What are your favourite games in terms of art direction and illustration?
Anything from Leader Games and illustrated by Kyle Ferrin (Root, Oath, Fort...) feels like cheating but still, I absolutely adore their art style
Everdell, Photosynthesis, Parks, look nice as well
I also bought an updated edition of Costa Ruana just because of the illustrations: https://www.pamwishbow.com/client-work/project-four-yjynj-pafyx
Probably Meadow. It is such a beautiful game.
Probably Root, and Once Upon a Time. I love both games, and I think it's at least partly the aesthetic.
It's great playing other Ferrin games and seeing his range.
When it comes to card art definitely Dixit. When I Dream also has really nice illustrations (and is pretty fun too).
Dixit sure had to be mentioned - when art is effectively your game mechanic it needs to be good. Though it depends on the card set, not a fan of the Dixit Odysey base set
dude, I LOVE When I Dream! Also the idea of putting the draw pile inside a bedframe and covering the unused top of the cards with a pillow is so genius and creative!
Ooh I had totally forgotten about the pillow thing. Yeah that bedframe is pretty cool
I also played Mysterium which was made by the same people behind Dixit (I just checked and not at all, it's just the same mechanics with beautiful illustrations open to interpretation, my bad), and the game is a lot more engaging to me, but Dixit is one of the classics for french players!
Imma go with the suuper vanilla answer: Game of Life. I love the little hills and buildings you have to put on the board.
On the totally opposite spectrum of Nerdiness a full Board of Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition is a marvelous sight to behold
Root for sure, but I agree that's almost cheating.
Second to that, Everdell. I pretty much bought it solely because how pretty it is.
Great question!
I really like when the games art immediately pulls players in. Everyone wants to play Flamecraft because the art work is so damn cute. Players are already engaged with the.gsme, before it even started.
Everdell is great too!
I never heard of Flamecraft! It looks super cute 🥰
I'm right on board with you with Kyle Ferrin. I've spent... a lot of money on Leder Games games.
It's interesting how Kyle Ferrin managed to develop such a unique, recognizable and charming art style that I when I looked at OP's picture, I instantly thought "huh, the art style of the third board game reminds me a lot of Root"
Yeah it's Oath, I bought it, I don't even know if I'll be able to play it with friends, but I need all the Kyle Ferrin I can humanly collect in my life. His cute critters and goofy faces and lovely sketch lines and textures are just so adorable
Edit : btw I stole the pic from the first image search result I could find that showcased nice looking games, it's apparently from this article : https://gamerant.com/most-beautiful-board-game-boards/
My first thought was "I've got to share about Root" and then looked closer and thought "they probably already know"
I have a soft spot for C1 Carcassonne. There's something very elegant in the simplicity of the tile art, and it's the version of the game that got me hooked in the first place.
Off topic, but what's going on with the feddit.de instance? The main site (usually) just says server error, but I still see occasional posts and comments from communities (such as this one) and users on that instance in my feed. Is there a meta community where this is discussed?
The feddit frontend has been offline for months, but the backend works just fine, so if you use another ui (such as an app) that instance can still be used. It's a mess.
Man, that sucks. Do the admins have a (tentative) timeline on when the frontend will be fixed? Is there anywhere I can follow for updates?
Innis is one of the best looking games I've played. It's also a solid area control game.
Inis seems like one of the best out there in terms of actually providing a fun experience for everyone involved in the area control genre.
Yes, Inis(pronounced Inish) is glorious in it's artwork. Makes the Celtic theme really pop.
I also very much like the artwork in It's a Wonderful World. An engine-builder with lovely character.
Mouse Trap
Surprised nobody has said Scythe yet. The artwork is stunning
Oh yeah Jakub Różalski's style is sooo good, there's also a video game that pretty much has the same setting as Scythe on Steam, called Iron Harvest, I wouldn't be surprised if he also worked on it!
Talisman is close to my heart in every possible way, though the character art for some of the more recent expansions don't fit in particularly well.
@Stalinwolf @inlandempire I treasure my 2e Talisman box sets. The art is so good.
I always enjoy the Sea, Salt, and Pepper cards and color.
Radlands visuals are phenomenal.
On the other side, the old school ugliness of Star Realms makes it intemporel. Same for War of the Ring that keep old illustrative style.
Harmonies is pretty and very very inviting for non-gamers.
Small World always stood out to me as a game with lots of style and identity.
Glory to Rome, in the crazy, all-in reprint they did still to me is an absolute highlight of art and theme. So pretty.
Brass: Birmingham - the art quality and dark Victorian aesthetic of the board and cards are evocative of the early industrial revolution. This game also gets the "most improved" award, when compared to the original edition. The add-on iron clays are fantastic. The other components are very average though.
War of the Ring - beautifully painted over-sized cards
Pax Pamir: top notch, unique components and a cool cloth board, but the card design could be better.
Everdell for the card art, of course. They give you the feeling that there is a story behind the game.
Beyond the Sun. Just kidding. It's a great game but the art is pretty much non-existent.
There is only one edition of Brass: Birmingham. Are you thinking of Brass: Lancashire?
Could be. I've seen a copy the original one, which may have just been called Brass. I can't quite recall.
For me, the game with the most beautiful art has to be Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn.
My favorite art style, though, would have to be Middara (though the female characters could use some more practical outfits). It is just so over the top and vibrant.
Another art style that I enjoy seeing is Dungeon Degenerates. The gross, ugly look fits the atmosphere of the game setting.
I really like Spirit Island. It's a grest game and the art style really adds to it as well. It really adds to my imagination not only to read the cards powers but to see the detail in the tiny art box on every card.
Tokaido, Dixit, Azul, Stuffed Fables, Mysterium
I really like Don't Let It Die. The pixel art in board game format works well
Odin's Ravens has beautiful art work.
Maybe I'm just a bird man but Wingspan is absolutely stunning. I bought second copies of the base game and addons to put cards into a binder
Being a bird fan is just the healthy sane thing to do, it isn’t a niche hobby it is a pleasure of being on earth that everyone should enjoy.
Wingspan is gorgeousssss.
The app is too!
When I first heard about Wingspan app I dismissed it in an instant - why do I want to sit in front of the screen instead of being at the table? As someone working in IT boardgames are my escape from virtual world. But the game is phenomenal - cards have animations, birds make sounds and in the Polish version they have hired legendary Krystyna Czubówna (most famous voice actor) to read bird trivia. 10/10.
I too am a bird man but I've asked my non-birdman friends who say that the game is indeed stunning.
It helps that the game is also enjoyable to play.
BIIIIIIRRDMAAAAAAANNNN
I was hopping in to comment wingspan and then immediately realized of course everyone had already been talking about how beautiful this game is
Wyrmspan really brings it home for me personally, while also being a more fleshed-out and mature version of Wingspan
I miss the educational aspect of bird's trivia but I guess that's expected from a game about dragons