Board Game Geek’s 10 Best Board Games of 2023

10. Sky Team

Publisher: Scorpion Masque

Can you step into the pilot’s seat and land a plane safely? You must in the two-player cooperative game Sky Team.

Each round is played in silence with both players rolling dice and taking turns placing them around the cockpit. Controlling the aeroplane’s speed, flaps, angle of the wings, and anything else you can think of.

A safe landing is the only way to win, but there are more ways to lose than boarding gates at the LAX. However, with great cooperation, and a bit of luck, you’ll prove you have nothing to worry about.

Read our full review.

9. The Witcher: Old World

Publisher: Go On Board, CD Projekt RED

Toss a coin to your Witcher in the action-adventure board game The Witcher: Old World.

Taking place before the events of the first video game, and before the massacre of Kaer Morhen, you’ll take control of a Witcher travelling the Continent. You’ll train up your skills, track and fight monsters for bounties, or other Witchers for honour.

The Witcher: Old World is a more refined version of The Witcher Adventure Game, a digital board game from 2014 that I quite enjoyed. So I’m happy to see a similar game return in the best board games of 2023.

8. Great Western Trail: New Zealand

Publisher: Eggertspiele

Since the Great Western Trail Second Edition came out in 2021, we’ve seen a new version every year. Last year it was Great Western Trail: Argentina, this year you’re trading the cows for sheep and heading off to New Zealand.

Like the previous games, you start at the bottom of the board and herd sheep up a winding trail. Selling them off once you reach the top.

Where the New Zealand version differs is the new island board. You can now employ harbourmasters to help you sail around different islands building storehouses and harbours for additional benefits.

Going into 2023, going by Board Game Rank, this looks to be the best edition of Great Western Trail yet. However, given its complexity, it might not be the best one to start with.

7. The White Castle

Publisher: Devir

As the sequel to 2020’s The Red Cathedral, The White Castle is another gorgeous-looking resource management game that wastes no space in its small box.

Taking place in Himeji Castle, you’re looking to lead your clan in winning the favour of the Daimio Sakai Tadakiyo.

You’ll draft and use different coloured dice on worker placement spots around the board. The catch is, that using an action costs the difference between the die you place and the die already on the spot.

But don’t get too distracted by a good deal as your real goal is to get more of your clan employed by the castle.

I look forward to trying this one out later this year.

6. Voidfall

Publisher: Mindclash Games

With their technological superiority, The Novarchs expanded and influenced the galaxy in ways the other houses could only dream of.

Unbeknownst to all, the Novarchs didn’t work alone. A cosmic entity known only as the Voidborn that provided them with these gifts. But they are no longer satisfied. Now, the Voidborn is looking for new ways to fill their hunger by corrupting anything and everything they touch.

Taking control of one of fourteen different houses, you must fight back against the Voidborn, and anyone else in your way.

You’ll develop and improve technologies, advance your civilisation, manage your infrastructure and conquer new sectors of the galaxy.

If you’re looking for your next 4X board game, then look no further. Voidfall comes with solo, coop and competitive modes.

5. Age of Innovation

Publisher: Capstone Games

While Gaia Project took Terra Mystica to space, and Terra Nova simplified the system, Age of Innovation takes the original and adds complexity and quality-of-life changes.

The high-fantasy setting returns, and so too does the goal of expanding the territory of your mystical creatures, terraforming if needed.

But before that, you must build an economy, level up your technology, and unlock your faction’s powers. All the while, you’re also competing for end-of-round scoring opportunities.

Age of Innovation has taken notes from the Build-a-Bear workshops, with factions and building powers now completely customisable. Along with some other refinements, this looks like a solid improvement over the original board game.

4. Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game

Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games (FFG)

Fight alongside all your favourite ships, heroes, and villains as you look to bring control to a chaotic galaxy as the imperials, or (if the propaganda is to be believed) free the galaxy as the rebel alliance.

We’ve seen this type of two-player duelling deck-builder before with Star Realms. However, Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game sets itself apart by including the force and a new exclusive card-buying mechanic.

There are only a few people left in the galaxy yet to choose a side. So while all the cards are shuffled together and added randomly to the market, you can only buy those aligned to your faction.

Additionally, if you see a particularly nasty card for your opponent, you can send your troops to dispose of it before it leaves the market.

This dynamic adds a fresh spin on a well-worn genre, and I’m interested if we’ll see it more in future deck-builders.

3. Earth

Publisher: Inside Up Games

Earth is a long and heavy tableau-builder. So it immediately gets lumped in with troublemakers Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova.

Which, to be fair, is excellent company to be in.

In Earth you’re building a garden island represented by a 4×4 grid of cards. On your turn, you’ll choose between planting new cards on your island, composting cards, watering cards to gain sprout tokens, or growing plants on your cards.

Then, at the end of every player’s turn, you activate any cards based on what they did. So you’re always involved, either gaining resources or making decisions.

On top of that, it’s also beautiful to look at. Of particular note is the little mushroom-looking trees you get to build whenever you grow plants.

Between the aesthetics, gameplay, and positive reviews, it’s easy to see why Earth has earned its place as the 3rd best board game of 2023.

2. Darwin’s Journey

Publisher: ThunderGryph Games

If ever you wanted to play as a balding 50-year-old discovering evolution. Then Darwin’s Journey is a must-have.

Relive Darwin’s memories as he explores the Galapagos Islands for flora and fauna. Along the way, you’ll collect victory points for almost everything you do.

You’ll get victory points for sailing from island to island, setting up camp, discovering new animals, and skilling up your worker placement pieces.

This last action is what draws me to Darwin’s Journey. Having your pieces get better throughout the game to unlock new action spaces is a tantalizing new twist on the genre.

Otherwise, Darwin’s Journey seems to be a solid strategy game. One where you need to divide your efforts between moving your ship between islands and exploring them fully on foot. All to complete the most objectives before the end of the game.

1. Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory

Publisher: Hegemonic Project

When researching Hegemony, the first thing I did was find out what Hegemony means. Then I researched how to play.

You take one of the four asymmetric roles within the game. Each represents a collective of people, either the working class, middle class, capitalist class, or the state.

The working class is content living their lives, the capitalist class is trying to make the working class as profitable as possible. Meanwhile, the middle class sits between these two and the state tries to play peacekeeper.

The way these classes interact is a fascinating puzzle and a statement on society.

From everything I’ve seen about Hegemony, it looks like a worthy winner of 2023’s best board game. This is one I’m itching to play if only it didn’t feel a little too close to home.