By GameRT President 2024-2025 Danielle Costello
Unsurprising to anyone who has ever known me, when I think about my favorite games I have a very hard time deciding on a rank order. Favorites to me exist on a wide, joyful, and ever increasing plane. Since I’m hoping to keep this list to a reasonable length, I’m sharing some of my favorite categories of games and some standout examples. Please enjoy!
Board Games
Communication style games are some of my favorite for large groups. They’re usually very easy to teach and learn, and most importantly collaborative. It is often in the miscommunication and explaining what everyone was thinking where these games really shine. By far my favorite to introduce to newer players or to bring to family events.
Dexterity style games are some of my favorites for groups of mixed ages. The trick is in performing the dextrous mechanics versus understanding nuanced rules or being clever and tactical. So long as you explain what’s going on you can play with friends and family both very young and very old. The ones I’ve chosen below are also very portable and play quickly making for a great option to bring on adventures outside the house.
Oceanic Push Your Luck I admit is a category that I’ve made up on the fly. This was originally going to be about my devotion to the chaos and fun of the high risk high reward mechanic of ‘push your luck’. But more and more I find that mechanic being paired with an oceanic theme. Maybe it says something about the unfathomable nature of the sea or maybe folks just like crabs. Either way, I’m glad designers are making these games and I think they’re brilliant additions to any collection.
TTRPGs
Descended from the Queen are games that riff off the beautiful and elegant TTRPG For the Queen. In this style of TTRPG rather than using a complex and crunchy ruleset we discover our characters and their relationship to each other and their Queen through a series of question cards. The games that descend from that format spiral into fascinating new directions all while maintaining that beautifully simple and quick to storytelling format.
- For the Queen
- Viva la QueerBar by Plotbunny Games
- Ladies and Gentlemen… The Band! by kalidels
- Drive-In Double Feature by World Champ Game Co.
Solo TTRPGs are excellent for when you want to play but you don’t want or have the option of playing with someone else. Often contemplative these games do deep dives into the soul that still send me reeling. I’ve been good and chosen three very different ones to illustrate that for solo games the settings, themes, and mechanics are endlessly varying.
- A Mending by shing
- VOID 1680 AM by Bannerless Games
- The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The Universe by lostwaysclub
GMless games make me so happy as someone who has anxiety about the massive responsibility that being a GM/DM entails. With these types of games I can let that all go because we all have agency and control of the world and story. I enjoy the process of all lifting together to craft a shared world and adventure.
- TAPE: An RPG About Connection by Michael Hawkins
- i’m sorry did you say street magic by Caro Asercion
- City of Winter by Heart of the Deernicorn
Video games
There’s beauty in a Survival game. Not only in the scenic landscapes that are gorgeously rendered, but also in the themes and stories that they explore. Often melancholy and contemplative in turns these are the games that I’ve spent the bulk of my playing hours on steam. There’s something compelling about taking time to turn thoughts inward as you explore lonely worlds.
Fantasy Farming Sims satisfy the very human needs of growing beautiful fields of mystical fruit, fighting slime monsters with flaming swords, and gifting all one’s friends with handicrafts. Going by their sustained popularity these are truly universal human needs indeed.
JRPGs have a place forever in my heart as the first video games I ever played. While the genre has moved beyond sprites and turned based combat there are some games leaning hard into nostalgia, and I am more than happy to relive my childhood.
Misc. because I contain multitudes and so do the games I love. These are my favorite video games that don’t fit easily into the above categories but I could not possibly leave out!
Mysteries, Escape Rooms, Puzzles, & Ciphers
Mysteries games are ones I play less often than others but they are the ones that live in my mind rent free. I will admit though that as much as I enjoy these types of games I am very very bad at them. Ciphers are often confounding, clues are not illuminating, and riddles tie me in knots. I think it’s my mediocrity though that makes it fun for me. The joy is in the journey and in the failure that gets me step by agonizing step closer to glorious success.
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Danielle Costello (she/her) is a Student Success librarian at University of Georgia where she teaches library instruction to first year students and develops programming for the whole student body. Her research revolves around how to bring games and play into library and community spaces. Outside of work she moonlights as a cleric and occasionally as a capybara trying to maintain a healthy low stress high mayhem lifestyle.