Arcane Wonders: The King of Simplistic, Deep Experiences?

As a longtime fan of board games, it was shocking to me that I’d never played something from Arcane Wonders. My eyes were opened to all the fantastic games they have on offer at GenCon 2023, and over the past few weeks I’ve been making my way through their catalogue? Here are my two favourite titles from Arcane Wonder as of writing!

Neotopia

I love an abstract tile laying game, and while Neotopia attempts to get you invested in building this great city, I still view this as an abstract tile laying game. What I love about it, however, is how accessible it is, how easy it is to teach, and how quick it plays, even at the maximum player count.

I’ve played a lot of tile laying games in my life – think Azul here in a way – but none of them have been games that lasted long on our shelves. I think Neotopia is going to buck that trend and stay around for a lot longer than others have. The ease of play makes it attractive, but there is a ton of depth here as well that I love to explore. This is an easy top 3 game from Arcane Wonders in my opinion!

Furnace

This one might be a bit older, although a brand new expansion has just launched to breathe new life into this game. That being said, I’m once again praising Arcane Wonders for creating an experience that is so accessible. This one is even easier to teach then Neotopia, but still has lots of depth and great decision making opportunities.

Couple that with fantastic cards and resources, and you have a game that is fun to play, looks great on the table, and provides a great value-for-money ratio. I love manipulating my various factories to get the resources I need. I also really enjoy the complex decisions required to get the right cards into your tableau. This is another easy-to-teach, hard to master experiences that I think is great for new gamers and veterans alike!

Why Not a Top 3?

You might be asking yourself, “Why not make a top-3 for Arcane Wonders? I would, but I’m pretty positive that Top 3 would be obsolete by the time I play World Wonders for review next year. So I’m sticking with two for now!