ESSEN ENVIE: Top Twenty Games To Check Out at ESSEN SPIEL 2025
Since 2017, I’ve been scouring W. Eric Martin’s excellent BGG listing of all of the games coming out at the ‘International Spieltagd Messe Essen’ — a/k/a for us Americans “Essen” or “Essen Spiel” — for the games that I have the absolute ENVIE to play.
For those of you who have never been or have never heard of SPIEL Essen, over 200,000 gamers from all over the world head to Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr region of Germany, each year to celebrate the board gaming hobby. This year’s faire takes place from October 23 to 26, 2025. The faire is expecting almost 900 different exhibitors from 50+ countries in its seven halls. Board game companies from the USA, Germany, and France will be well-represented, but we will also see demos of games published by companies from Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and more!
Each year, I filter the list for those games that are available to buy and are not expansions. (I also screen out games that do not have English editions, sorry!) I winnow it down to games I’m interested in, games I really want to check out, and finally the games that I would probably want to take home with me if ever I make it to Essen someday.
As of today, near the end of September, there are 900 stand-alone games (not expansions) that are on the list and available for purchase. That’s a lot of games to play! The deluge of games continues unabated, and we are the beneficiaries of the largess, for sure.
I’ve spent weeks looking over the list. If I were going to Essen — and who knows, maybe someday I will? — these are the games I would want to demo in the hopes of falling in love with them and taking them back to the States with me.
Note before we start: I am not including on this list any expansions, or any games that are there just for demo, or any games that already made my GENCON preview lists. So, you won’t find games like Nature, Ofrenda, Soda Jerk, Railroad Ties, Up or Down?, Tianxia, Bouba/Kika, or Habemus Papemus, even though I’m planning on buying or playing all of these games soon.
Enough blather, let’s get to the list!
20. Pulitzer (Tranjis Games / David Vaquero)
This one caught my eye solely based on the theme. The idea of playing a game about investigative journalism in the 1970s, complete with secret evidence, red-pins-and-string everywhere, and cool artwork intrigues me. Area control is not my favorite mechanic, but when done right in a shorter game I’ll bite.
19. The Great Evening Banquet (Saashi & Saashi / Saashi)
I’ve played two of Saashi’s games at Dice Tower Con, and while they are very abstract and mechanical, they are also very solid puzzles with very unusual themes. I like the concept of a game about trying to seat VIPs, and the graphic design is very pleasing.
18. Wriggle Roulette (Oink Games / Bruno Faidutti Jun Sasaki)
Without fail, Oink Games has two or three games coming out that catch my eye. Wriggle is designed by Jun Sasaki, who has made most of my favorite games from Oink, and the master of short games with player interaction, Bruno Faidutti. That’s worth a look.
17. Sakura Dice (A-Games / Hegedűs Csaba)
This one really looks interesting. My wife and I love Bonsai (the game, not necessarily the plants), and this one looks like a roll and write game with that same aesthetic and theme of building out Japanese trees in a pleasing fashion. I’m in.
16. Magazine (Mandoo Games / Andrea Martini, Lorenzo Martini, Alessandro Zappi)
No surprise here. I’m a sucker for these oddball themes, especially anything to do with journalism. The best is still Watergate, but Magazine looks interesting. Yes, kinda similar to the Pulitzer theme — publish magazines, try to get scoops — but with worker placement and set collection instead, so it goes higher.
15. Walking in Osaka (EmperorS4 / Daniel Lee Yingjie)
I put this on the list solely because I really, really enjoyed Walking in Burano. We played that game dozens of times at conventions and at home. This time, we are in Osaka, and I like the use of the “walking meeple” mechanic, where players move around a set of tiles and can grab one from the row or column they land. (It is especially cleverly done in the recent ‘In The Footsteps of Darwin’ game).
14. Kokeshi (Grand Gamers Guild / Igor Knop André Teruya)
I am not normally one that finds this style of art very catchy, yet something about the Kokeshi meeples and the track based movement is fascinating. I’ve tried it on BGA once, and didn’t quite get it. I’d like to see it person for sure.
13. Fantasy Brewers (Grail Games / Michael Schacht)
This one is simple. Put the words “fantasy” and “brew” together, and you probably will get me to stop at your booth. I’m looking for a good Oktober fest game. Is this the one?
12. Coming of Age (Ludonva / Dani Garcia)
One of my favorite board gaming memories is when Jeremy Howard used to stream solo games on Sundays and invite the viewers to play along with him. I had just bought a copy of Pursuit of Happiness, and played it on my table while interacting with Jeremy. Dani Garcia has his take on the “growing up” theme, and it looks even better than Pursuit, at least on the surface.
