😅🤩
Undaunted, Summoner Wars, Ashes Reborn, Netrunner, and For What Remains are probably at the top of fighty two player list. They may all be combat focused, but none of them are as mean as Targi. 😂
I also prefer most dungeon crawlers at only two players, because it always ends up being the right balance of variety and low downtime.
Sleeping Gods: for those who enjoy spending hours navigating through a rulebook thicker than an ancient tome, with the occasional interruption of a board game.
But seriously, I've played everything from TI4 to Frosthaven, and I've never had to keep revisiting the rulebook as frequently as I did with this game. The game felt unintuitive and incredibly random in its encounter design. The only saving grace was the combat, which I found to be an enjoyable puzzle. Good luck trying to do well in this game if you don't find a weapon early on, as you'll be constantly scavenging for resources, only to use them for repairing your ship and healing your crew. It never felt like you were making genuine progress, except in the story, but even that was poorly written.
If story is what you're after, then just get Oathsworn. If you're into resource management, then Concordia fits that bill much better and isn't overwrought with unnecessary rules.
Do you keep expansion boxes or do you consolidate in the core box and throw them away?
I’m uncomfortable with how close the Targi cards are to one another. HOW DO YOU PICK THEM UP
Great selection! My go-to 2 player game is Tak – it is fun, fast, clever and portable. I usually take it to the pub when I am catching up with someone, and we will play dozens of games over a couple of pints as we shoot the breeze.
Excellent list! Do you still enjoy Caesar! Seize rome in 20 min?
Ranking these games for myself:
1) Sleeping Gods
2) Targi
3) 535
4) Spirit Island
5) ankh
6) air land and sea
7) unplayed: worldbreakers
Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small is a really underrated 2p game that’s also a great introduction to worker placement/Uwe games.
Air Land & Sea and Spirit Island are great imo! I prefer SI solo personally but it works really at 2 due to combos and spirit interactions, provided the players are around the same experience/skill level (if not then extra care needs to be taken to have a good experience).
I played Targi a lot and appreciated the design but couldn’t get into it…I think the games I played were just too long and tense?
Carcassonne is still one of my favorite 2p games and the my go-to for simple yet strategic and cutthroat. Ditto with Blitzkrieg! and Caesar!
I love ankh at 2 players, although I think the sweet spot is 4.
ALS: Critters at War, for the art!
Depends on how much energy we have left: Lost cities > 7 wonders duell > Targi > Spirit Island
Since the holiday season is coming we NEED more videos like this! 👍🏽
If Air, Land, and Sea looks interesting but your usual opponent doesn't like the WW2 theme, try Critters at War. Exactly the same game – same designer, same publisher – but fuzzy animals instead of lived history.
Kind of bummed no mention of summoner wars but great list nonetheless! Great video guys
Summoner wars!
You were going to review
Apiary.
🙂
These all look great! However, as you were describing Sleeping Gods I couldn't help but think you missed one game amongst all of these, and that is Sherlokc Holmes: Consulting Detective. You want to get 2 people to talk and avoid the akwardness, get them to solve a mystery together!
+1 for Ankh
14:20 is a 10 out of 10 BRoll shot!
Air Land Sea + Worldbreakers = Radlands
Gloomhaven cum Fosthaven is the goto for our pair. But not a great pick-up game.
❤
Your Sleeping Gods review is one of your best reviews still. I also really liked your review of Now Boarding and your most recent one on Ragnarock because a lot of what you said about KSes in there is completely true. I've almost completely sworn off crowdfunding – with the exception of if Ryan Laukat and Red Raven did a Sleeping Gods 3 – that I would back in a heartbeat.
For 2 player games I really recommend Jaipur and Splendor Duel personally and am looking forward to trying Sleeping Gods: Primeval Peril (Sleeping Gods 0?)
Radlands is great
Great video! I love 2 prayers games as I have no friends but I only have one victim in my house that is forced to play with me sometimes. Hopefully my newborn son will share my passion…😅
This was funny… Just the other day I ventilated my thoughts on two-player games versus multi-player games that work well for two players, and realized I actually tend to like the latter more than the former for two players… They are often a lot crunchier, and frankly it could be that me and my husband just revels in the feeling of marvel over how well this "non two-player game" adapted to two players! 😉 I do like Onitama, Santorini and Seven wonders duel, but I love playing The Arrival, Trickerion, Cyclades, Euphoria, In the year of the dragon and lots of other heavy euros (I start to realize) with just two players! 🙂
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective is really, really good.
But it's also awkward and arcane at times. Still, with some nice classical music and victorian era sound effects playing softly in the background, a bottle of red wine, a rainy autumn evening: up there in my top 3 best gaming experiences.
Without getting into them in detail I'd like to add: Arkham Horror TCG, My City and Watergate.
Fantastic Video!!!!
I wonder if For Science! would be on this list, I'm on the verge of buying ut for 2 players 😛
A great video, with some very interesting suggestions, and presented in an attractive way – thanks!
Great video thank you! For tile laying I love Botanik. The combination of the puzzle in the middle where you are setting yourself up but can also mess with your opponent and then your personal puzzle in laying the tiles makes it a great mix.
I think this video is great and it hardly noticeable is not scripted, it felt fresher (not sure if this is a word, im not a native english speaker, nor i have the time or patience to look it up) to the point i would encourage you to do more of these if they save you time and improves your quality of life. Great work as always !