1-5 Players • Ages 12+ • 60 minutes • $49

Parks: Second Edition

Chosen by Kerry

Two games from 2025 stand out for me: Parks and Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. The newest iteration of Parks has me bringing it to the table regularly for a relatively quick visit through the National Park cards. The game consists of moving your hikers along the board while you compete against other hikers to collect resources to help you accomplish goals, visit parks, and ultimately gain points.

Trekking along the board, timing moves, collecting resources, and turning them into points does not lose its charm for me, no matter how many plays. The second edition brings together the best of the expansions with some helpful setup and game-play improvements in one package. Whether playing with a group or playing solo, this game brings me joy.

1-5 Players • Ages 10+ • 30-60 minutes • $59

Nemesis: Retaliation

Chosen by Tahsin

Certain movies leave an indelible mark—creating “before and after” moments that change our world for the better. Aliens (1986) was one of those cinematic experiences for me. I missed the first film in theaters and had to suffer watching it on TV, but the sequel was pure terror, excitement, and non-stop, edge-of-your-seat wonder. While I cannot claim it fully replicates that specific exhilaration, Nemesis: Retaliation comes incredibly close. It distinguishes itself from typical dice-heavy dungeon crawlers, blending elements of adventure, social deduction, and cooperative nail-biting survival.

This installment successfully carries the Nemesis legacy into a new era and, simply put, stands as my favorite game in the series. I will not say it is the most straightforward game in terms of mechanisms and play style, but the blend it offers is unique and deadly, especially for players in it for the experience rather than the win.

1-5 Players • Ages 12+ • 120+ minutes

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth

Chosen by Brian W

I had high hopes that Star Wars: Battle of Hoth would be good, and this game blew away my expectations. I own Battle Cry and have played Memoir ’44, but Star Wars: Battle of Hoth is my new favorite Command and Colors game. This game just rocks, with it being highly thematic with scenarios that closely mirror and compliment scenes from The Empire Strikes Back and has great production values. The campaign books use the scenarios that will vary based on the victor, which is a simple but great mechanic to add variety and replayability.

Also included are leader and support cards, which are smart additions to help balance the game and add great options to a player’s command deck.

2-4 Players • Ages 8+ • 30 minutes • $55