11. Emberheart (Mindclash / Rob Fisher Adam Porter)
I honestly don’t know what to think of this one. I’m always interested in games with dragons, and to hear that Mindclash has a game with a dragon theme that is not as heavy as their usual offerings? Color me draconian. To be doubly honest, #11 is dumb. I’d probably take this one home for sure if the demo was even half-decent.
10. Orloj: The Prague Astronomical Clock (Perro Loko Games / Jesús Fuentes, Amelia Sales)
To be triply honest in this blog, I had never heard of the famous Orloj clock in Prague before this game was announced. But, wow, am I impressed with the story behind this game. Throw in the fact that you have medium-heavy two hour euro with an interesting twist on the wheel mechanic? I’d love to play this one.
9. Kingdom Crossing (Sorry We Are French / Marco Canetta Stefania Niccolini)
This is probably silly, but Kingdom Crossing caught my eye, despite its absolutely forgettable name, solely because of the publisher. I’ve really dug my plays of the games that Sorry We Are French finds. Iki, Shackleton Base, Darwin, and Ganymede are all super solid to super terrific games. This one has some engine building and some fun artwork, and a good publisher, so I’d definitely pop by the booth.
8. Epona (Delicious Games / Vladimír Suchý)
Like clockwork, another Essen and another Delicious / Suchy combo. So many of Suchy’s games are just absolute bangers at our game nights, that there is no way I would not be taking this home. But add in the cool theme of owning and developing a horse racing empire after the Great War? Yes, please.
7. Map Masters (Captain Games / Ian Sebastian Bach Cédrick Caumont)
The gang from Belgium is back, and this time, I do not see a quacking duck anywhere. But, I love the idea of this game. Players will get a hand of cards, and try to make a map out of them to maximize their discoveries. It looks like another solid family weight one hour wonder for the collection.
6. Moon Bunny (Hot Banana Games / Pauline Kong Marie Wong)
If you look at that cover, of a forlorn bunny staring out into the deep darkness of space, and you don’t get the envie to play this game, well, I just don’t know what to tell you. What if I throw in that it’s another one hour euro with set collection? Will that change your mind?
5. Echoes of Time (Cranio Creations / Simone Luciani Roberto Pellei)
Luciani is one of my top three all time designers. I’ve been reading about this game throughout its development, and I would definitely take it home. It seems to have a lot of what I like about these type of games — it’s building on a time bending pastiche but using hand management as the main mechanic, with some multi-use cards thrown in. It could be an absolute mess, but there will be only one way to find out.
4. Carnival of Sins (Tranjis Games / Alex Nogués)
I saw the words “Mardi Gras’, and clicked “Must Have.” I don’t know much else, but yep, that’s all it took. Quelle surprise?
3. Bohemians (Portal Games / Jasper de Lange)
I’ve joked around above about what games I’d want to try and which games I’d probably pick up. Now, we are into the real deal territory. If I were going to Essen Spiel, I would definitely bring home all three of these next games. First up is the absolutely gorgeous card game called Bohemians. Ignacy from Portal has been posting so much about this game, that I feel like I’ve played it already. I absolutely adore the theme of becoming a struggling artist in the Bohemian time of Paris. Must have.
2. ANTS (Cranio Creations / Renato Ciervo Andrea Robbiani)
In 2023, the gorgeous release of Rats of Wistar by Cranio Creations was one of my favorite games. I still play it every six months or so, because it is very challenging, has some great engine building in it, and the awesome theme of Mrs. Frisby. Cranio is back with another game that uses the meeple strength mechanic, but it looks like this one leans even more into the card play and the cute artwork. Must, must have.
1. Recall (Alion – by Dr Ø / Helge Meissner, Kristian Amundsen Østby, Kjetil Svendsen, Anna Wermlund)
Revive — should’ve been my game of the year, or at least in the running, but I did not play it until the year after it came out. I’ve played it about ten times since then, and it never gets old. It’s a near-perfect euro, once you figure out the weirdly interesting end game scoring mechanic. The team that brought us Revive is back with RECALL, with a similar look and art style, and more engine building, and more exploration, and more of the more. Need I say more?
So that’s my list of the twenty games for sale that I would have demoed at ESSEN SPIEL, in the hopes that I would get the envie to bring some of these home.
What’s on your list? Did I miss anything interesting?
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo