Gen Con 2025 Days 3 and 4 — End of Con Round-up

Taylor Rioux
Aug 4
6 min read

An Excellent Gen Con Adventure. What’s Next?

You might be asking where the round-up for day two is, but I’ll let you in on a secret: There isn’t one! Gen Con day two ended up a day of wandering, and while I did see a lot of great stuff, I didn’t have any specific meetings or get a chance to talk to many of the people at the booths. Instead, I took a moment to try out some stuff we got from day one, and spent some time with family. More to come on those titles as we get some reviews rolling out moving forward.

As for days 3 and 4, it was another hectic two days, but just as full of wonder as the previous ones. Although I missed the cosplay parade, I have a number of booths and games I want to highlight that looked great to me.

Rose Gauntlet Entertainment

Gone to Gaia

A roguelite narrative campaign on a tabletop board where what remains of civilization looks to fight off monstrous sea creatures to survive and find the path to Gaia. The version we played included these really incredible miniatures for all of the enemies and player characters, which will be available in one version of the game upon its intended release in October. Combat is a lot of fun, and the artwork on the board, cards, and other game materials is absolutely lovely. We only had an hour to play, which was enough to get through the demo scenario, but I really wish we had more time to play around with it. There seems to be a lot of variability in play, living up to its roguelite name.

Coffee Cat Board Games

Super Battle Mon

A lighter TCG that does not have card rarity, meaning each card is of equal rarity, so building a deck is a much more simple process than the average TCG. Decks are made up of only 7 cards, and games take around 3 minutes total. Cards have a really clean artstyle, and are simple to understand. We’ll have a more thorough review soon, but I think this is a great jumping off point for small children into the TCG space.

Burning Wheel

Torchbearer

Not something that was demoed, as this is a full-fledged TTRPG system, but the staff at the booth gave me a quick rundown of the title. Intended to be more reminiscent of early TTRPG titles, Torchbearer is a more punishing dungeon-crawling experience with an emphasis on survival and exploration. Sounds like a great fit for more hardcore players looking for some extra crunch and the artwork is gorgeous to boot.

North Star Games

Nature

Nature is a strategy board game where the focus is on growing and maintaining a population of your species. It can be played between 1-4 players, and is fundamentally a competitive game. Having the chance to play with and examine the physical and digital versions of the game, it comes off as quite easy to jump into, with simple starting mechanics that anyone could pick up. Luckily, there is also a lot of room for strategizing and optimization.Part of that is certainly due to the fact that both versions of the game were developed in tandem, with the team able to playtest and collect data through their remote digital sessions. There are also additional modules available that act as a sort of scenario modifier, such as different locals, or a focus on other species — all of which can be mixed and matched without compatibility issues.

If you don’t have your eye on this one yet, I recommend a serious look. Everything I played was awesome, and the team behind it has a clear passion for the project. It can absolutely fit in with more casual groups, as well as hardcore ones.

Thames & Kosmos

We actually got demos of other games on top of what is here as this is a pretty huge space, but I wanted to take the time to highlight 3 specific games that we saw and will be reviewing in the future.

Australis

First up is Australis. This game has a little bit of everything: resource management, dice-rolling, strategy, etc.. It’s a really gorgeous looking game with colorful pieces and a beautiful board that you use to move your sea turtles along a path. This one is multiplayer only, but it isn’t too complex, so it could be played with even novice tabletop players. We were drawn in by the aesthetic, but the game is a ton of fun in actual play among a group of friends.

Catch The Moon

A stacking game with a very simple premise. Roll a die, see what you have to do, then place your ladder in a way that meets the conditions set by our die. If a player places a ladder and it falls, they take a tear token, Once all tears have been taken, the player with the fewest wins. It’s a really cute aesthetic, with gameplay that looks appropriate for all ages. Kind of like an inverted Jenga in the sense that you’re building, rather than removing pieces.

EXIT: The Game - Adventures on Catan

I have never played an EXIT game, but I have done escape rooms, and this title is Catan-flavored spin on those. It is essentially a one-time use game that you can use to set up an escape room in your own home or other space. We will be doing a full review on this at a later date.

Phase Shift Games

Drop Drive

This is known as a “Drop-style” game, which essentially means the game's pieces are dropped from above the play space into an area to create a board state which you then play off of. Planets, resources, events — everything is semi randomized as far as location goes. Wherever the pieces land is where they are when you play. Really neat concept, and the pieces have a lot of color and personality to them. The basic premise is that you are piloting a ship and you can collect resources to sell on planets, but there are other avenues of play available such as combat that allow the freedom to kind of do whatever you want.

Widget's Workshop

Another drop-style game where the pieces are laid out on the play space via dropping them from above. The idea is to pick up pieces in order to build a robot, with points being scored based on how well it is put together. It’s got some cute art, and the pieces fit together to show you your robot in-progress as you play.

Mythic Earth

Not a game, per se, but this booth had some amazing miniatures related to pre-colonial Central and South American civilizations, such as the Inca and Maya. You don’t see a lot of representation in these spaces for such unique cultures, so it was really great to see. They also have a DnD setting book, complete with stat blocks and other information if you wanted to incorporate that into your game.

SlugFest Games

The Red Dragon Inn: Adventure is Nigh!

Simply another character pack for RDI featuring characters from the YouTube Series “Adventure is Nigh!” from the likes of Yahtzee Croshaw. The additional “Extras Pack” also features some new prizes and an entirely new tavern to play with.

Positano

A competitive strategy game where you are fighting over real estate for an ocean view off the Amalfi coast of Italy. Seems quite strategic in terms of how best to manage your building processes. The tokens and pieces were really neat, overall, with the buildings stacking easily, and various parts being easily identifiable. I really loved the color palette and designs on the pieces, with an almost pastel look to the game.

Hit Point Press

Floral Dragons

Not a lot to say here, but this book contains some truly stunning artwork of Floral-inspired dragons, all based upon real flowers. The book comes with ecology notes and even stat blocks for DnD 5E. Just a bafflingly gorgeous work of artistry through-and-through.

Grand Gamers Guild

Tír na nÓg

A game after my own heart, Tír na nÓg takes inspiration from celtic mythology for its setting and gameplay. The artwork is amazing, and the game seems fairly simple to play. You place tokens between the cards in the shared grid. When all tokens have been placed, you draft cards and add them to your hand, which are then added to your tableau. Each player has some goals to achieve, and you earn points for having the most connected Story cards of each color. The highest score wins.

Luma Imports

Zenith

A sort of tug-of-war type game where you are trying to build your ship to end the game. I was really impressed by the tactile feel of the game, with pieces made of a faux wood that just feels great to hold. It has a slick, distinct design, and a unique board layout that is sure to catch your eye. Can either be played with two or four people (broken up in a 2v2 scenario). It’s really fun to play, but I was struggling to wrap my head around some of the finer details of the mechanics. That could very well just be a me problem!

CookieRun Braverse Trading Card Game

A simpler, more affordable take on a TCG. Not much to say yet, as I haven’t gotten to playing it myself, but it gets bonus points for being cute enough that my child stole a deck the second I got home.

And that’s the big rundown for the final two days of the con! Be sure to check out the day 1 round-up for other great things we saw along the way! We’ll have full reviews out of some games and items we got in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!